Prologue
Valentine’s Day. It sent shivers of anticipation
through the women of TOATS…Jurgen’s shivers on the other hand, were
more like shivers of apprehension. He should have waited till March to
ask for a “no clones” clause in the TOATS Rule Book, but it was
too late now. He would have to figure out how to juggle at least
six Valentine’s Day dates. It seemed like an impossible task.
Which was why he broke into Cecilia’s
lab while she was upstairs trying to finish her novella. CLICK the door to the lab swung open.
Cecilia certainly had the most
TOATS gadgets. (Margaret, had plenty of gadgets, but those are different kinds
of gadgets). Teleportation was his best bet. He headed for Cecilia’s
card catalog and started reading.
A – Aromatherapy bombs (great for freshening up
the interior of a TOATs taxi or setting a mood in an emergency),
aardvarks (in case of ants in kitchen)
B – Buns of Steel videos
C – Crocodile Dundee’s capture and release
program for beginners (note: get replacement for Nigel)
D – Diamond hunters anonymous, didgeridoo
lessons, dangerous devices – thigh master, salad shooters….
Jurgen flipped through the rest of the alphabet
until he reached the
T’s – Teleportation, Tardis, TOATS Taxi, Thyme-X
watch, Toaster, Tunisian flying carpets…. Jurgen stopped reading….a
Thyme-X watch! Perfect.
***
A few hours later he was ready. He
had read the instructions carefully on the watch, gathered sprigs of
Thyme from Cecilia’s garden, and made arrangements for six romantic
rendezvous'. He tucked an index card into his pocket to make
sure he had it straight.
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