Rex Draco Farm

With a sound that could have brought down the house, the door to Arthurs room was flung open, and Mia, with a quick hop skip and a jump of joy, landed in his bed with excitement in her voice. “Come on, Arthur, it is time to get up and pay a visit to the breeders and pick out our new animals.”

With a groan, Arthur tosses a pillow at Mia. “Alright, I’m awake already. Would you please stop bouncing and let me get dressed?” She gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and rushes out the door. He was shaking his head, getting up to stretch. “It sure is amazing how excited she can get.” After getting dressed and joining Mia out in the car, two travel mugs of coffee were ready for the journey ahead.

With a rumble, the engine came to life the headlights flicker on, dispelling the darkness of the early morning start to their day. The road around the mountain twisted and turned up steep hills and down into little valleys. The sun had risen to show a scene of downright beauty as they crested the most recent hill on the downward trip. As far as the eye could see, trees and clouds could see a flock of birds flew up from the forest below. A few hours later, they were in front of a large gate the sign above read Panda Rescue and Ranch.

As Arthur looked up at the sign, an eyebrow raised at the massive panda painted in the background. “Well, do you think we are in the right place?” As they enter the gate and pull the car around to the farmhouse, Arthur spots a panda wandering around the corner of the house. He pats Mia on the shoulder. “Mia, look at this. It is a panda roaming around; I have never seen one in person.”

Her eyes open wide with delight at the sight of the panda as it strolls to the car as they both get out. “Hello, panda, it is nice to meet you. Would you be able to take us to meet Pan or John?” As she looked at the panda, now no more than five feet away, she notices that the panda give a follow-me nod with its head and turns toward the barn with a grunt. It walks away. “Come on, Arthur, the panda, will show us the way.”

With a shrug of his shoulders, he joins Mia and takes her hand as they follow the panda around the barn and goes inside. His jaw drops as the panda walks around the corner and, using a table for support, stands up and turns to face them. “Mia, be careful.” Arthur takes a timid step forward, unsure what to do but forward all the same.

As the panda turns, a soft giggle escapes from it. “I am not going to eat you.” A gentle, reassuring voice was escaping from the panda. The panda turns and faces Arthur, who is now in front of Mia. It raises both paws to its head and turns its head to the left while lifting. “Step aside, young man, let me get a good look at the pair of you.” With a pop and a slight hiss, the panda’s head lifts off, and long black and purple hair flows out from under the mask. “Nice to meet you. My name, as you know, is Panda or Pan. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Holding out a massive paw to shake Arthurs and Mias’ hands. As she noticed a slight bit of hesitation, she laughs. “It is just a suit I use to help the younger pandas to trust me.”

As he puts his hand beside the paw, he is unsure how to shake it. “I am glad that we got to meet you, Pan. We heard about your work saving the panda population. It is quite an accomplishment. My name is Arthur, and this is Mia.”

A smile appeared on her face.“ Mia, could you come around here and give me a hand getting out of this suit? It works easier with two, and Little John is out in the pasture, letting the cattle out for the day.” They walk around the corner, leaving Arthur beside a pin.

As he rocked back and forth on his heels, he hears an odd sound coming from the pin beside him. Looking over the side of the wall, he saw young panda cubs crawling around and over each other. A warmth filled his heart as he watched. He looked up at the sound of his name. He looked up to see Pan step back out from around the corner dressed in what could only be called panda pajamas. His eyebrows raised as he opened his mouth, closing it again, thinking better than to speak. Arthur returned his attention to the young pandas in the pin. “They sure are adorable.”

As Mia walks over, her hand flies to her mouth to hold back a scream of joy at the sight of the panda cubs. “Oh wow, they are adorable. I wonder if we could get one?”

Pan walks over to the pin. “Not unless you have several million dollars to set up a habitat for a few of them, and even then, I do not just give away my pandas.”

As Arthur turns to talk with Pan, he stares at her again. He noticed she was shorter than Mia with long black and purple hair and a round face with bright green eyes. “So Pan, we came here to see if you had any cows and chickens for sale?”

Pan crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Well, if you’re here looking for cows and chickens, we need to find Little John.” Pointing over her shoulder towards the opposite end of the barn and out the door. She turns around and begins walking toward the door.

Turning to tap Mia on the shoulder, Arthur follows Pan down the path leading out into the sun’s bright light shining over a magnificent green pasture that went out and slopped out of sight. “Wow, this place, look at the size of this field. Mia, I bet there must be all kinds of animals here.”

Pan places her hands on her hips and takes in a deep breath, and yells out across the field. “John, there are a few guests here. Come on in for a minute.” She turned around and smiled. “It will only take a little while for him to get up here. I think he said that his plans for the day included going to the back half of the pasture to drop a few feed bales.”

A few seconds later, a massive roar came from the far side of the pasture. Arthur looked around and let out a short gasp as he saw a gigantic bull running at full speed in their direction, long sharp looking horns bent low, ready to sink into the first person he met. As the beast made the top of the hill, a giant of a man jumped up on the beast’s back and swung down to grab a horn, and flung the beast to the side. The bull got up and excepted something from the man’s hand, and he smacked the back half of the bull, and it charged off to the far end of the pasture.

The man finished walking across the field, picked up Pan, and placed him on his shoulders. “It is good to meet you two. My name is John, but as Pan most likely said, she mostly calls me Little John.” Holding out a hand as a gesture to shake Arthurs.

Arthur looked at the man, who could easily be seven feet tall with an enormous body full of muscles of steel. His face was covered in a beard with the top of his head shaved smooth his eyes were blue. “It is good to meet you as well, John. My name is Arthur, and this is Mia.” Arthur pulled Mia out from behind him, who looked up in amazement at the man’s size in front of her.

As she shook his hand, she looked at Pan sitting quite at ease on John’s shoulder. “So this is your husband, Pan, not exactly what I was expecting when you said Little.”

Resting her arms on his smooth head, Pan smiled. “Yes, sorry, it is more of a joke about his size. Everyone expects someone of my height or smaller when I talk about him, and they get a good shock when he comes up to meet someone. He cares for the rest of the livestock and gives me time to focus on the pandas. If I remember correctly, you’re here looking for a few chickens and a cow or two.”

Arthur looked up at her words. “Yes, Pan, we were wondering what you had available we only just got our chicken coop and barn ready at the Rex Draco Farm on the other side of the mountain. It would be nice to get a few animals to help out, so we don’t have to run to the store for milk and eggs any longer.”

A hand goes up to stroke his beard. “Hmm, I think I have a few Brahma chickens left. They are sturdy and calm, just like myself. They are also a fairly decent size, but they did not sell as well as I thought they would have this year. I also have a few cows leftover as well, not counting ol’ Tex. I think what would be best for your farm might be a nice Holstine they are an excellent dairy breed.”

An eyebrow raised from the mention of the chickens not selling well, Arthur was worried. “Could we see a few of the chickens and cows first?”

Waving them out around the corner, Little John showed the way to the chicken coops. “most of them are empty at the moment. We had a pretty good turnover of product not too long ago. Ah yes, over here is a couple of the Brahma chickens we have left.”

Arthur looked into the pin that John motioned to and jumped back in surprise. “Holy cow, that is a massive chicken.” Looking over to Mia, lost for words but a gaze of longing on her face. “I guess that look means you want a few?”

She turns to face Arthur shaking her head yes. “Yes, just look at them; they are huge and fluffy, and as John said, they are calm, and from what I have seen, I am willing to believe him.”

With a mighty laugh, Little John pats Mia on the back. You know what I like that you are so excited about them. How about you take a few of them home with you as a gift? I remember the farm you spoke of; your grandparents were great customers of ours, so think of it as an investment for the future. I will even throw in a cow if you are not opposed to the idea of not getting it for a day or two?”

Arthur Looks over to Mia. His voice lost for words, and her face glowing with joy. They both hug each other, and Arthur finding his voice. “Yes, sir, thank you so very much for this.”

Both Pan and Little John let out a laugh. “We can deliver your new animals in a few days if you want to get home.” Walking Mia and Arthur to their car. “Now, you take care on the drive back. I will be around in a few days to drop off the animals.” Waving as the car drove out of sight. “I wonder if this means the old farm is about to boom back to life now that a true heir has returned?”