Frank’s Flambés

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley, but when there were, they were usually enticed there by parties thrown by high profile Los Angeles celebrities.

It was a mutually beneficial arrangement to both celebrity and dragon. Parties attended by dragons provided endless Instagram opportunities for the celebs, and luxurious experiences to the dragons that most of them wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. As much as dragons were desirable to party with and be seen with, their employability and thus income streams were often lacking.

Frank Dragon himself had pursued, but not succeeded at the following employment opportunities:

• Socialite. He loved to party and was enthusiastic about the prospect of getting paid for it, but human socialites had complained that dragons were cutting into their opportunities. While this was both unfair and speciesist, the existing socialites held enough money and power to keep even the most passionate party-dragons out of the industry. Frank still attended parties, but was forbidden from receiving payment.

• Professional Chef. He had dabbled in and was quite talented at this. He was even able to keep his fire-breathing under control and not further heat up the already sweltering kitchen. However, his towering dragon frame could not be reasonably accommodated and after less than a year spent slouched over too low kitchen equipment, he developed debilitating back pain.

• Security Guard to the Stars. This sounded like an ideal opportunity. Frank was large, strong and should weapons become involved, his scaly body was less penetrable than a human’s. How wonderful to have built in armour! However, Frank just wasn’t attentive enough to the security of his clients. He tried, but he was a social creature and would become so engrossed in conversations with his charges that his surroundings would often go unnoticed.

Currently, a defeated Frank was living at home with his parents. This arrangement wasn’t terrible for him, he loved them and they reciprocated, but it hurt them to see him feeling like he lacked purpose. He wanted to work–as long as he was compensated fairly, fulfilled and treated with respect at a job, he enjoyed the experience.

His parents had encouraged him to open his own restaurant. They had even offered him startup capital from a recent windfall they’d experienced, but he wasn’t comfortable risking their money. Really, what competitive advantage did he have over other restauranteurs? There was already an abundance of culinary talent in the area, and despite dragons being coveted party guests, no one cared whether or not a restaurant was run by one.

Frank did have success romantically, he was in a relationship with another dragon, Paige. Human-Dragon romantic relationships did not exist. There were no rules against it nor were any needed, humans and dragons simply never developed that form of attraction to each other.

He deeply loved Paige, but did have some misgivings. He wished he could give her more than he currently could. He wanted to contribute equally towards a home together, one where he could build her the library of her dreams. She was less social than him and more introverted and it worked perfectly for them. She would sometimes come to parties with him, other times cherishing a quiet night buried in a book and chocolate while he was out socializing.

And although books didn’t call out to him like they did Paige, he read all of her favourites, for an extra glimpse into her soul. She loved this about him, alongside his other meaningful displays of affection, like the carefully prepared charcuterie boards he often presented her to enjoy during her reading sessions.

He loved showing his affection for her, and one particular evening this behaviour became a pivotal moment in his life.

He was preparing her favourite dessert, Cherries Jubilee. As he exhaled a sigh of happiness envisioning the smile he knew would radiate across her face, he accidentally breathed a bit of fire and flambéed the dessert on his own!

He chuckled to himself and decided not to tell her. The fire itself was hot enough to eliminate any sanitary concerns, plus he valued honest opinions about his cooking and considered that she may overestimate the quality of the dessert if she knew it had this special touch.

While he knew he’d concocted a quality dessert, her degree of ecstasy as it reached her tongue could never have been anticipated. In that moment, there was a palpable change to the air in the room. It was inexplicable and undeniable, as they both uttered their observation at the same moment.

He had prepared this dish countless times during his life, nothing was performed differently this time other than the fire-breathing.

As though reading his mind, she expressed that this was the niche he was looking for to break back into the industry with a restaurant of his very own. No food she’d ever tasted had this effect on her.

As predicted, the restaurant was popular with celebrities and food bloggers alike, who flocked in droves to the novelty of dragon-breath flambéed foods and paid a premium for it.

As Frank’s life began to drastically transform under his new venture however, he would begin to question everything he knew about Frank’s Flambés and about himself.