The Purple Nurple

The Purple Nurple (A Dragon Tale in 282 Words)

Have you ever tried to give a dragon a bath? It’s no laughing matter. For one thing, like most sensible people, dragons don’t like baths. Unlike most sensible people, dragons breathe real fire, and so getting them to do something they don’t want to is all a matter of tact and bribery.

So it is that when it came Eddie’s turn to dust off their scales, we didn’t know how he was going to do it. If you’ve seen Eddie you’ll know why. If you haven’t, Eddie is a small man with weak shoulders and large eyes. He has a very absent way with him, like he’s there but he isn’t there, too. And as you may imagine, being absent-minded around dragons is not a wise thing to be.

But it was Eddie’s turn at the bath and he called the dragons down to the lake with a pucker-lipped whistle. That was his first mistake. If there’s one thing dragons don’t like, it’s being whistled for.

One of the dragons was a great big spiky creature we called “Purple Nurple.” Purple Nurple was purple alright, with the meanest eyes on him and an under-bite. When he heard the whistle, Purple Nurple’s head snapped ’round so fast we thought he was going to bite. Eddie was just turning then with a full bucket, and the water went full in the dragon’s face.

The absent-minded film dropped from Eddie’s eyes. He stood staring at the dripping dragon with his mouth open. The Purple Nurple shook his head and coughed, and oh you should have seen Paula go running for the fire extinguisher. But Eddie was one step ahead of her.

He jumped in the lake.

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Written in response to the Daily Post’s Daily Prompt, “Messy,” and Putting My Feet in the Dirt‘s writing prompt, “Purple Nurples.” Check ’em out!