{"id":512,"date":"2021-01-21T09:41:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T09:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/?p=512"},"modified":"2021-01-21T09:42:11","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T09:42:11","slug":"choritzo-the-chocolate-dragon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/?p=512","title":{"rendered":"Choritzo the Chocolate Dragon"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"wpsocialite social-buttons large\"><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/?p=512&amp;locale=en_US&amp;t=\" class=\"socialite facebook-like\" data-lang=\"en_US\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/?p=512\" data-send=\"false\" data-layout=\"box_count\" data-width=\"60\" data-show-faces=\"false\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"vhidden\">Share on Facebook.<\/span><\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"socialite twitter-share\" data-text=\"\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/?p=512\" data-count=\"vertical\" data-lang=\"en_US\" data-via=\"@birdstoowit\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"vhidden\">Share on Twitter.<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n<p>Chorizo, the Chocolate Dragon<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a9 Peter G Barnett (aka Peter L. Barnes) Feb 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\nmet my Dragon on the way grandma&#8217;s house, well not my Dragon as such. It was\nflitting between the trees trying to look frightening, without much success. Chameleons\nare great at blending into the background but this Dragon had it all wrong. Red\nwhere there should be green and green where red leaves should hide her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Come\nhere you silly Dragon, you can&#8217;t hide from me.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;But\nI&#8217;m good at changing colour.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Yes,\nbut only changing to the wrong ones.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Sorry.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Here,\nlook at this,&#8221; said Melissa, pulling out some Ishihara charts, which she\nalways took in her handbag. &#8220;What number do you see?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Three.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Wrong,&#8221;\nsaid Melissa. &#8220;And this one?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Five.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I\nthought so, you&#8217;re colour blind,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I suppose we should\nintroduce ourselves, I&#8217;m Melissa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Chorizo!&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Bless\nyou.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;No\nChorizo, the chocolate dragon.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Chorizo\nisn&#8217;t a chocolate.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Tell\nmy dad that,&#8221; said Chorizo. &#8220;I had all the Italian lads chasing me\nwith knives and forks.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;How\nhorrid.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I\ngot my own back as I let off a few fire bursts.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;So\nwhy are you skulking around the woods?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The\nother dragons mock me because of my short nose. So, don&#8217;t you rub my nose in it\nas well.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;What,\nyour short nose,&#8221; said Melissa, ducking, as a puff of fire squirted from\nChorizo&#8217;s nostrils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Now,\nnow, just a tease,&#8221; apologised Melissa. &#8220;Is there a reason for it\nbeing so short?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;You\ndon&#8217;t know much about Dragon Law, do you?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Well\nI do actually, it goes back to Baden Powell days, something about doing a good\ndeed makes your nose grow.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Yes,\nPinocchio had it all wrong. Anyway, I&#8217;m waiting for a good deed to come\nalong.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\nthink you\u2019ll find that good deeds hardly present themselves,&#8221; said Melissa.\n&#8220;You probably have to go out and find them.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Would\nyou help me?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll\ndo what I can.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Why\nare you off to see your grandmother?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s\ngot some baskets for me for the grand Easter Egg hunt.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Can\nI help?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I\ndon&#8217;t see why not but don&#8217;t scare Gran with your big teeth.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Melissa\nknocked on Gran&#8217;s thick oak door, freshly polished and smelling of Lavender.\n&#8220;Friends here Gran.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Melissa\ndo come in but leave that sneaky Dragon outside.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s\nfine, only a little misunderstood.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Your\nbaskets are in the corner,&#8221; said Gran. &#8220;What have you brought me\ntoday?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve\npicked some lovely berries and some chestnuts.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Roasted?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Not\nyet, do you want Chorizo to roast them for you?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Yes\nplease, but put them in the grate first, I don&#8217;t want a fire.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Melissa\nput the chestnuts in the fireplace and Chorizo breathed a gentle flame until\nthere were perfectly roasted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;See,\nI told you she was a good Dragon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYes,\nI can see we&#8217;ll get on like a house on fire,&#8221; said Gran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Stop!&#8221;\nsaid Melissa, as Chorizo threatened a conflagration. &#8220;It&#8217;s just an\nexpression.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Sorry.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We\nmust be going or we&#8217;ll be late with hiding the eggs.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They\nwere soon back in the small town where Melissa told Chorizo to hide,\nunfortunately by a red brick house. &#8220;Wrong colour.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Sorry.&#8221;\nSaid Chorizo turning from blue to purple and finally to red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Better.\nNow, let me see about the chocolate eggs.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Melissa\nentered the shop to buy Easter eggs for the hunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m\nsorry,\u201d said the shopkeeper. \u201cAll Badburies eggs are sold out although there\nwas a lot of grumbling that the crafty company has made them all cheesy. But\nthere are no mother\u2019s eggs at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMothers?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSorry,\nyou know them as Ma\u2019s of course.\u201d<br>\n\u201cWhat am I going to do. There\u2019s only a couple of days left, I\u2019ve never let the\nchildren down before,\u201d said Melissa. \u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe\nrumour has it, that someone sabotaged the factory and blew the gas main so they\ncouldn&#8217;t melt the chocolate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\ncan solve that,\u201d said Melissa. \u201cChorizo, come here, we\u2019re off to sluff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She\nclimbed on her back and the flew through the smog to the large, now dormant,\nfactory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\nunderstand you have a chocolate problem,\u201d said Melissa. \u201cI think we can help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWell\nthe vat is cold but even if we melt that, all the machinery is cold and clogged\nwith old chocolate.\u201d He said \u201cWe\u2019ll never sort it out even with a dragon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t\nworry about that let me show you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chorizo\ndrew breath and hurled flame at the congealed mass, which soon turned into\ndelicious melted chocolate. Chorizo swallowed a huge mouthful of chocolate and\nwithin minutes was laying perfect chocolate eggs of varying sizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nforeman rushed out to get his men to wrap the eggs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\ncan\u2019t put them through our machines as they are metric sizes so we\u2019ll have to\ndo them by hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOh,\ndo you want them wrapped,\u201d said Chorizo. \u201cHand me that roll of silver foil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Melissa\nhanded over the silver foil and in no time at all, perfectly wrapped Easter\neggs popped out. ready for the staff to put them into boxes and baskets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat\nabout coloured ones?\u201d asked the foreman, hopefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSee\nthat pile of glittery wrapping paper and Christmas cards that can\u2019t be\nrecycled, pass them across,\u201d said Chorizo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Melissa\nand the foreman passed the pile of glittery wrapping and cards for the obliging\ndragon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNow\nthe best colours are red and blue,\u201d said Melissa, suddenly biting her tongue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNo,\nno,\u201d exclaimed Melissa, as the eggs rolled down the conveyor belt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBlue\nand green should never be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat,\u201d\nsaid Chorizo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe\nother green.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This\ntime beautiful red and blue wrapped eggs emerged, rolling towards the final\nbaskets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s\nenough,\u201d said Melissa. \u201cThank you so much, you\u2019ve saved the day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A\nfew days later when all the eggs had been found under the bushes and hastily\nconsumed, the town decided that thanks were due and organized a banquet in\nhonour of Melissa and Chorizo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\nwould like to present Chorizo with this beautiful, chocolate golden medallion\nfor all that she has done for us,\u201d said the Mayor, looping the ribbon around\nChorizo\u2019s neck and now, long nose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNot\nonly has she rescued us from that awful northern chocolate company, and given\nthe children their eggs, but has also recycled all our glitter paper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThree\ncheers for Chorizo. Hip, Hip hurrah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chorizo\nlaid the biggest egg ever, which the waiters rushed towards, breaking off bite\nsized pieces for all the guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Someone\nsignaled the band and the words of that well known song rang out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOh,\nfor he\u2019s a jolly good Dragon, oh for he\u2019s a jolly good dragon, for he\u2019s a jolly\ngood Dra-agon and so say all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chorizo\nblushed furiously. Bright green of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chorizo, the Chocolate Dragon \u00a9 Peter G Barnett (aka Peter L. Barnes) Feb 2020 I met my Dragon on the way grandma&#8217;s house, well not my Dragon as such. It was flitting between the trees trying to look frightening, without much success. Chameleons are great at blending into the background but this Dragon had it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=512"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":514,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions\/514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterlbarnes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}