text: Margrett was sitting in her garden, swinging on the little porch swing she had George set up for her a few years back. There were all sorts of flowers there; spring had sprung a few weeks ago, so the flowers were looking as fine as they ever would. Margrett spent lots of time in her flower garden, among the marigolds and rose bushes, the tulips and hedges, the climbing vines and the decorative trees. She also had the eatable garden, with the tomatoes and the corn and the peppers. That was always George’s favorite place to work. He had grown up on a farm, so he knew how to take care of plants. When he was on his deathbed though, he made sure to make Margrett promise that she would take care of it for him. And take care of it she did. George had never really talked about how to maintain the plants with Margrett, so she went to the public library to check out books on how to cultivate her own food. That was years ago. The peppers were always his favorite. George’s family was originally from India, so he always liked very spicy food. Margrett could never eat some of the foods that George could, but she always made sure to try a bit of them. Even the super spicy curries that he loved so much. He always said that the peppers loosened his joints, and after he said that he’d always do a little dance. God Margrett always loved that dance. Margrett got up from her seat and walked over to the eatable garden to look for weeds or things that were ready to be picked. She grabbed the little basket that sat next to the raised beds and started to look over the space. The tomatoes were coming along nicely, she picked a few of the plumpest and reddest and put them in the basket. Then she moved along to the eggplant, seeing a good one she twisted it off and put it in the basket. Moving over to the fruits (George had always considered tomatoes a vegetable) she walked between the blueberry bushes and the strawberry plants, picking as she went and dropping them into the basket. Then she got to her favorite part of the garden, the peppers and herbs. She decided to get to the peppers last today, so she went to the herbs first. These were seated on outdoor tables in little planters, that way they could be easily harvested and seen, not to mention them being protected from animals. Animals other than humans that was. She pulled off a leaf of mint and stuck it in her mouth, chewing it to release its freshness as she walked through the tables covered in green. She decided that she’d make some lemonade today, Diane had some lemons she’d given her from her tree that would go nice with a little bit of the mint. She pulled leaves of this and sprigs of that as she walked, making her way to George’s peppers. There were all sorts of peppers, Margrett’s late husband had always like variety in his life. If she every suggested making the same thing for dinner twice in a week he’d joke that she’d ran out of recipes to cook. She looked to the bell peppers first. They were green, which meant they weren’t quite mature. But green bell peppers were always welcome, so she picked a couple anyway. Then came the chilis that George had always loved. There were all kinds, jalapenos, bird’s eye, jolokia peppers, and so much more. She walked over to the generic chili peppers. There was something off about the plant. Something was moving, even without the presence of a breeze of any kind. She bent down to get a loser look, and there she saw the creature for the first time. It was small, with its body being the length of her hand. Its head was a chili pepper that could split open horizontally, with two little slits that acted as a nose of sorts. It didn’t seem to have any eyes, not that Margrett could see anyway. The stem moved further than any stem had before, with four appendages mimicking legs coming off of its thin body. It was wriggling around, trying to pick itself and get free. Margrett was stunned. Nothing in the library had ever mentioned the produce coming to life. She took the clippers and snipped the dragon off at a reasonable length. It fell to the ground and scuttled away. Or at least it would have had Margrett not scooped it up in her old hands. “Woah there little guy, you can’t get away from me that easily,” she said with a chuckle. The dragon turned its head to look at the old woman. It moved it up and down, as if it was looking her over for whatever reason. Then it reared back and sneezed. Some of the fluids got onto Margrett’s arm and she immediately knew what it was. Capsaicin. Her skin started to get irritated at the chemical.” “Hey now, don’t be like that,” she scolded as she brought it inside to wash her arm off. Her kitchen was small and scarcely decorated. She set the basket of produce along with the little dragon on the counter. It immediately started sniffing around the place with its little slits down on the counter. Margrett finished washing off her arm and was drying it off as she thought what to do with the little dragon. She could always show it to somebody. Maybe she could bring it to her weekly bridge game at Diane’s. She walked over to the phone on the counter and punched in her number. “Hello?” came the voice from the other end of the line. “Diane? It’s me, Margrett,” she responded. “What can I do for ya Margrett?” “I found a little dragon in my garden, do you mind if I bring it to today’s bridge game?” she asked. “I don’t want to leave it alone here at home. God knows I go crazy enough in here by myself.” “Sure, I don’t mind. As long as he doesn’t make a mess.” “You’re a lifesaver, Diane. Thanks.” Margrett ended. “No problem.” Click. “You hear that?” Margrett said, turning in the kitchen to look at the small dragon munching on one of her tomatoes. “You’re going to meet the girls.” Margrett spent the remaining time before bridge making a large pitcher of lemonade with the lemons Diane had given her. She squeezed the lemons by hand, adding water and sugar in no particular amount. Then she took some mint out of the basket, dodging the dragon finishing his tomato, and threw it in. She took out a wooden spoon, stirred the whole concoction up, and tasted it. A little sweet, but sometimes all you want is something a little sweeter. She took the pitcher in one hand against her body and the dragon in the other and walked over to Diane’s house. They played in the parlor, which had an old chandelier above an even older table. She set the pitcher of lemonade next to a plate of cucumber sandwiches, a small salad (Greek from the looks of it), and a plate of chocolate chip cookies. A fine lunch. Everybody was already in the parlor. Diane, her designated partner, was sitting at the head of the table. Margrett took her place at the foot. Bethany and Edith were across from each other on the left and right side respectively. “Sorry I’m late everybody, there was a dragon in the garden today,” Margrett explained as she set the chili dragon on the table. A chorus of variations on ‘it’s alright, hon,’ went up from the table. They started to play. Typically, they played one game, had lunch, and then played another game. But if Diane and Margrett won one and Bethany and Edith won the other they’d play a third one if nobody was busy to break the tie. Bethany and Edith won the first game, then they cleared and set the table for lunch. Plates were set out, as well as cups and forks. The plate of sandwiches was set in the middle of the table, along with the bowl of Greek salad. “It’s a little sweet,” Margrett warned as she filled each glass around the table. “But I think it’s still good.” “So, what’s this I hear about a dragon?” Bethany said, taking a bite of cucumber sandwich. The dragon, who was sniffing around the table, looked up at this. Its head was pointed towards Beth, but quickly swiveled to the rest of the women in turn. “I was looking through the garden this morning, and I found it wriggling trying to get free. I figured I’d see if you gals had anything to say about it.” The old women went silent at this. None of them had every really seen a dragon, let alone had any experience with them. “Does it have a name at least?” Diane asked. “No pet is complete without a name. Took me a few days to name Charlie.” The cat Diane gestured towards lazily looked up at the group of women eating around the table and then went back to licking its paws. “I actually do think I have a name for it. I think I’ll call him George. Peppers were always his favorite, so it seemed fitting,” Margrett explained. The women agreed that it was a very fitting name. They finished lunch and played their second round of bridge. Bethany and Edith won the second game too, but Diane and Margrett had gotten closer on this one than they had the first time. They each had a cookie and then Margrett went home. She walked back into the kitchen, putting the leftover lemonade into the refrigerator. Margrett looked around the house and noticed she didn’t have a place for the dragon. It didn’t look like it would take much space, so something small could be arranged. She poked around her closet for a while and eventually found an old shoebox, so she took off the lid and set the box on the counter. That could’ve done on its own, but she decided that she needed to make it a little cozier. So she set an old tea towel on the inside of the box, curling it up into a nest of sorts. Then she remembered that every bed needed a pillow, so she went into the medicine cabinet and amongst the various medications she took, along with the ones George used to take, there was a bag of cotton balls. She took out a few and pressed them into one somewhat coherent mass before going back into the kitchen and placing the pillow into the bed. She decided that the makeshift bed would be good for at least a night. After that she went around the house cleaning as she normally did in the afternoons. She swept the floors in the kitchen, dusted the shelves around the house, cleaned the bathroom, and generally decluttered anywhere there was clutter. Once she was done cleaning Margrett looked at her calendar. She was scheduled to be a substitute teacher for Mrs. Gill’s fourth grade class. Maybe she could take in the dragon for a day, the kids would love seeing George. Then she heard a sneeze and remembered that pure capsaicin was akin to pepper spray, so she eventually decided against it. Her stomach growled and she realized how hungry she was. She looked around in the pantry to find something to eat, and eventually settled on making spaghetti with meat sauce. She set a pot to boil and got out the noodles, Italian sausage, everything for the sauce, and the red pepper flakes. George had always called red pepper flakes ‘birdseed’ for whatever reason. George, the dragon this time, took an interest in the little red and yellow flakes. Margrett took some in her aging fingers and held it like fish food above the little pepper dragon. He opened his mouth hungrily and she sprinkled them in. The little pepper shut his mouth and seemed to swallow, although he had no digestive system. Margrett didn’t ask questions. Once dinner was ready, she plated herself up a portion and placed it on the table. Then she took a shallow dish and put some sauce and a small mountain of red pepper flakes on top and set it next to her own plate. Then she carefully scooped up the dragon from the counter and set him on the table next to his plate. He lapped it up quickly, then looked at Margrett as if to ask for more. Margrett smiled and got up to get George more sauce. He lapped his seconds up nearly as fast as the firsts. “No more.” She said, turning to her own plate. Once dinner was over she took George the dragon in her hands and set him on the easy chair George her husband used to sit in all the time. She took her place in her own, lighter rocking chair. She took the book that was on the table and cracked it open. It was a mystery, and she was a little over halfway through it. Out of instinct, she started to read aloud. The particular chapter she was reading had the detective investigating the crime scene again, the clues and puzzles unravelling in his head. She enjoyed mysteries. She finished the chapter and looked over to George. He was curled up in a little swirl, with his head resting on his paws. She delicately scooped up the plant and set him down in his tea towel bed. Then she took the shoe box and brought it to her room, setting it down on her bedside table. She said a quick prayer, then turned out the light and went to bed.