The Dragon of Nottingham - The Beach Recordings - Part Three - A Conclusion

Sorry I haven't been around in a bit. But sometimes life happens and you're taken back to reality. Good to be back though.

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When we saw Isaac, he was being duct-taped to the toilet by Celia's brother George at Uncle Jack's Crab Shanty. Then something special happened.

***

Soon after George left the bathroom, I heard the door squeak open again. I didn't want to draw attention to myself. Too embarrassing. So I kept quiet in my stall, figuring Dad would be there soon enough. Then I heard a voice call my name. It made my heart pound and my head a little dizzy. It was Celia. I used to think that angels fell from heaven. But I was mistaken. They fall from a place called Camden, New Jersey.

She asked me if I was all right and could she open the stall door. 'Fine', I said. 'Come on in and witness my humiliation. Come take a look at someone you'll never want to see again. Come see the spectacle that is my downfall!' Then she opened the stall door.

I had to blink a few times to be sure I was actually seeing what I was seeing. Standing before me was a masked avenger, or crusader, or whatever you call someone who goes around rescuing damsels in distress. Not quite sure what a damsel is. It's just something I heard somewhere. But there stood Celia, in a red mask and cape, with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face. She said George had told everyone that I had run out the back door chasing after a butterfly. A butterfly? My humiliation points just keep climbing higher and higher. But Celia knew better. She'd been watching the bathroom door the whole time. 

She told me she needed to hurry, because my dad would be looking for me. She then reached into her front pocket and pulled out a green-handled Girl Scout knife. Celia said it had once belonged to her grandmother. Who told her that no superhero should be without one. 

After cutting me free from the toilet and helping me pull the tape off my clothes,I asked her what we should do about George. What sort of punishment would fit the crime of duct-taping me to a toilet? 'George's punishment is just being George,' she said. 'And possibly the glue I'll be mixing into his hair gel tonight. And maybe one day he'll come around and be human again.' Then Celia gave me a kiss on the cheek. I was so stunned by it that she had to lead me out of the stall like I just grew legs and she was teaching me to walk for the first time. She then asked me to close my eyes for a minute. When I opened them again Celia was stuffing the last of her costume into her Little Miss Cupcake backpack. 'You never saw that,' she said to me. 'As far as you're concerned, the Earth Angel was never here.' Celia ran out of the bathroom and left me standing there rubbing the spot where she kissed me. 

I never thought My first kiss from a girl would happen in a stinky toilet at Uncle Jack's Crab Shanty. Or that it would come from a caped crusader named Earth Angel. But it did. Cross my heart.