Philip and the Dragon

By John Paulits

Philip’s teacher gives the class an impossible assignment. He calls it a “scavenger hunt/research project.” Philip blames it on his classmate Cecil, who asked for harder work to do. Philip and Emery team up, and thanks to a combination of inspiration, good luck, and hard work come up with a project the likes of which neither his class nor his teacher has ever seen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC
• Release date: Jun 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781619503106

Book preview

Contents

Copyright Page

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 3

Chapter 6

Chapter 9

About the Author

Philip and the Dragon

by

John Paulits

All rights reserved

Copyright © April 25th, 2017, John Paulits

Cover Art Copyright © 2017, Charlotte Holley

Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC.

Lockhart, TX

www.gypsyshadow.com

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

No part of this book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email, without prior written permission from Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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ISBN: 978-1-61950-310-6

Published in the United States of America

First eBook Edition: June 1, 2017

Dedication

For: Wendy Lee and Jenny Choo

Whose kind words helped make a long career worthwhile, not to mention fun.

Chapter One

Philip glared at Cecil Peabody and poked his best friend Emery, who sat next to him. Emery rolled his eyes and put his head down on his desk.

Emery, Mr. Decker teased. Mr. Decker taught Social Studies and visited the class three times a week. Are you listening to Cecil? You’ll learn some things from him if you do.

Emery picked up his head as Philip stifled a laugh. Nobody in his fourth grade class wanted to learn anything from Cecil Peabody. They wanted to forget about Cecil Peabody. How anybody nine years old could know so much stuff about so many different things boggled Philip’s mind. The mountain of information Cecil had wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was Cecil’s knowing he knew more than anybody else and waving his great big brain around like an American flag so everybody could salute it.

Cecil kept talking. President Kennedy’s most famous speech, perhaps, occurred at the Berlin Wall, a wall erected to separate the free people in West Berlin from the poor Communist people in East Berlin. The speech is commonly known as the ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech.

And where’d Cecil learn to speak English, Philip wondered? Did his family own a dictionary factory? Did he eat Alpha-Bits every morning of his life so he could swallow letters but spit out words?

Gloria Falconi squirmed in her seat. Gloria knew the answer to practically every question any teacher came up with and always tried to get her answer heard before Cecil got his answer heard. They battled every day for attention in class. If a question stumped Gloria, though, Cecil’s arm shot to the sky, and he’d have the right answer on the tip of his tongue. Nothing stumped Cecil.

Mr. Decker glanced at Gloria, then focused his attention back on Cecil.

Very nice, Cecil. You may finish up, Mr. Decker said. We’ll give some others a chance.

Cecil frowned, spouted a few more information-filled sentences, and sat down.

Great job, as usual, Cecil. Who would like to go next? Emery? You got a nice rest when Cecil spoke, so you should be full of pep.

Emery oozed reluctantly to his feet.

Who is your President? Mr. Decker asked.

Richard Milouse Nixon.

"Uh, make sure you put the h in the middle name, Emery. Milhouse. We really need the h in there. And his most famous speech, Emery? Go on. Tell us about it."

Philip snorted as he tried to keep from laughing. The sight of Emery staring at the floor and looking miserable really hit his funny bone. Philip had been called on yesterday and sped through what he’d memorized about the military-industrial complex speech of President Eisenhower. Philip had no idea what he was talking about, but managed to learn eight sentences from a Wikipedia article by heart. Philip thought he’d sounded pretty good, even though by his third sentence, the other kids in the class looked at him as if he were speaking Martian. Stupid Cecil even burst out laughing. Mr. Decker shushed Cecil, and Philip managed to finish his eight sentences and sit down. Having survived his own ordeal, the sufferings of the other kids in the class now provided a source of great relief and entertainment for him.

Emery, you with us? Mr. Decker prodded.

Emery cleared his throat.

"Richard