C.N. - chapter 20

The last thing I saw before entering Mr. Dragon's military style armored truck was the sun, it was setting. The inside of the vehicle, in sharp contrast to the outside, was designed like a stretch-limousine. The windows were tinted, the seats were cushioned, and there was a small table patterned with black and white squares, for chess, I thought.
'Do you now see why I insist we ride together.' Mr. Dragons said as he, Heathcliff and I all sat down on the white cushioned seats, 'This was the only car I furnished, the others were intended for my workmen and they only. These men, very capable, very reliable, as long as a wage can be negotiated, they ask no questions, leisure is not their preference, so I saw no need to add these leather seats to all my other vehicles. Shame my son does not see that, but you two, you at least (pointing to me) know what's better for you.'
Heathcliff sat silently, I asked a question, 'Is this a chess board?' I pointed at the table.
'Indeed it is, it serves multiple purposes, there's one of the more apparent ones.' Mr. Dragon opened one of the cushions next to him, it was a concealed compartment, he took out a bag with chess pieces and put Theo's phone in there, turning it off to save batteries, I supposed.
'Do you play?' He asked me.
'I can play Chinese chess, but I don't know how to play this chess.' I said.
'Chinese chess! Now how on earth did you learn that?' Mr. Dragon exclaimed.
It was a short story, so I elaborated to make it more interesting. 'The mechanic at the gas station near my house taught me, the car dad used to have was as old as he, it broke down a lot and he always sent me to tow it to the station with the tractor, that's how I came to know the mechanic really well and he taught me Chinese chess, he told me he learned it from his father, and his father learned from his grandfather, and his grandfather learned from his grandfather's father, and-'
'Okay, okay, I see your point.' Mr. Dragon said, 'We ought to teach each other our chess sometime, I'm past my midlife but I've always enjoyed trying new things.' He snapped his finger, and the checkered tabletop split open four ways like a sliding door, and inside were several glass bottles filled with transparent dull yellow liquid, five glasses and a cassette player. Mr. Dragon took out one of the bottles and three of the glasses. He opened the bottle with a cork and poured for each of us.
'Let us drink to our health, and a good time.' He raised his glass, I raised mine, Heathcliff hesitated, he asked, 'What is this?'
'It's apple juice, not the cheap water-mixed type, this is absolutely pure.' Mr. Dragon said, and drank.
Heathcliff took a sip and nearly spilled the glass, 'It's champagne!' He exclaimed in shock and covered his mouth. I was midway through my first taste and thought the juice must have came from some apple I've never tasted, because the juice had a spicy flavor and smelled funny too.
'Still sensitive to alcohol?' Mr. Dragon asked him, 'You haven't improved your drinking abilities, I see.'
'You-you villain, vile dastardly malevolent evil calculating despicable horrendous ill-natured hateful spiteful malicious villain! You said it's apple juice!' Heathcliff said accusingly.
'I did, this champagne is twenty percent apple cider.' Mr. Dragon said smugly.
Heathcliff's face turned red all of a sudden, he burped began a fit of giggles and said, 'What's up, dawg?'
I laughed too and so did Mr. Dragon. I felt very happy and very flushed in the head, so I took off my suit jacket and thought about what I should say next, I asked, 'Anyone what to hear a joke?'
'Yeah? Sure.' Heathcliff said, he burped again and giggled some more.
'So, why did the chicken cross the road?'
'Why?' Heathcliff replied.
I rubbed my eyes because they were getting watery, and then I said, 'If it didn't there wouldn't be a joke.'
Heathcliff fell into a fit of laughter, I laughed along with him, and Mr. Dragon smiled.
I felt giddy and the last thought before I think I abandoned all common sense was wondering what Mr. Dragon's apple champagne contained that made me feel so wonderful and dreamy (I didn't think I was drunk, and if I was, I wouldn't be because I have quite a strong tolerance of alcohol, it's Heathcliff I was worried about).
I hadn't felt so happy since the time my sister took me to her prom. Actually, she was caught in the tool shed with her then boyfriend (later divorced) by mum, they were in semi stages of undress and mum was extremely mad, her scream was heard by the next door neighbors a half kilometer away. As punishment for attempting to be deflowered before the age of twenty, mum made her take me as her prom date, forsaking her then boyfriend. The graduates all made fun of me, thought they focused mostly on my sister, who got the worst of it, but I had a lot of fun and tasted beer (which I didn't like because it was bitter and I still couldn't figure out why people like it) for the first time in my life. Another girl let me kiss her too (I didn't know how lovers kiss, so she taught me).
I shared this story with Heathcliff and Mr. Dragon during our long ride, and a few others which I believe took place in the vehicle but I couldn't recall. Then Heathcliff shared his stories, they were mostly about his glorious youth days, it had been all about pursuing his true love (since the age of six) Theo back then, and he detailed to us many of his ploys to win Theo over, to various degrees of non-success. Though I can not recall the precise details, Heathcliff's ploys include singing love songs outside her window in a suit of real armor with a borrowed mandolin (age nine), presenting a personal speech professing his love for her in front of all parents, graduates and teachers at his elementary school graduation ceremony (age twelve), and hacking into the high school registration catalogue (with the help of professional hackers paid five hundred dollars per hour out of his own pocket) to personally create the exactly identical class schedule and assigned teachers as her (age fourteen). Finally, at our request, Mr. Dragon told us a bit about his own experiences as a self-made billionaire, mostly the tricks, scams and bribes business persons and the business world use against the civilian population and the authorities to evade justice and increase their own benefit. I realized his account was more of a general how-to (control the world) guide as to about episodes of his life, nevertheless I found it quite fascinating. Heathcliff and I had more of the champagne during this time.
At the near conclusion of our journey, the vehicle moved across more uneven surfaces, and Mr. Dragon announced we were traveling over water. I did not believe this and thought it was a clever joke, we laughed over it and then out of the blues I began to whistle a familiar tune. It was the whistle tune from Disney's Robin Hood movie (Robin Hood being a talking fox), both Heathcliff and Mr. Dragon recognized the tune and we whistled in chorus, then we whistled Stand By Me, Say You, Say Me, Love Story, and Star Wars (which was quite incredible and would have been a thing to marvel at in later life had we recorded it).
When the vehicle grounded to a halt, Mr. Dragon kindly took Me and Heathcliff in his arms and guided us out of the vehicle into a windy, spacious and dimly lit tunnel of a place, the ceiling was a half-cylinder like an airplane hangar. He then led us towards a door marked with the sign 'BEDCHAMBERS'.
From one of the other vehicles emerged Theo and Wolfgang, walking apart and both looked like they did not have as good a time during the ride as Mr. Dragon and Heathcliff and I had. Still supported by Mr. Dragon because our knees where shaky and our vision impaired, Heathcliff and I waved and smiled giddy banana-sized smiles at Theo and Wolfgang. Wolfgang, seeing our expressions, must have been mildly jealous, he expression said so. Theo, on the other hand, did not look jealous, but something along the lines of horrified. I supposed she was unwilling to admit being in the company of Mr. Dragon was better than with Wolfgang, who had probably realized his blunder too.
I fell asleep soon after, where exactly, I did not know at that time.