Story by Jill

Jack sat at the witness stand. A cold trickle of sweat ran down his forehead as he tried not to make eye contact with the scowling jurors. He fidgeted with the cuff links on his best Italian suit, then forced his hands to still and placed them on his knees. His lawyer had told him such habits would make him look guilty. For that matter, so would avoiding eye contact with the jurors. He planted a tight-lipped smile on his face and looked up to meet the gaze of a bespectacled old lady in the first row. The grandmotherly woman's scowl deepened and she gave a slight shake of her graying head. Jack quickly dropped his eyes back to his hands and began fidgeting again.

“Mr. Paper.” Said the prosecuting attorney, drawing out each syllable, as he casually rested one arm on the railing and gave Jack an “I'm your friend and you can trust me,” smile. “Please explain to the court your relationship with Puff.”

Jack took a deep breath and began slowly just as he had rehearsed. “It was strictly a business relationship. I was starting my import/export business and Puff provided necessary services. We weren't friends. We were business partners. Look, no one was more upset than I was when I heard the news about Puff.”

“That may be so, but you had an obligation to Puff which you did not uphold. Puff certainly thought your involvement was more than just professional.”

“I made my intentions clear from the start.” Jack said, anger beginning to rise in his voice.

“Oh yes? Do you often 'frolic' with your employees, Mr. Paper?”

“Frolic! That's preposterous, I do not 'frolic' with anyone!”

“Is that so? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I assure you, I can, and will, bring in a whole stream of witnesses that will testify to the fact that they have seen Mr. Paper and Puff frolic on any number of occasions.”

“It's ridiculous. We were never friends! I don't know who you think you are but I am the president, CEO, CFO and CTO of Honah Lee's largest import/export company and my relationship with Puff was purely professional. I can't be held responsible if my imaginary dragon thought it came down to anything more than business.”

“You said, 'your imaginary dragon'. You admit then? You created Puff?”

“Of course I created him. He was a dragon. How many of those do you see just walking around? But I created him in order to provide necessary services. It's no different than a child creating an imaginary friend to stave off loneliness.”

“Back up a moment Mr. Paper, what were those 'necessary services' you mentioned?”

“Puff introduced me to the local nobles, provided transportation and helped chase the pirates out of the water.”

“The pirates?” Inquired the attorney cocking an eyebrow. “Sounds dangerous.”

“Not at all,” said Jack, glad he could touch on this subject. “Before J. Paper Imports began, Honah Lee was overrun by pirates, but when they saw Puff coming they put down their flags and ran for open waters.”

“I see. Not dangerous, but with their flags down, how could you tell they were pirates and not honest traders? Did you actually see any pirate flags? Or did you always just miss them?”

“Um...I guess I just missed them.” Jack fidgeted even more.

“That's alright Mr. Paper. No harm done. So, your relationship with Puff was strictly business.”

“Yes, as I've already told you.”

“So you did. Please, humor me. Being a business relationship, you provided adequate compensation for the services rendered?”

“Of course.”

“And what compensation did you provide?”

“Only the finest strings, sealing wax, and other fancy stuff.”

“Fancy stuff. Strings,” Said the prosecutor. “You think that is adequate compensation for eliminating your competition and providing networking opportunities with kings and princes! What is this 'other fancy stuff' that made a business relationship with you worthwhile to a dragon?”

“Imaginary Q-Tips,” Jack said, his face free of all expression, “for his imaginary earwax. Dragons have a huge problem with earwax. It can cause imaginary infections, which can only be treated by imaginary doctors with imaginary antibiotics. Very hard to come by, imaginary doctors. So, of course, the imaginary Q-Tips are worth their weight in gold to the imaginary community.”

“Mr. Paper, that's ridiculous. I will not stand by while you make a mockery of this court.”

“I thought that we had established that Puff was created from my imagination. I imagined that he would want to be paid in Q-Tips.”

“Be that as it may, Q-Tips fit no one's definition of 'fancy stuff.'”

“Uh...we also had a profit sharing program. Puff knew J. Paper wasn't worth much yet, but I was going to start a profit sharing program just as soon as we were up and running.”

“But Puff didn't live long enough to see that success, did he?”

Jack didn't know what to say, so he remained silent. He glanced up at his lawyer and saw he hadn't quite woken up from his nap. That was when Jack began to rethink his decision to use a public defender instead of shelling out the money for a defense attorney who had actually won a case.

“On the morning of October 14th Puff was found dead in his cave, sprawled in a pool of his own scales. He won't be chasing pirates any more, will he? He won't be collecting any of those profits either.” The lawyer shook his head and pursed his lips, giving the jury a moment to think about what he had said. “Where were you on the night of October 13th, Mr. Paper?”

“I was working late, putting together a quarterly budget plan with some of my sailing ship captains.” Jack was confident about this answer. He had at least seven witnesses that would say he wasn't anywhere near Puff's cave.

“Exactly! Where were you when your friend needed you? You created him, you used him, and then, when you got tired of him, you threw him out like yesterdays news. You imagined every aspect of Puff and knew full well what ignoring him would do. It was your failsafe. You built it in to Puff from creation. Just ignore him and the problem would go away. You, Mr. Paper, are a murderer! You killed Puff so you wouldn't have to share a dime with anyone!”

Jack finally lost his cool. “You re wrong! I didn't care about the money. I would have given him twice his share if he would have just left me alone. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have an imaginary dragon following you everywhere? How am I supposed to be respectable with 'Puff the Magic Dragon' as a business partner? I had to disbelieve him. I had no other choice. He was bad for business.”

Jack looked at the jury, at the judge, and at his napping lawyer. He knew he'd said too much, knew what the verdict would be. Why not just admit it now and forget the rest of this charade? He began to chuckle softly and sang to himself. “Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea...”