The locomotive whistled as it zoomed down the track, with realistic smoke coming out of its smokestack, as it pulled a convoy of 12 miscellaneous cars behind it. It had the logo of the Santa Fe railroad on its side.
The changeling, who was wearing a locomotive engineer's hat on his head grinned like a child.
I forgot how cool this was. This is better than video games.
The transformer had dual controls, one for each of the two circuits on the track. A second locomotive, this one with a Union Pacific logo on it, chugged around the track on the inside of the huge layout, cruising past a tiny Burma Shave billboard.
Beast Boy continued grinning as he changed the trains' speeds and pressed the buttons to make their horns whistle.
I wish Chrome Dome could see this.
The two trains came out of curves and by coincidence were side by side on parallel tracks. Up ahead was a switch that allowed the trains to change circuits. An evil grin appeared on Beast Boy's face and he flipped a lever that activated the switch. His grin grew wider as the train on the inner circuit changed tracks, colliding with the other train, causing both to derail.
He leaped up, pumping his right fist in the air.
"That was awesome, I always wanted to do that!" He shouted.
"Would you like some dynamite too, Gomez?" A gravelly monotone spoke from behind him.
The changeling shrieked and fell as he turned around. He landed on his butt, but smiled when he saw it was Raven.
"Whoa! I didn't hear you come in, and who's Gomez?"
"From the Addams Family." She replied. "Gomez Addams."
At first he looked confused, then smiled again.
"Ohh!, you mean that dude in the old TV show who looks like Frankenstein?"
"That would be Herman Munster, from the Munster's TV show, and he looks like Frankenstein's monster, and not like Dr. Frankenstein."
The changeling burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" She frowned.
"I know who they are, Rave; I just didn't think you would. So you do watch TV!"
She crossed her arms. "I sometimes watch TV with Starfire in her room. For some odd reason, like you, she thought it was amusing when Gomez would dynamite his model trains and make them crash."
"Hey, I didn't blow up the track, though I always thought it was cool when Gomez blew his up."
Raven reached over an picked up one of the locomotives. It was made of steel and had some heft to it.
"Gar, do you any idea of how much one of these costs? I asked Rita, she said they're about $1000 each. These aren't cheap toys, they're collectibles, they don't make them any more. I can't believe that you intentionally crashed them. They could have been damaged."
She place the locomotives back on the tracks and restored the derailed cars. She shook her head. "You just crashed thousands of dollars worth of model trains."
He turned the levers and each train, now back in its own circuit, resumed running.
"They're fine … but you don't seem fine, are you OK?" He asked her.
She removed her cape and sat down on the edge of their bed, allowing herself to fall backward on it.
"I just met the dress designer. I showed her and Rita the wedding picture from the future. They both ignored it. Instead, Miss Inga Syverson began to design a new one on a sketch pad. It was nice, but I don't want that one, I want the one in the photo and I told them … and you know what she said?"
"Oh oh … what did she say?"
"Syverson said that I 'looked common' in it."
"Oh snap … so what did you do … send her to another dimension?"
"No, though I was seriously tempted; but I did dig my heels in."
"Why?" He asked.
"Why? Because I picked that dress in the future!"
"Uh … we kinda don't know that."
"What do you mean?" She snapped at him. "Of course I would pick my wedding dress."
He raised his hands in a defensive gesture.
"Well, yeah … you probably did … but what if you didn't? What if our wedding was … you know … sudden and maybe that's the only one we could get … you know … like maybe it was borrowed or something?"
Raven's eyes widened. "I didn't think of that ..."
He grabbed a copy of the picture from a desk. He sat down beside her and also dropped onto his back. He held the picture up in the air, where they could both see it.
"Are you sure this is the dress you would have picked? I mean, it looks nice and stuff, but do you really think you would have chosen this one?"
She took the photo from him and looked at it.
"Now that you mention it, I see what you mean."
He rolled over and pecked her on the cheek. "Did the dress she sketched look nice?"
She sighed. "Actually, it did … it was gorgeous."
"So let Syverson make you that dress. She's good Rave, she designs everything for Rita and a lot of other richies here in the Hamptons; she's one of the best."
"You're right … oh Gar, I made a fool of myself."
"Nah, you were just being stubborn."
"I still came across as a bumpkin who doesn't know better."
"What was the last thing you said to her?"
"Ugh … that I'd think about it."
"Then what's the problem?" He asked as he used his teeth to pull off his gloves, which he tossed aside.
"The problem is … what are you doing?" Her voice warbled.
He was running his bare hand down the inside of her thigh.
"I'm going to turn your frown upside down, mama."
"Is that your answer for …" she suddenly gasped and inhaled deeply " … what are you doing to me?"
"Something really nice." He purred in a seductive voice.
Her whole body was already quivering.
"We've barely been married for over a week." Her voice continued to warble. "When did you learn how to do this to me?"
"You taught me … but if you want I can stop."
"Stop and you're a dead man." She gasped as she began to kiss him.
-( - )-
A few floors below, in Mento's study …
Rita barged into her husband's office. He was seated in front of a computer with six screens, analyzing Dayton Enterprises financial holdings, a task which was overdue. Rita sat down next to him.
"So, did you get a dress picked for her yet?"
"Nope, she's being stubborn about that tacky dress she's wearing in the photo. Inga told me before she left that she will convince her to go with one of her designs."
Mento shrugged. "Well, we can't blame her, she was raised in a barn after all."
Rita laughed. "That's not true, she's from Azarath."
"A world full of monks and nuns who wear habits and hooded capes. I rest my case."
"Azarath was quite magnificent before it was destroyed. I asked Wayne to send me whatever info he had on the place. It was quite a place."
"Well, I guess you have it all under control and ..." He grimaced and quickly removed his special helmet.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
"Ugh … they're at it again."
"Uh … translation please?"
He heaved a sigh. "They're in bed, again."
Rita smiled. "Well, from what I've heard, that's what married couples do."
"It's the second time today, and you know they will be at it again tonight."
"So?" She said with a twinkle of mischief in her voice.
"Three times in one day?"
"You have a selective memory, don't you?"
"What are you talking about, Rita? We never ..."
"Our honeymoon, in the villa in Mykonos."
"Yes, I remember our Greek honeymoon."
Rita raised her hand, showing four fingers. "Our first whole day there."
"No we did not!"
"Oh yes we did … Steve … they're young … of course they will."
"And I suppose that I'm an old fuddy dud."
She took his hand. "Oh I wouldn't say that."
He looked at the screens, with all the unfinished work on them. He then looked back at his wife. He rose from his chair smiled.
"You can be very persuasive."
They left his office hand in hand and walked down the long hallway to their master suite. They entered and closed the door behind them. The lock was set and made a loud click which echoed down the hallway.
Diggory was at the far end of the hall. As soon as he heard the lock click he pulled out his smartphone and sent a text to the manor staff.
The masters are in their suite. Do not disturb them until they emerge.
As he walked back to the stairs he mumbled to himself: "It's about time."
-( - )-
The next morning ...
Raven arrived by herself in the dining room, where breakfast was being served. Rita was already seated, having her own breakfast. A maid came in and asked what she would like to have. Raven asked for Belgian style waffles and Earl Gray tea.
"Good morning." Rita greeted her.
"Good morning." Raven replied. "Rita, after talking things over with Gar, I think I will give Ms. Syverson a chance to design my wedding dress after all.
"Wonderful! I'll ask her to come back this afternoon."
Rita noticed the subtlest of smiles on Raven's face.
"Did you and Garfield sleep well last night?"
"We did, we slept very well." Raven chuckled. "I have something I want to share ..."
"Yes?"
"Well, you see … I've been missing Gar's goofy side. Ever since we got back from the trip to the future he's been very serious. I don't really mind that, I always knew that he was smarter than he let on, but I was missing his more playful side."
"I see, and?"
"Well, you're not going to believe this … I caught him crashing his model trains on purpose."
Rita burst out laughing.
"When we gave him that set for his birthday, we expressly told him that he wasn't allowed to do that. He used to love watching The Addams Family, just to watch Gomez blow up his trains. I had to take those DVDs away from him."
Raven chuckled. "I'll bet you never thought he would marry a real world Morticia Addams."
"Oh Raven, don't be silly."
"It's OK, Rita … I know that I'm … different."
"And so is Garfield, and you are a perfect couple."
"I had a crush on him since the day I met him, but I had so many hang ups that I wouldn't admit it to myself, at least not until after ..." Her voice trailed off.
"After what?"
"Until a smooth talking jerk used me to get what he wanted."
"Oh Raven, I didn't know ..."
"No, it's not what you think, he didn't seduce me or get me into bed. He was a criminal who got me to release him from a curse … but after I found out that he used me, I became a recluse, ashamed and embarrassed with myself. That's when Gar came to my rescue. I almost didn't realize it, but that's when I knew loved him, of course I was too shy to tell him … but after the trip to the future, well, there was nothing left to hide … Rita, these are for you."
Raven handed copies of Mark and Coraline's pictures to Rita, whose eyes began to well up as she looked at them.
"Raven … the children ... they're beautiful."
"Every day my heart aches to hold them again in my arms." Raven's voice warbled.
Rita wiped away the tears on her face.
"I can't wait to hold them for the first time."
Rita smiled and wiped away the rest of her tears.
"We still have another 1500 people to go through, are you ready?"
The maid showed up with Raven's breakfast.
"We can start right now while I eat."
They were done before lunch.
-( - )-
For those of you not familiar with the Addams Family, it was a comic strip in the New Yorker magazine about an eccentric and creepy family that was later made into an iconic TV show in the 1960's and a series of movies later in the 1990's.
If you want to watch Gomez crash his model trains, go to youtube and search for "gomez addams train wreck"
Gomez was portrayed by John Astin, who is Sean Astin's (Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings) father. Raul Julia portrayed him in the movies. Personally I like the TV show more.