Doorways to Everywhere (Tourist Trap Book 2)

Chapter 1

Dr. Octavius did a quick survey among the overturned shelves and tables and deduced that nothing of too great of value had been broken.  His most important experiments all seemed to be in relatively good shape.  “Well, we’ll just chalk that one up to a learning experience,” he chuckled good-naturedly.  “What exactly happened when I stepped outside?”

“Nothing at first, sir.  But then the machine started trembling and sparks shot out of it.  Pretty soon there was water dripping from the ceiling.  I thought maybe you just had some leaks in your roof but then the machine started making this horrible buzzing sound and a bit of a breeze gusted up.  That was when I went outside to find you.”

“Good work son,” Dr. Octavius said encouragingly.  “Now, if you wouldn’t mind straightening the place up a bit, I think I’ll do some more tinkering on the weather control device.  Not every experiment works perfectly the first time, I’m afraid.”

“I’m well aware of that, sir,” Maurice said as he picked up a broom and set to work.  

The good doctor whistled a merry little tune to himself as he opened up the side panel and began turning some cranks this way and that.  Soon he was interrupted by a polite knock on the door frame.

“Hello?” a high-pitched voice called out.  “Is anybody in here?  What happened to the front door?”

“Ah, Sarah,” Dr. Octavius smiled as his niece walked into the room.  “You’re just in time to assist Maurice with the cleanup process!  We had a bit of a mishap.”

“Oh my god!” Sarah said as her eyes widened.  “Look at you two!  You’re both soaking wet!  What in the world happened to you?”

“Just a little spring shower, nothing to get worked up about.  Although I do have to say the local weatherman did a lousy job predicting it.”

“Did something go wrong with your weather machine?” Sarah asked.

“Now I wouldn’t say ‘wrong’ necessarily,” Dr. Octavius said as he removed his spectacles and dried them on his lab coat.  “More along the lines of ‘not quite as expected,’ I would say.”

“Hi, Snookums,” Maurice said as he walked up and gave her a little kiss on the lips.

“Hi there, Sweetie Bear,” she said as she kissed him back.  “Are you all right?  I know being a lab assistant is dangerous work.”

“It was nothing I couldn’t handle,” Maurice said, taking her hand and stroking her fingers.

“Indeed, he alerted me of the danger before it got out of hand.  Young Maurice here is by far the best lab assistant I’ve ever had the pleasure of bossing around.”

“Well I know I like him,” Sarah said as she kissed him on the cheek.

“Aw, shucks, you guys are embarrassing me,” Maurice blushed.

“But really, Zeke wasn’t that bad, was he?” she asked.  “I wonder whatever happened to him anyway?”

“He probably ran off with a gang of motorcycle thugs, embarked on a reign of terror raping and pillaging his way across the Eastern seaboard, and is now lying dead of a drug overdose in some inner city street slum,” Dr. Octavius said thoughtfully.

“Oh come on, you don’t really believe that do you?” Sarah asked.

“Actually, I do.  I ran the question through my probability calculator and that came out as the most likely explanation.”

“I don’t know.  I just never pictured Zeke in that sort of capacity.”

“It just goes to show you never really know people’s inner selves,” Dr. Octavius pushed his glasses up as he resumed tinkering with his machine.  “Why, my best friend of  over thirty years turned out to be nothing more than a figment of my imagination.”