Dorje Druk

3. Dragon Tales

The early morning sun woke Frederich "Panzer" from his dreams. It was the same one he had last night, the one where a dog spoke to him.  He stood and stretched, nearly hitting the ceiling. Being a seven foot tall dragon this was too common. Panzer made his way downstairs where his parents were already up with breakfast nearly done. "Guten morgen liebling" his mother said as he slid into a seat. His parents were from Germany and he was the first in his family to be born in the United States. As far as he knew they were the only non Americans in Lafayette, Indiana. His father flipped through the newspaper, more terrorist attacks abroad including a riot started by Christians in India against a group of Buddhist monks. He honestly could not care less as long as it was not the other way around. "What  you doing today?" his father asked practicing his English. "The usual, go to work and probably go out tonight." he replied. Panzer worked at a local auto mechanic shop in town, Jack's Auto Mechanic. After a long week he liked going out with the guys at work. At 17 he could not legally drink but being a German that was commonly ignored. He ate his breakfast and made the drive to work with his favorite band, Brand Hall, playing on the radio.

That day the work load was more than usual. On a good day they may get 10 cars to work on but today it was pushing 20. The weather also started to worsen from sunny to cloudy and windy. "Storm's brewing. Looks like a doozy" he heard one of his coworkers say. "Tell me about it. I pity anyone that has to walk in it. They are going to be soaked." he replied as he fixed an engine. A few minutes later the clouds went from a light grey to almost black. The wind picked up and thunder was booming loudly. Surprisingly, his phone did not blow up with weather alerts or even the ever common tornado watch. When the weather worsened, no more cars showed up despite there being an hour of work left. He was tempted to leave early but he did not want to have his boss breathing down his neck. 

Five came after what seemed like an eternity. He was on desk duty in the waiting area for the final hour and he was hoping no one would come in at the last minute. As he started packing some things up he heard the door to the waiting area and he let out a not so quiet groan at this inconvenience. He turned around and gave the pitch "Welcome to Jack's Auto Repairs. How may I help you?". He looked over the two that were in the waiting area as they were not something you saw everyday in the ass end of Indiana. Standing in front of him were two maroon clad monks. One was a golden retriever and the other was a brown wolf. They fumbled for words but they gave up and chose to bow then prostrate in front of him. He backed away a bit in surprise at these two weirdos "Ummm may I help you?". The brown wolf got up and said "Brightest blessings of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha to you Venerable Frederich Baumann, the Dorje Druk. We need to talk".

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Rangwang and Gedhun first met with an oracle before they left. They made an offering to the young nun, who claimed she had visions and could even talk to the dead. Rangwang told her his dreams and asked where he should go next. She nodded and went into a meditative trance. Gedhun being a junior monk was taken aback at her appearance. She was a black cat with yellow eyes. On her body she marked herself with various sigils as a means of protection. At her foot she had a skull bowl and a kangling, a whistle made from a thigh bone. She twitched a bit then opened her yellow eyes. She spoke in a soft but powerful voice "Venerable monks, you must go to the land of the Red Man...America. The Druk is at that place called Jack's in a place that used to have the Red Man but is now populated by the Westerners..Make haste as Mara has infected him with false beliefs since childhood...Venerable Rangwang, you must guide him on the path". Rangwang bowed and replied "Thank you Venerable Oracle. May you live long".

They left the monastery around late afternoon and went into Dharamshala to start researching. They found an internet cafe and looked up "Red Man state. United States of America". After doing some digging they narrowed the search down based on the name Jack's. "Let's see..There's a lot of Jack's Mechanics. The Oracle said it was in a place that is now mostly Westerners but, the Red Man did live there..That only narrows us down to much of the central and southwestern portions." Gedhun scrolled some more and his eyes widened. His tail wagged and he almost shouted in excitement "Rangwang! I think I know where he is. You see there is a place called Jack's Mechanic in Brazil. I think we might be going to beautiful Brazil. Oh my the Druk is in one of the most lovely countries ever!". Rangwang looked over and read the location, it was in Brazil Indiana. "Umm Gedhun...This is in a place called Indianan, not the country". Gedhun shrugged and kept looking. Suddenly, Rangwang remembered a part of his dream that mentioned a place named after the Indian. This had to be the place. He copied the address and did some more research. He found a picture of the staff on a social media post. Alas, no dragons were part of the staff. Frustrated after almost three hours of research he went to the second place named Jack's in that state. This one was in Lafayette. He found a picture of the place and what he saw nearly made him cheer. On the staff was a dragon! He wrote the address down and asked the person behind the counter to place a call to his monastery. His abbot answered and was shocked at how excited Rangwang sounded "Venerable one! Venerable one! We found it! A little town named Lafayette in Indiana! The Oracle said to go to the land of the Red Man which is America! Sir we have to get there quick as Mara has already poisoned his thinking with delusions." The abbot calmly replied "Get a flight there as soon as possible."

They were able to get a flight the next day out of New Delhi to Indianapolis. They had their meager possessions and  their orders. They called ahead to a temple just outside of Indianapolis that they would be staying the night with a guest. After flying the 23 hour flight they made their way first to the temple to check in with their abbot that they made it and would begin searching for the Druk. They got about three hours of sleep before they made the hour long drive to Layette with two western monks. They parked near the campus of Purdue University and looked around to see if he was a pedestrian by chance. After a few minutes Rangwang and Gedhun set out on foot to find the place. They stopped a young student and asked him how to find Jack's Mechanic. The student told them where to go with a puzzled expression on his face that two monks were in town. They thanked him and made their way over. The weather began taking a turn for the worst as they were three blocks away, Mara knew they were coming and wanted to mess with them. They arrived and saw the Druk. He was easily seven foot tall, covered in grey fur and had piercing yellow eyes. He was in an oil stained mechanic uniform and was packing up for the night. The two monks made their way inside and stopped, frozen in pure excitement at meeting a Druk. What was thought to be a legend was true now. The dragon turned around and said in a frustrated tone "Welcome to Jack's Auto Repairs. How may I help you?" Rangwang cleared his throat but he bowed and then prostrated to the Druk. He saw that he was surprised and even frightened at this dramatic entrance. Panzer said "Ummm may I help you?" as he backed away. Rangwang and Gedhun stood up and smiled at him. Rangwang said to the now confused dragon "Brightest blessings of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha to you Venerable Frederich Baumann, the Dorje Druk. We need to talk". The dragon flopped in a chair and looked at them puzzled "Look guys...I'm about to close up shop. Is it really important?" Rangwang replied "We've been searching for you and yes this is serious...Nothing to take lightly". Panzer sighed and replied tiredly "Look, if it really is important meet me in that coffee shop and for the love of God make t quick. It's the weekend and I have plans". The two nodded and left for the coffee shop.