Making sure Mel, Tober, and Sepal were settled, Scott drove to the park, gathering more thistle blossoms than he needed and more thistle needles in his clothes than he wanted. The recipe, while convoluted, was simple enough. He steamed the blossom petals and separately boiled the stamens, then vigorously chopped and mashed them together before mixing them with fertile soil and chilling the paste. He used a double boiler, a blender, and the garden dirt, finally freezing the concoction. He had until the blossoms browned to use it. Having "made the stuff" and "kept the little dudette hidden," Scott waited for the two people with four first names. From his downstairs office, he watched both streets, expecting their arrival to be unconventional. He'd checked in with the basement crew before taking up his watch. Tober and Sepal had moved on from the tail-ramp project to a Lego jungle gym. Tober was assembling; Sepal watched, fascinated and still. Mel was calm but worried. Scott had been watching for almost an hour, wondering if "make stuff...then we'll come" implied imminent arrival. He also wondered how close they'd been to begin with and kept glancing at the sky, checking for the large cloud dragon. He was tapping his foot, scanning the streets and sky, when a sudden, roof-shaking THUD vibrated through the house. Scott jumped from his chair.
Mel yelled from the basement, "Scott, what was that?"
Scott went to the basement door, affecting a calm demeanor. "Stay down there, I'll check it out."
He hesitated between checking the roof and the attic's underside when he heard tapping upstairs. Quietly, he crept up the stairs, carrying the baseball bat he'd previously used to wedge the basement door shut. The tapping continued as Scott ascended and entered Tober's room, the source becoming clear: the bedroom window. Peering around the doorway, he saw someone on the roof, bent over, tapping on the glass with a finger.
"Hey, dude, let us in, man. Who the heck locks their second-story windows?"
The man's voice was muffled by his bent posture and long brown hair. He wore faded blue jeans and, clear from Scott's angle, flip-flops.
Scott stared at the man, then remembered the girl, Amanda Sasha Emily something-or-other. Between the faded blue jeans legs, he saw leather sandals and the hem of a white dress with bright flowers.
"Hey, man, let us in!" the man repeated, his tapping growing louder and faster. The dress moved to the side, one sandal partly off the roof, then bent over, revealing a mass of frizzy blonde hair.
A louder, more feminine voice called, "Hey, guy, we got your back! Let us in!"
Scott unlocked and raised the window. "The window's stuck," he yelled. "Come around to the backyard."
"Rude, man!" came the reply.
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Scott rushed from the room, almost flying down the stairs, catching only the end of their response. He rounded the corner towards the side door when the basement door burst open.
"Scott, what's going on?" Mel called.
Scott barely avoided the door, his hip catching a dining chair, sending him sprawling. His hip and knee went numb; they'd ache for days, but if he got to the backyard fast enough, he might see how they'd gotten down from the roof. He scrambled to get up.
"Mel, the flower people were outside Tober's window. I sent them to the backyard. Lock the door after I go out and make sure Tober stays in the basement."
He didn't look back as he fumbled with the doorknob, then slipped outside, ensuring the door closed firmly. He rounded the corner into the backyard, scanning the grass and roof, but they weren't there. Then he saw them,lounging in the back corner, under the maple tree, as if they'd been there for hours. The man waved.
"Dude, I dig the chairs."
Scott hadn't expected them to be already seated. He'd wanted to see them fly or teleport, but he also wanted them away from his family, so the far corner worked.
"I'm glad you like the chairs. Give me a minute, and I'll bring another one over."
He grabbed a lawn chair, and as he crossed the lawn, he saw Mel at the dining room window. He jerked his head toward the basement, but she smiled and waved. He turned back to the pair. He didn't want to draw attention, even though she was probably still waving.
"So, I made the stuff. Should we put it on the little dragon now?"
The long-haired man looked up, squinting.
"You wanna wait till the big guy comes back, man. The closer he is to finding the little dude, the more he'll lose him. You know?"
Scott placed his chair opposite them, watching Mel out of the corner of his eye. He had to stop himself from jerking his head when he saw Tober standing beside her, also looking out the window.
"I guess that makes sense. Who are you two? I don't mean all your names. I assume you run the website with the dragon egg pictures, including the one of our backyard, and the flower-parts website."
The man thought for a moment, hair partially obscuring his face. The woman gazed skyward.
"Well, like I said, I'm Michael Christopher Matthew Jacob, and this is Ashley Emily Sarah Amanda. We're kind of like wizards, man."
Scott turned slightly, seeing his wife, son, and dragon now at the window. He wished they'd stayed downstairs.
"You mean like in Harry Potter?"
Ashley lowered her gaze, meeting his with pale hazel eyes. "Oh, wow! Do you, like, have the fourth book. We don't leave the 90's often. But, no, we're not like Harry or Hermione or even Ron more like Snape, really, without the wand."
Scott repeated her words in his head, trying to make sense of it. His family and the dragon were no longer at the window.
"Where exactly did you come from, and how did you get here?"
Her attention wandered back to the sky, but the man remained attentive.
"No, dude, not where, it's about *when*. Here is the easy part; now is hard to get to. We set up an egg-cam site in '94 because of solar flares and satellites, and a flower-parts website in '96 because it was a good year for flowers. Dude, we had to do the book site in late '95 because of, like, Amazon."
Scott was processing this when the woman sniffed, jerked her head down, and looked over his shoulder toward the flower bed.
"Good idea, having her out here will draw the big guy back sooner."
Scott whipped around to see Sepal among his flowers, carefully stepping around them while biting off the heads of the taller black-eyed Susans. Tober and Mel were just past her walking toward him and the "wizards."