Dragon and Slave

His Ticket Out of Here It took a little more work and ingenuity to assemble the props he needed for his show. If everything worked as he planned, he'd be able to leave the slave fields. It all hinged on Crampatch's spoiled daughter, if she showed, and he impressed her, he'd have his meal ticket punched to Crampatch's mansion. He went through his tricks. The slaves were loving it; but to Jack's increasingly worried annoyance, the audience he'd really hoped for was nowhere in sight. He kept the show going for over an hour before privately giving up, and was on his last few lines of patter when he turned casually back to the table, spotting an approaching car. And in it were Crampatch and his spoiled daughter. Here to pick up a new toy. This was his chance. For his grand finale, he launched into his most complex juggling routine, following it with his best card and rope tricks. The audience exploded into a wild racket of applause, cries, hoots, grunts, whistles, and squawks. Crampatch's right-hand man bulled his way through the dispersing crowd. "Crampatch's daughter wants a new toy. You're it." "I'm honored," Jack said. "Don't be," the man warned. "You think you're treated badly out here, just wait until you get into the house."Zahn, Timothy is the author of 'Dragon and Slave', published 2006 under ISBN 9780765340412 and ISBN 0765340410.