Small world, small Texans and small dragons

Today while Tom and Helen were helping John set up his bank account before he leaves for Austin and law school, I went into a little shop across from the bank that I knew had small stuffed dragons. While I was looking at them, two small girls -- granddaughters of the owner -- decided to explain all about the dragons to me and help me select the proper one to add to my collection.

Although they came in various sizes (I got the smallest, least expensive one, of course), there were basically three designs. The dragons look pretty much the same except for the color (pink, blue and green) and the shape of the tail. Here they are.

This is a girl dragon, I was told, and I assumed this is because she is pink. However, this green one

is a boy dragon. Finally, the blue dragon
is a boy-girl dragon.

They girls assured me that the way you could tell was not the color of the dragon, but the shape of the tail. The plain tail is a sign of a girl, the forked tail is a boy and the heart-shaped tail is a boy-girl. Neither one seemed the least bit surprised that there should be such a thing as a boy-girl dragon nor that the color blue, normally reserved for boys, should have had nothing to do with dragons at all. Their grandmother just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well, now we know about dragon genders."

I was wearing my Texas Law t-shirt in John's honor, and the older girl (maybe eight) was visiting from Texas, as it turns out, from Austin in particular. Her mother, who was listening in from the other room, is the person who designs the ongoing legal education program for the State Bar of Texas. Tom came in to get me and so we had a lawyer, who lives in Wisconsin Dells and is sending his son, who lives in Illinois, off to law school in Austin, Texas, running into a lawyer from Austin, Texas in a dragon shop in Baraboo.

While the two lawyers chatted, I bought my dragon and asked my little friend to say hello to Texas for me when she gets home.

It's a small world after all.

PS -- The dragons were 30% off, too. Great day!