Zeuglodon by James P. Blaylock

Author:James P. Blaylock [Blaylock, James P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Published: 2012-08-23T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

St. George and the Dragon

That’s how we came to find ourselves, the three of us and Hasbro along with Mr. Lemuel Wattsbury, motoring north toward Bowness-on-Windermere, the Wattsbury bailiwick. The Mermaid was sitting snugly in the trunk of the car and the trunk tied shut with a rope. Her exhibit box had been crated up into an even larger box, which said “Wheelchair” on the outside and “Manchester Theatre Company” below that. That was Charlie Slimmerman’s idea—to disguise it.

Mr. Wattsbury and his wife Susan keep the St. George Lodge. Perhaps you can figure out from the name of their hotel that they’re particular allies of Uncle Hedge and the Guild of St. George. But the Wattsburies aren’t officers in the Guild—not like Uncle Hedge is an officer in the Guild. As is true of Mr. Vegeley, the Wattsburies are…helper-outers, you might say. Or perhaps you wouldn’t. Mr. Wattsbury has a bald and very round head. Brendan said it looked like a pumpkin, but I don’t think that’s kind, and I told him so. Mr. Wattsbury is amazingly literary and has read nearly everything there is to read, most of it twice and some of it three times, just for good measure. He told us in strict confidence that armchairs agree with him, and that the more time he can spend in one, the better he feels. He also told us that he is most decidedly not a man of action, but had always wanted to be a “wit.” He said that when he tries to be a man of action, like Uncle Hedge, he generally turns out to be a halfwit, and so he avoids it.

The St. George Lodge is ever so much nicer than American hotels, because it’s really just a big house, and the Wattsburies live there the year round and are always bustling up and down stairs and cooking and watching the television, and taking care of the guests, and going into Windermere to the market for that evening’s supper, and so you feel like company instead of like you’re just passing through on your way to someplace else.

There’s a window in the front of the lodge that’s prodigiously old and is made of stained and leaded glass. On it there’s a picture of St. George slaying the dragon and rescuing the princess. Perry said it was just like Michael the archangel striking down Lucifer during the war in heaven, except that Michael would have had angel wings and also in heaven there wasn’t any princess, although I don’t quite see why there shouldn’t have been. Maybe she was home cooking and sewing. Mr. Wattsbury told us that when we set out to slay the dragon it’s pretty much always the same thing, princess or no princess. I’m certain he’s right, because it sounds so incredibly wise.

Just inside the door of the St. George, there’s a cast iron Humpty Dumpty that’s immensely heavy and is meant as a sort of greeter. It’s amazingly like the Dumpty on the radio shed, and I told Mr.

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