Jay B.R. Wokky Ch. 9 — Jay Receives Another Invitation

Ch. 9 — Fritter dashed into the treasure room waving a large envelope. “Sire, wake up! An invitation has come.”
Jay opened one eye. “Oh? Who’s bothering me this time?”
Fritter took a slim silver knife, opened the envelope, and scanned the thick, cream-colored invitation inside. “It’s from the king and queen of Saltonia. They’re inviting you to their baby daughter’s name day celebration. They want you to give a gift to Princess Janine Esmerelda – it was supposed to happen in April, but they moved it to June fourteenth, so that everyone would be able to attend. Isn’t that exciting?”
Jay snorted. “It’s nothing of the sort. Send a reply back stating that I will not be attending.”
Fritter stopped dancing around. “But Sire.”
The dragon growled. “Ever since that fiasco in Nelsonia, I have been deluged by invitations and pestered by hordes of messengers — people knocking on the door, begging me to attend this and that. They’re just afraid I’ll burn down their castles or eat their offspring. Or, they want to see the dragon who lost his temper. Well, they can satisfy their curiosity some other way. I’m not going.”
Fritter slowly placed the invitation back in the envelope. “They were very polite.”
“No.”
“Sire, it’s been months. Don’t you want to get outside in the fresh air and get some exercise? Steal some of those plump, juicy cattle from the giants? Scoop up some crunchy, tasty raths?”
“No.” Jay settled back onto his treasure. “Now go away. And from now on, just send back a standard reply. The dragon, Jay B.R. Wokky, respectfully declines, blah, blah, blah.”
Fritter’s shoulders slumped. He shuffled out of the treasure room, and laid the invitation on top of the growing stack in the basket by the fireplace. Then he sat down to write a polite response. Fritter sighed. He didn’t know what to do, or how to help his grumpy employer. If only someone would answer his advertisement. If only old Mr. Dumfries wasn’t so slow.