The Monkees looked warily out of the train window and gazed around at the very small town around them.

"We've got an hours delay here in Hazard," The conductor said to the passengers, opening the door of the train. "Be back here at 12:00 noon, and then it's on to Blackburg, Virginia!"

"Alright, guys," Mike said as they moved to exit the train. "You know I'm not usually superstitious. But with the trip we've been having, I want you all to be extra careful. Just our luck that something bad would happen in a town called Hazard."

"Got it," Davy said.

"Got it," Micky repeated.

Peter tripped as he stepped off the train, landing on his face.

"Got it," he said as the other Monkees helped him to his feet.

"Well, this couldn't have gotten off to a worse start," Micky said.

"Oh, why'd you say that!?" Davy groaned. "Now you've jinxed it!"

Surprisingly, however, the hour went by with no mishaps, aside from Micky spilling some soda on his jacket, which wasn't so much bad luck as it was Micky being goofy and clumsy as usual.

It wasn't until they went to get back on the train when their real bad luck started.

"Hey Mike, have you seen my ticket?" Micky asked, searching his pockets. Mike put his hand on his forehead.

"Don't tell me you lost it," he said.

"Okay," Micky said, resuming the search of his pockets in silence.

"Well?" Mike asked after a moment.

"You said not to tell you I'd lost it," Micky said innocently.

"Micky!" Mike groaned. "How could you have lost your ticket? Didn't I tell you all to be extra careful?"

"Yeah, I was careful," Micky said defensively. "I was really careful! I even made sure to take it out of my pocket and set it on the bathroom counter when I cleaned all the soda off my jacket!"

"Oh, Micky," Mike said. "You probably left it on the counter!"

"Well, I could run back and get it," Micky said.

"No, we don't have time for that," Mike said. "We'll just have to buy you another ticket."

With that, he led the way to the ticket counter. "One ticket to Blackburg, Virginia, please," Mike requested.

The ticket master was an old man, he looked to be about 80 years old.

"Wha' was tha', shonny?" He said with a pronounceable lisp.

"I said, one ticket to Blackburg, please," Mike said, slightly louder.

"Oh, juss wait a shecond," The man said, turning around slowly. Shuffling over to a shelf, he picked up an old fashioned hearing aid. He turned back to the boys slowly, shuffled back to the window, and then, with a smile, he lifted the hearing aid up to his ear, and held the wider end up to Mike. "Shay it again, shonny?" He said.

"We'll take one ticket to Blackburg, please!" Mike said into the hearing aid.

"What'sh that?" The man said.

"I said- I said one ticket to Blackburg!" Mike said, raising his voice even louder.

"Huh?" The old man said.

"ONE TICKET TO BLACKBURG!" Mike yelled into the hearing aid.

"Oh, why didn'tshu shay sho?" The man said with a chuckle.

Slowly turning around, the old man shuffled over to another shelf.

Straining slightly, the man reached up and grabbed a ticket. Then he slowly turned and shuffled back to the window.

"Here ya go, shonny," he said. "That'll be ten dollarsh!"

"About time," Mike said, reaching into his pocket. "Oh no..."

"What? What is it?" Davy asked him.

Mike turned to the rest of the group. "You guys haven't seen my wallet, have you?" He asked.

"Well, this couldn't possibly get any worse," Micky said.

The others rolled their eyes as thunder clapped overhead.

"You know, there are some phrases I should just stay away from," Micky grumbled.

"You think?" The other three Monkees said together.

They all made their way to a diner down the street to get out of the rain and discuss what they were going to do about the lost wallet and ticket.

"We could retrace our steps," Peter suggested. "Walk around town to all the places we went, and then maybe we'd find your wallet."

"That would take too long, though," Davy said. "We'd miss the train."

A whistle sounded outside, and Mike looked at his watch.

"Too late," he said. "The hour's up. The train's leaving without us."

"Man, I'm sorry I made you all miss the train," Micky said.

"That's alright, Micky," said Peter. "If you hadn't lost your ticket, we would never have realized Mike's wallet was gone, and we'd be on our way to Virginia with no money at all."

"Either that or I left my wallet on the train," Mike said. "And now we're stuck in Hazard with no money at all."

They all thought on this for a second. "What about our luggage?" Davy asked suddenly. "Do you think it got left on the train?"

"Let's hope not," Mike said. "But if it was, we'll just have to try and get most of it back whenever we make it to Virginia. In the meantime, we've got to try and come up with a way to make enough money to get anywhere at all."

"Right," Micky said. "The best way to make money, for us anyway, is to perform. So let's head down to the station and cross our fingers that some mistake caused our instruments to be left behind."

At the station, they were pleased to see that the train had indeed left their luggage behind. The conductor, a friendly man who had talked to the boys, had noticed that they were late and had their luggage sent to the baggage claim area, along with a note apologizing for leaving them behind and wishing them luck on the rest of their trip.

"Well, wasn't that thoughtful?" Peter said with a smile, slinging his duffel bag over his shoulder and picking up the case with his bass in it.

"Yeah, it was nice of him," Mike said, picking up his own guitar case. "The only thing is, what are we going to do with all our luggage while we try to earn some money?"

"Well, that guy at the diner was pretty groovy," Davy said. "Maybe he'd let us drop our luggage off there for awhile."

Mike sighed. "It's worth a shot," he said. "Let's go."

The owner of the diner was, as Davy had said, pretty groovy. So the four of them dropped off all their luggage and then discussed their next course of action.

"Right, then," Mike said. "It'll be near on impossible to get a gig on such short notice. So the fastest way to make money would be to busk at the station."

"I still don't think we'll make money very fast," Micky said.

"Why's that?" Asked Peter.

"This town is tiny," Micky responded. "I've only seen about three people on the street since we got here."

"Well, let's go down to the station and get set up anyway," Mike said. "Maybe there'll be a crowd when the next train comes in."

The next train didn't come in for another hour, but as soon as the doors opened, the Monkees started playing as if they were in front of an audience of millions.

Most people ignored them, but a few stood around for awhile and seemed to enjoy it, so when the song was over, Mike took off his hat and held it out to the few that stopped.

One lady dropped in a quarter and another man dropped in two dimes. A little girl ran up with a shy smile to give Mike her prized nickel, and another lady generously gave fifty cents.

"Well," Micky said when the crowd died down and the station was once again empty. "We've been here for an hour and we've made a dollar. I say we should give up."

"Now, Micky, we can't give up now," Mike said. "So we didn't do too well this first time. Maybe next time we'll have more luck."

After an hour, the next train came in, and they did indeed have more luck. This time, the earned a dollar and sixty-two cents.

"So after two hours, we've got two dollars and sixty-two cents," Micky said. "Can we give up now?"

"No, we'll try one more time," Mike said. "You know what they say; third time's the charm."

An hour later found them playing their very best and earning nothing more than a smile and five cents.

"Well, I'd say it's about time we gave up," Mike said as the train sped away, taking most of their audience with it.

"Give up!?" Said a voice, and the Monkees all turned around to see a man standing there, watching them in shock.

"Why would you give up?!" He asked. "I just got here, and the end of that song was amazing! Sing it again, please?"

Mike looked at the others. They didn't see much point in playing for an audience of one, but Mike nodded that they would go ahead and play. If the man liked them so much, maybe they'd get another fifty cents out of him, and that would still be fifty cents closer to reaching Connecticut.

So they played the song again, they had been singing Pleasant Valley Sunday. The man watched them eagerly, and when they were done, he clapped enthusiastically.

"Bravo!" He said. "Brava! Bravissimo!"

"I think we found a nutjob," Davy whispered to Peter, who shook his head with a chuckle.

"That's not very nice," He whispered back.

The man hadn't heard them, however, and he walked up to Mike and held out his hand.

"My name is Eric J. Wetherringtonsonheimer," he said.

"Oh, really?" Mike asked, blinking in astonishment. "Uh, I'm Michael Nesmith, That's Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork. We're the Monkees."

"Yes, excellent," said Eric J. Wetherringtonsonheimer. "Capital, capital! You see, I am the owner of a small club here in Hazard. It's called The Hazard Dance Club!"

"Catchy name," Micky said, a little sarcastically. Mike shot him a look.

"Yes, I thought so myself," Eric said, oblivious to the sarcasm. "But you see, the local band that was supposed to play tonight had to cancel due to the flu epidemic that's been going around town, and there are no other bands in town to take their place."

"Oh, well, gee, that's too bad," Mike said, although he was really thinking that the news couldn't have come at a better time.

"Yes, poor boys, they were so looking forward to it," Eric said. "But, you four couldn't have shown up at a better time! How would you like to play at The Hazard Dance Club tonight?"

"How much are you willing to pay us?" Mike asked.

Eric chuckled. "Well, my boy, for music like that, I'd be willing to pay a hundred dollars, twenty-five for each of you!"

Mike looked at the others, then turned back to Eric. "Well do it," the four of them said simultaneously.

"Excellent!" Eric said. "Be there tonight at six to get set up, the concert starts at eight, play as long as you feel able, and I'll go do some last minute advertising. Hoo hoo, with out-of-town musicians, I'll be sure to draw in quite the crowd!"

With that, Eric J. Wetherringtonsonheimer hurried off.

"That was lucky," Mike said.

"Yeah," Davy agreed. "But there's just one thing he forgot to tell us."

"Yeah, what's that?" Micky asked.

"We have no idea where The Hazard Dance Club is," Davy responded.

Micky groaned. "Oh yeah..."

The club wasn't all that hard to find, however. The Monkees just walked around town for awhile until they came across it. They had two and a half hours before they were supposed to show up, however, so they went back to the diner to hang out until then.

Even though they didn't have money with them, the owner gave them dinner and sodas once he heard they were scheduled to play a gig at the dance club, taking their word that they would pay him back.

So they ate their food and had plenty of time to get to the club at six.

"We're here," Mike called as they walked in.

"Excellent!" Eric exclaimed, running towards them from an office area. "Come on in, come on in! The bandstand is over there!"

He led them to the bandstand and the Monkees looked around at the small club.

"Not bad," Micky said as he set up his drums.

"Nope," Mike agreed. "Not bad at all."

With that, they began rehearsal.

Playing at the Hazard Dance Club wasn't much different from any other gig they'd had, except the crowd was smaller and every once in awhile, someone in the audience would sneeze.

After the Monkees had played for a few hours and had sung almost every song of theirs that they could think of, they took a bow and left the bandstand.

"You were excellent," Eric said, jogging up to the four boys. "I mean it! And I think the audience loved you too!"

As if to prove his point, a group of teenagers came up to meet the band.

"I think I'll leave you youngsters to it," Eric said with a smile as one of the girls smiled flirtingly at Davy. "Come and talk to me when you're done, and I'll give you your pay."

"Oh, that won't be necessary," Mike said. "We were just leaving. Right Davy?"

He gave his younger friend a pointed look, and Davy smiled sheepishly. "Right," he said.

"But wait," Said one of the girls. "Can we at least get your autographs?"

"You want our autographs!?" Micky exclaimed with a smile. "Wow, it's like we're famous!"

"You are," said one of the girls. "You are here in Hazard, at least. The only band we ever get here is Ronnie's band. They don't even have a name yet! You guys have your own record album!"

"Yeah, but it doesn't sell," Micky pointed out.

"Well, we'll take what we can get," Mike said. "What do you want us to sign?"

The girls searched their pockets and one of them grabbed a napkin from a nearby table.

"You can sign this," she said, handing it to Mike.

"Alright," he said. "Anybody got a pen?"

One of the other girls pulled a pen out of her purse and handed it to Mike. He took it and signed his name on the napkin, then he handed both to Davy. Davy signed it and passed it to Micky, Micky signed it and passed it to Peter, Peter signed it and handed it to one of the girls, who grabbed both and then launched herself at Peter and began kissing him.

"Hey!" Mike exclaimed, as the other girls pulled her off Peter, who was so red in the face it was almost funny.

"I'm sorry," The girl said with a giggle, also red in the face. "Mary dared me to kiss one of you, and I had to do it! Besides, I've never kissed anybody famous before. I liked it."

Peter, still blushing furiously, opened and closed his mouth helplessly, and the teenagers all laughed good naturedly and moved off.

"Ahem," Eric cleared his throat, a little embarrassed himself. "Um, that was Jody. She's a bit..."

"Forward?" Mike suggested.

"Desperate?" Davy guessed.

"Crazy?" Micky supplied helpfully.

"Yeah," Eric said. "I guess you could say that. But, no harm done, right, young man?"

He gave Peter a clap on the back, and the blonde finally seemed to come to his senses.

"Er, yeah..." He said quietly. "No harm done... Achoo!"

"Gesundheit," Micky said to Peter.

"Bless you," Eric said to Micky. "Now then, one hundred dollars, I said. Here you go."

He handed the money to Mike, who pocketed the bills and shook Mr. Eric J. Wetherringtonsonheimer's hand.

"Thanks for the job," he said. "We were in a pretty tight spot, this really helped us out."

"Oh, it was no trouble at all," Eric said jovially. "If you boys are ever in town again, give me a call, I'll hire you out to play again in a heartbeat!"

"Thank you," the boys called as they made their way into the night and began walking towards the diner. The owner had graciously agreed to stay open later so they could come and get their luggage after the performance.

As Mike paid the owner for their food, the owner asked them how the concert went.

"Oh, it went fine," Mike said. "I think we were a hit. Say, thanks for letting us store our luggage here."

"Oh, it's no problem," the owner said. "I like to help out visitors when I can. Speaking of which, I know you were broke earlier today, that's why you needed the job over at the club."

"Yeah, that's right," Mike said. "Why?"

"Oh, well, one of the local boys found this wallet under your table sometime after you guys left for the gig." The owner reached into a box marked 'Lost and Found' and pulled out Mike's wallet. "Is it yours?"

"Oh boy, you bet it is," Mike said, smiling and taking the wallet. "Thanks, man, this was all our money for the rest of the trip!"

"Oh, it's no problem," the man said with a shrug. "Like I said, I like helping out any visitors that come by."

"Well, thanks anyway," Mike said, opening the wallet. All of his money was still there. They would have plenty of money to get the rest of the way to Connecticut, and with the extra money they had just earned, they could probably afford to get even better seats for tonight.

"Hey guys," he said, turning to the others. "He found my wallet!"

"That's great!" Micky exclaimed.

"Wonderful!" Davy said.

"Excellent!" Peter said with a sniff.

Mike noticed. "Hey, Pete, are you alright?" He asked.

Peter laughed. "You know Jody?" He said, blushing slightly.

"Yeah, what about her?" Mike asked.

Peter sniffed. "Well, I think she might've had the flu," he said simply.

Mike frowned. "Please don't tell me you haven't been vaccinated?" He said.

"Okay," Peter said.

Mike sighed. "Not this again. Never mind, tell me," he said.

"Oh, okay. I haven't been vaccinated," Peter said.

"Well, this is just great," Mike said before turning to the owner. "Thanks again," he called over his shoulder.

"Alright, let's get to the station," he said to the others. "You know how fast Pete gets sick."

"I can't help it," Peter said with another sniff. "I have a horrible ibbude systeb."

"There he goes," Micky said as Peter, who had been trying to say "immune system" slipped into silence, interrupted only by sniffles and a few sneezes, and every now and again, a cough.

"Now, let me ask straight up this time," Mike said, turning to Davy and Micky after he finally purchased tickets from the old man. "You both have been vaccinated for the flu, right?"

"Yeah, I have," Micky said, and Davy nodded.

"Good," Mike said. "I have too, and even if I hadn't, I don't get sick. So we should be fine for now. Now, with the extra money we earned tonight, I decided to spring for some better seats."

"Cool," Micky said. "What kinda seats are we talking?"

"Well," Mike said with a slight smile in the corner of his mouth. "I've never been in a sleeping car, have you?"

Micky smiled. "You mean, we're riding in a Pullman?" He asked excitedly.

Mike nodded. "I thought it would be especially good for Peter," He said, glancing worriedly at the blonde, who was leaning against the ticket counter with his eyes closed. He already looked like he had a bit of a fever. With Peter, he got sick very fast, but he recovered just as quickly. As long as he got plenty of rest that night, he would probably be fine in the morning.

"ALL ABOARD FOR EMERSON!" The conductor yelled.

"Welp, that's us," Mike said. "Micky, stick with Peter, got it?"

"Got it!" Micky said, moving to stand beside Peter. "Gee, this is gonna be great! I've never ridden in a sleeping car before! I hope nothing bad happens on this train!"

Mike stopped. "Micky?" he said.

"Yeah, what?" Asked Micky.

"Remember what you said earlier?" Mike asked.

"I said a lot of things, Mike," Micky said with a chuckle. "Be more specific."

Mike sighed and looked at the train before boarding. "There are some phrases you should just stay away from."