Steamtown USA

[Rose Inverness]

Despite the woeful denial of the Mardi gras fete for this year, the Inverness children had run about the cobblestone streets scattering sparkling sequins and hooting and raising a general hullabaloo. Then they'd climbed into trees and disappeared just as quickly as they'd come.

Anna and Arabella had found many a suitable place for planting lovely flowers throughout the town, and had sketched out some mural ideas for paintings of flowers as well.

"I suppose we shall have them approved by the mayor, and with his consent we might begin work this springtime! I'm so looking forward to it," Anna sighed happily, trailing a finger of one glove across a snowy railing and watching the snow fall from it as she did so.

[Stormcat]

As usual, the machines in the kitchen of the Cake and Kettle produced small pastries for the hungry customers. However, Jessica was not attending to them, instead she was reviewing some schematics for her greenhouse. "I wish we had a hardware store in town" she said to no one in particular "I could get the pipes I need for my hydroponic set up."

Sir Whiskers and Gareth had once again decided to spend their lunch hour at the tea parlor. They were both enjoying cups of tea when Jessica finally came out of the kitchen. "Gareth dear, what sort of fish do you want to raise this year?"

"Any kind, as long as we don't eat them." He replied.

"Wot wot? Fish? Are you going to get some fish?" Sir whiskers interrupted.

"Yes, for my hydroponics set up." Jessica laid the diagram on the table and told Sir Whiskers what she was planning to do.

"That sounds lovely! You should talk to Mr. Starbridge the next time you see him. Come to think of it, he's been missing for some time now. Hopefully this just means he's got a wonderful new invention in the works!"

[Rose Inverness]

A newspaper lay on the stoop outside. It read,

'Hardware store purchased by Gundermann; Small town tycoon purchases defunct business establishment for reasons unknown. When queried about this latest business venture, the mysterious fellow replied, "Sound investments begin where certainty ends." While the editor is unsure what to make of such a statement, we feel confident that a gentleman in a 3-piece-suit knows his way around stock, and trade. He has not, however, revealed who will run the store itself.'

The nearest cat jumped about a foot when the newspaper began to speak.   

[Arabella Periscope]

Arabella listens to the newspaper with interest in the fleeting moments before it goes to start the fire.  She hopes the hardware store will stock paint and brushes, and gardening equipment.  But she is certain that the new owner will not put on sleeve-protectors and an apron and take up a position behind the counter.  Behind the scenes would be much more his style; in fact, like the Phantom of the Opera, he might well live in some underworld beneath the town, as yet unmapped, an ambiguous shadowy figure in its fortunes and its future, and with an unknown past.

[Rose Inverness]

Rose and Orion stopped at the edge of the dark forest. Having been romping about town and curious, they'd wandered over the bridge to see what was on the other side. They gazed into the shadowy depths with longing and unease; at once it seemed a grand adventure to enter the woods, but perhaps one not worth making.

"Come on!" Ry said more bravely than he felt. His sister's hesitation was palpable, and for a moment relief overtook him. Then she began to move forward, into the forest which he dreaded more than he spoke. He followed with less will than she. Before they'd gone far, Rose turned back to him and Orion said,

"How will we get in contact with Mom and Dad if we can't find our way?"

"What about a tin can phone?" Rose sputtered, standing closer to her brother and allowing him to put an arm about her.

"Brilliant," he responded, "Let's go home and get the supplies. Come on!" And they, filled with new exuberance, ran toward town, forgetting their fearful mini-adventure in the new excitement they now felt for a project that would empower.

[Arabella Periscope]

*Arabella, sitting high in the branches of an ancient beech tree to observe the retreat of red squirrels, has overheard these plans.  She smiles to herself and draws her brass bird whistle from the sleeve of her forest camouflage suit.  Moments later, a violet merlin swoops into the upper boughs of the great tree, to alight on Arabella's gauntletted wrist.  She gives it some tiny pellets of naturally-deceased mouse jerky and whispers in the feathery region of its hearing aperture.  It gives its thin wild cry and lifts off on the early spring breeze, to float to the edge of the forest.  Here it will watch for the young ones to return, to keep them safe during their adventure.

Satisfied, Arabella unscrews her silver flask of tea.*

[Stormcat]

"Wait, my birthday was yesterday?" Gareth asked of Sir Whiskers.

"Why did you think I gave you the day off?" Sir Whiskers replied "Didn't your wife have a cake and everything?"

"Well, I think so, but I drank so heavily I hardly remember what yesterday was like. I really gotta stop doing that." Gareth said.

[Rose Inverness]

Within a few days the children had strung a line of string from the forest to a post of the bridge, then ran it along the bridge, and attached it to a few random trees that grew at rather convenient intervals between the bridge and their home.

They excitedly showed their parents and siblings how to unhook the can from its brace and pull it taut which would jingle a bell tied at the opposite end of the line. They'd added the bell just above each can on the string, but with a spacer in between (in the forest, a branch of the tree) so that the bell would really ring and not just roll uselessly against the can. This new invention needed to be tested and vetted before it could be relied upon, but the children in the meantime had a pleasant feeling of security, of being watched over and cared for.

They left bits of their meat-filled sandwiches "for the faeries" in their gratitude.



Their mother asked them (after all the family had sat for a spell by the living room hearth), "But where did you find such a large ball of unbroken string?"

The children looked at one another perhaps a bit guiltily.

[Stormcat]

"It's almost pi day!" Jessica called out in a sing-songy voice. "Half off all pies and tarts! Now, where did I put those signs? Gareth? Gareth dear, have you seen the signs for the shop?"

Gareth put down his barbells. "No dear, I haven't seen them. Maybe they're with the blueprints for the aquaponics system?" He called down to her. "By the way, when are you actually going to build the thing? I want to make sure the fish are well taken care of."

"In time dear, I'm busy with the pi day sale. Perhaps by spring thaw, so we can attend to the fruit trees too." Jessica replied.

Gareth thought back fondly to the first spring they had together, hopping in puddles, spying tiny crocuses and snowdrops, all just enjoying each other's company. They hadn't had much time together recently, they were both so busy at work. Maybe they needed to take some time off, just for themselves.

[Arabella Periscope]

*A ferocious but polite beak taps upon the windowpane.  A small, artistically-folded origami note in the shape of a crocus reminds them that the tree house in the hidden glade in the center of the forest is always available for rest holidays, should anyone in Steamtown feel the need.  The (cruelty-free) feather beds are always aired and lavender-scented, and the cupboards are always stocked.*

[Stormcat]

That night, long after the Aquos couple had gone to sleep, Jessica awoke screaming.

"What, What's wrong?" asked her concerned husband.

Jessica looked like she was using all her energy to avoid crying. "Just a nightmare. nothing to worry about."

"It's the shipwreck again, isn't it?" Gareth wrapped his arms around her and tried to soothe her. "The one I saved you from, but I couldn't save your crew." Jessica began to cry.

"I can still hear their screams. Out of all of them, why did you chose me?"

"I... I don't know." Gareth replied honestly. "All I could see was a kraken attacking the ship, and I could only save those whose hands I could reach. Yours, your parents, your siblings, I could not save the crew."

Gareth and Jessica spent the night remembering that fateful night. Only when daylight peered across their window did they let go of each other.

[MWBailey]

Snowfair, or rather the barn at the Farm that had been left behind when the family went to Snowfair, had seen the start of it. It had started small, a pestilent whiff of wind in from the hidden hatch in the back of the workshop, a bit colder than it should have been. Contagion rode upon it, and first it was the dog, Bakersfield, that customarily slept underneath the Harvester, then the cows outside in the lot, then the housekeeper, Wilhelmina, who came home and diligent as ever, milked the old cow before going to bed. Then, the whole household came down with it when they had breakfast the next morning.

It came on as a series of sneezes, then tentacular growths sprouted from orifices, and then the farm's denizens stumbled about for several days ina fevered stupor,. almost as if heavily drugged, not knowing what they did, with whom, or why. Strange greenish light phenomenae flashed over the fields at night, and simian grunts echoed across the new-planted corn (?), while actinic arcs revealed momentary glimpses of iron behemoths that were as soon gone as they appeared.

At the end of it all, two weeks and a month later, a sinuously curvy run of railway track stretched to the edge of the jurisdiction of the next town, and all the way to the last Starbridge field before the road into Steamtown. A medium-sized locomotive that appeared to be part harvester, part locomotive and part clockwork contrivance (replete with revolving mirror running lights, two smokestacks and at least five headlamps, all trimmed in brass and polished steel against jet black iron carriagework, sat at the head of two red-brown passenger carriages and a mail/passenger combine.* smoke and steam swirled around the locomotive, and of all things an Inuit conductor in a smart blue threepiece suit uniform, and wheel cap walked around the engine while a similarly ethnic engineer and fireman tended the locomotive.

" 'woss al' 'is then?" The ChiefHired hand, Adelbert,  mused inquiringly, a bit too loudly to be addressed only to himself. Moxon grumbled an unintelligible reply.

"It's danged I am if I know," Starbridge rumbled as he walked up. "Shall we take a ride and see? Can't be any weirder than it was when we was sick..."

And so it was that those who happened to be out of doors, and especially on the road outside of town, heard the raucous laboring of the engine and the melodious scream of the whistle, and the clang of the bell as they neared and then stopped at the road's edge. No station house, no platform, just the end of track and a timber bumper greeted the picturesque behemoth and it's bemused passengers.

"What now," said Wilhelmina, who had come along for the ride at the last instant.

"I smell coffee," Starbridge said, and headed for the door

"Looks like it is Jamoca time on Starbridge farm," mused Moxon.

---
*Think the Hogwarts Express genetically crossed with the Robert E Lee; all gingerbread, brass and calliopes etc...

[Stormcat]

Gareth found it difficult to stay awake at his desk, he had spent all last night comforting his wife, and only got about four hours of sleep. Sir Whiskers offered up the use of his "executive sofa" but as this couch was designed for cat proportions instead of human ones, Gareth found he could not sleep on it.

"What say you about the spring festival then? Easter is upon us in a matter of weeks, and on my way to work, I ate the first robin of spring!" Sir Whiskers announced proudly.

"Oh yeah, something about flowers" Gareth yawned.

"We must start setting things up! it looks like the other townsfolk are busy with other things."

[Rose Inverness]

Anna Inverness had worked more with her friend Arabella on the flower mural proposal, and left it on the desk of Sir Whiskers (as he seemed to have a bit of the spring fever, chomping robins and such). They hoped to be able to begin work soon, so that there would be at least one mural available for display during the festival.

"But will it be one in the alley in the middle of the row of shops, or the one on the fountain side of the hardware shop? I can't recall where we'd devised to paint the others, can you?" Anna was having tea at the C&K and conversing with her friend.

The children were tasked with learning about "joining," and also, learning to write proposals. Their proposal to be allowed to take apart --and put back together-- one wooden chair and one cabinet of Jessica's fine tea establishment was expectantly awaiting its answer.

"To Mrs. Aquos,

Or whom it may concern in the domain of the Cake & Kettle; we, the undersigned, do request your permission to be allowed to disassemble one (1) wooden chair, and one (1) cabinet of which you do not have immediate need. We agree to return these items in a good and usable condition, and alert you to any elements of interest which we discover in our research process. Please respond by way of the form included in the attached envelope.

Most sincerely*,

Rose, Orion, Soelle, and Victoria Inverness  "
_____________________________________


The appended form:

"I, Jessica Aquos, ________________ have agreed without reservation that the Inverness children ought to be allowed to disassemble and reassemble one (1) chair and one (1) cabinet of my choosing from my shop 'The Cake and Kettle'. I agree to save and hold harmless their heirs and assigns."



*Victoria was absolutely positive this word should be 'sinceriously' and denounced the faults of the dictionary when it was attempted to convince her otherwise. Luckily, as she is three, she cannot yet tell that the word was not printed to her liking.

[Stormcat]

Once the letter had been received, Jessica decided to respond in person, rather than send the attached form. When she found the children, she said to the eldest "I can offer up a chair, but unfortunately, I have not cabinets to spare. Not to worry, I'm sure we can find something suitable in the junkyard just outside of town. I'd be willing to take you this evening, but your parents might not want you running around there." Jessica had been planning to go down there anyway. Why purchase what she could get for free?

She let the children know they had to tell their parents before they could go with her to the junkyard. Jessica then returned to her shop to see that the automatic cookie makers were still pumping out shortbread. However, the chocolate machine had stopped turning out chocolate rabbits. "Strange" she said, as she powered the machine down to inspect it. She was holding the plug in her hand when the machine suddenly started up again, even though it had been deprived of it's power source. Jessica simply stared as the machine churned out not happy little chocolate rabbits, but an oozing puddle of melted chocolate.

The puddle spilled onto the floor, yet it seemed guided by an unseen hand. The hot liquid made it's way towards Jessica's feet, but the machine eventually ran out of material, and the puddle stopped a few inches in front of her. The machine powered down once again and a stunned Jessica was left to wonder just what had happened. She went to try and clean up the mess, but as she crouched down, she noticed that there appeared to be some words in the chocolate. A simply message: "Help Us". Jessica did not know what this meant.

[Rose Inverness]

"Ah, Mrs. Aquos, could you pardon me a moment?" Soelle seemed distracted, and headed into... well... it had seemed to be a doorway a minute ago. Perhaps it was a secret panel? But so perfectly disguised...

"Thanks so much," Orion responded heartily, "We'll get our coats."

Anna appeared at the door with a bowl of something tasty-looking which she was stirring, while Victoria looked up at her holding a bit of her skirt, and at least one cat waited with faces upturned for some of the mixture to spill.
"Thank you, Jessica, and I'll be happy to accompany the lot of you. They're really quite well behaved on outings, as they're used to them being 'school'. When they've free license to run and play, however, that's when the wildness comes out. I'm just grateful this is such a safe little town. A hamlet, really.

"Oh, but Ria you'll be heading off to bed. Time for a story with Daddy, so go up and he'll give you a bath and all that. I can't wait to see what we'll find at the yard!" (This happened to be the moment that a drip or two spilled for the happy cats, who shoved one another out of the way to lick it up.)

"Whoops. Let me get this bread into the oven and we'll be on our way. The timer has a tester to check if its done, and then the whole thing slides out onto a cooling rack. Such a darling invention- I never have to burn bread."

The children had donned coats and caps and were sitting quietly by the door on an array of armchairs arranged around a tiny fireplace there. Soelle had a far off mysterious look on her face, Rose stared at the floor blankly as she was already a bit sleepy, and Orion looked about to see what everyone else happened to be doing. He resisted the urge to poke a finger at his younger sister.

[Stormcat]

Jessica flipped the tiny switch on the automatic lantern, She held it high so all three children were bathed in the warm light. It was not dark just yet, but Jessica knew darkness would descend soon. Orion had the foresight to bring along a little wagon so they would not have to drag their treasures all the way back to the house.

The group walked through the open land towards the Junkyard. The place was unsightly, full of modern car crashes, old computers, and whatever scrap the outside world was keen to throw away, but the citizens of steamtown regularly plundered the place for the perfect piece for the next project. No one was quite sure who actually owned it, but as it was never attended, it stood as a relic to the streamlined world the citizens of Steamtown sought to leave behind.

"Be careful now, I don't want anyone getting cut and contracting Tetanus!" Jessica's maternal instincts knew it would be fruitless to stop the children from playing around, but she gave them a stern warning before they spread out to look for something cabinet-shaped. Jessica had no 'shopping list' in mind, but she was keen to find anything that might be useful for her aquaponics system.

[Rose Inverness]

The merry group milled about through piles of stacks of this and that, finding tons of delightful old junk; century-old typewriters, tilting formica tables, refrigerators that looked like rocketships, even a fake bunch of grapes!

They took turns acting silly with their finds. Suddenly,

"Ohhh, look at this!!" Soelle bent over a particularly dark nook, and everyone crowded around. Nestled in the nook was a lovely old wooden cabinet, and a wooden cradle that she reached in and pulled something out of: a silver hairbrush.

...Coated in goodness-knows-what, with leaves and greasy old feathers stuck in the bristles...

"Oh... dear..." Anna murmured. While it certainly had once been a lovely brush, she wondered what words it would take to convince her daughter not to run that filthy thing through her hair... at least until it had been cleaned properly. Just then Rose ran by, nearly right under it, giggling, and Anna scooped her up, six years old though she was. The teeny bells sewn to the ends of the little girl's sleeves jingled merrily.

Orion was busily burrowing past all this to the cabinet! He asked excitedly, "Folks! How do you say we get this out of here? It's all wedged-in!"

[Stormcat]

"Fear not!" says Jessica "My husband is plenty strong, he can dislodge this for us!" Though she sounded confident, Jessica was worried that this task might accidentally expose his and her little secret. Still, Gareth was summoned, and he easily dislodged the cabinet.

"Wow Mister Aquos, You're really strong!" Commented Victoria, noticing that Gareth now had the cabinet hoisted well above his head. Jessica made frantic gestures to indicate that his feat was rather difficult for the average human.

Gareth quickly made up a lie. "Well, you have to eat your vegetables, and always listen to your parents!" he said, the children seemed enthralled. He decided to drag the cabinet home instead of keeping it above his head. Along the way, Jessica informed her husband of the strange incident at the Tea Parlor. "Legends say that lost souls can plead with the living to help them find peace."

"Do you think that could be my old crew?" Jessica asked.

"I'm not sure. The message was so vague it could be anyone. But for now, let us get some rest and focus on the spring carnival." Gareth gave his wife a one-armed hug. "Sir Whiskers has been frantic with anticipation."

[Rose Inverness]

"Hmm," Anna murmured to Orion, "That sounded awfully superheroey the way Jessica said that."

"And the problem with that is??" Orion queried with glee. He was following eagerly in Gareth's wake, hoping to see additional feats of excellence.

Upon arriving home, the children stashed the cabinet in the family's workshop and donned their costumes. Victoria was the only one not in acrobat gear, being that she would be dancing about at ground-level, gesturing gracefully with a glittering silver wand. Her dress was replete with ribbons which would wave in the gentle breezes filtering the scent of flowers through the town.

As for the rest of the family, Rose wore a rose-colored getup with slightly darker pink swirls all over it. Her hair was twirled and pinned into a lovely arrangement on the back of her little head. Soelle wore light green with faint gold dappled over it, Orion wore a light blue with occasional dark blue or brown speckles, Anna in a beautiful lavender with violet veins and Gilbert in a white with sunny yellow rays.

They performed their act in the town square, Victoria as a fairy blessing flowers with the gift of growth, the rest of the family as flowers and other spring sights, growing up from the ground, soaring through the air on silks, and gracefully arching back to the Earth again.

[Stormcat]

The morning was a glorious sunny day, A weather machine had been set up the night before. At midnight, it drenched the soil with nourishing rain, but as the sun rose, it stopped to allow the light to shine through.

A very short maypole had been erected in town square. This was not meant for humans, rather, for cats. As the Cat population seemed to be double that of Steamtown's human population, it seemed only natural that the cats would band together and organize something like this. The spectacle was supposed to feature the cats dancing around the pole, but it had been reduced to cats playing with the ribbons.

Jessica set up flower boxes filled with pansies outside the Cake and Kettle. She hoped that Gareth's feat at the junkyard would remain quiet in the local gossip circle, the last thing she and Gareth needed was a sudden influx of attention to his "condition".

[Rose Inverness]

After the aerial act, the Inverness family opened the doors of their art gallery and an art show was held, for participants to come and go as they pleased.

Some of the artworks exhibited were photographs taken by Anna and Soelle. Anna's mainly featured flowers up close. Soelle had photographed her siblings, and had some really good shots of their smiles and laughter. There were also some near a tree just at the edge of the family's property, in which small edges of someone else could be seen in the frame: like the corner of a smile, or tips of fingers, or simply the edge of a very generically-clothed torso-to-knee cropped so that only a small ribbon of them fit on the edge of the photo. Like a mystery-story, there was no way to discern who this person was in the small amount of information those snippets gave.

The mother's and daughter's styles were quite different at this point: Anna's style was bright colors and smooth textures, while Soelle's photos featured darker lines and angles with more intentionally-visible grain.

[MWBailey]

"Well, that was interesting," Starbridge said. "You boys go on ahead, I want to take a look at those lines." Adeobert and Moxon looked at each other, and then headed in. Moxon almost immediately becoming engrossed in the grainier of the photos on display. "Hmmm..." he rumbled, his voice a baritone that was surprising in the smallish body of the young carpenter. Adelbert was more interested in the refreshment table...

[Rose Inverness]

Soelle heard Moxon's 'Hmmm' and turned her head from where she'd been standing over by the counter. Her eyes had a distinct sparkle. She then shifted her gaze, thoughts turning to how she hoped to fully take over the running of the gallery one day.... though possibly after significant world travel and adventures.
Today was her 17th birthday, and after the gallery show she'd head home with her family and a few friends to relax in the airy sunny house and possibly in the large tree behind the house.

Orion looked over the gallery from his perch at the top of a ladder (the building had sliding ladders built into the walls). He wondered how long it would take for Victoria to find him. Rose already knew he was there and kept glancing at him surreptitiously. His stomach was beginning to get the better of his pride, and he thought he might climb down and accost the laden refreshment table.

Anna had enlisted the help (and delicious food) of Jessica's Cake and Kettle. It being such a popular fixture in town, she figured it was the natural choice.

Gilbert said good-naturedly, "I doubt we'd prefer the Hardware Store's catering, anyway." He loved the C&K's fare just as much as the rest of the family. The prior day had been long; hanging photos and paintings (not only the work of Anna and Soelle, but also of other townsfolk of artistic persuasions).  Luckily all the children had helped in various capacities, and some townsfolk had sporadically stopped in and assisted as well.

[Stormcat]

Jessica had not only assisted the gallery with Catering, but she also provided a few of her own photographs for viewing pleasure. All of hers were of aquatic sea life. She figured these photos were innocent enough to show the world. She had albums of private photos only she and Gareth would ever lay eyes on, and their children, should they choose to have any. years of traveling with her parents offered her countless opportunities for photographs.

The Cake and Kettle building itself was closed. Gareth was alone, assembling rows of pipes to form the prototype for Jessica's Hydroponic device. The couple had yet to clean out the greenhouse, and it was full of all sorts of odds and ends, Gareth figured they'd just have a yard sale to get rid of it.