Not All Human, Chapter 2

“You’re a very talented young man, Marco.”
“Thank you, Mrs. McCarthy.”
The frail woman examined the many shelves full of sculpted animals and objects. She picked up a shiny blue glass dolphin and uttered to herself, “This will really brighten up the office…”
She waltzed over to the checkout where Marco was waiting. “Will that be all?” He asked as Mrs. McCarthy handed him the figure.
A bright and flashy commercial came on the television on the other side of the shop. A blonde man in a red suit and a green reptilian beast took center stage, and the man said something (although Marco couldn’t hear it on account of the TV being muted.) Hastily, Marco snatched the remote and turned up the volume.

“...ever wanted to see a dragon in the flesh-- or should I say, scales?” The man boomed. “Well, now you can! Shows are every Tuesday and Friday! Buy your tickets before they sell out!”

Marco flinched. A real dragon? That wasn’t remotely possible. Sure, the dragon in the commercial looked real-- heck, the poor thing looked like it didn’t even know how to walk-- but it was most likely computer generated.
“Wait, I’ve seen that man before,” Marco said, pointing at the screen. “He came by the other day and bought a clay gryphon from me. Said his name was Toby.”
“You sure his name was Toby?” Mrs. McCarthy asked, raising an eyebrow. “I used to work with a guy who looked just like that, but his name was Dante. In the labs, y’know? He had a thing for mythical animals. ”
“Did he experiment on lizards or something?” Marco inquired as Mrs. McCarthy finished paying him for the sculpture.
“No, mostly mice and rats. He was more interested in turning mammals into reptiles. Poor things,” Mrs. McCarthy shook her head. “Dante practically tortured them. I can’t imagine what it feels like to become a monster.”
“He turned the rats into monsters?” Marco’s eyes widened. The dragon on TV must’ve been one of Dante’s experiments. Marco couldn’t help but feel bad.
Mrs. McCarthy chuckled nervously. “Well, okay. Not literal monsters. But most of his test trials failed miserably, resulting in disfigured critters. Good thing he always had an antidote at hand.”
Marco furrowed his brow. “An antidote?”
“Oh, sure. I guess Dante was scared he’d accidentally put his tests into himself and wouldn’t be able to change back.” She fiddled with the glass dolphin. “He was fired a few months back, anyhow. Although, they never did get rid of his belongings…”
She continued talking, but Marco wasn’t paying attention. He was lost in his own trail of thoughts, pondering what Dante had done to the dragon on the commercial.
“Oh, Marco!” Mrs. McCarthy exclaimed, snapping him back into reality. “I really must be going. I wouldn’t want to take up any more of your time, eh?” She made her way to the door. “If you need anything, just call me!”
Marco waved until she was out of sight. He sighed. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Mrs. McCarthy, but she tended to drone on about her personal life. She’d come by every few weeks to check on how Marco was doing (usually at the last minute, when his shop was about to close) and buy a sculpture from him. He assumed she had at least twenty of his creations already.
As Marco turned off all the lights and locked the door, he noticed something. Someone had put a small yellow piece of paper on the windshield of his car. A parking ticket? He thought, his heart pounding in his throat. How? I park here every time…
Fortunately, it was some sort of a gift card depicting a cartoon dragon. On it read:

“Today’s your lucky day! This voucher is good for one viewing of the show!”

Marco inhaled, thankful it wasn’t a parking ticket. Still, he wondered who could have put it there. It was almost as if somebody had watched him through the window, seen he’d been watching that commercial, and generously given him a free trip there.
He had to admit, he wasn’t really interested in going. What could a dragon really do, anyway? Maybe fly in the air, do a few tricks, and then show’s over.
“Weird,” Marco muttered. “I could probably give this to one of my neighbors.” He thumbed the voucher for a minute. Maybe he would go. It was free, after all. He looked at the location written on the card. It wasn’t far from his house.
And he could always take the day off.
“I guess I could use a vacation,” Marco mumbled.