Ch. 10. Black Train Blues

[HoneyDog]

"Why is nearly everyone we meet so strange?" Howard mutters angrily to himself.

[Bullfrog]

Lawrence casts a suspicious glance over to the waiters before returning to the salon, still a bit on edge after the events of Louisiana.
"I'd reckon that was a little odd." Lawrence says rather apprehensively.

[Philulhu]

“Too late, were you?” commented the older man, as the they re-entered the salon car. “They’re sticklers for time!” With an unlit pipe, he reached up and tapped a dinner menu that was in a menu holder on the wall above his head.

[Mr. Handy]

"Well, they probably think we're strange," says William. He examines the dinner menu.

[Philulhu]

The dinner menu was neatly typed on yellowed paper. It showed tonight’s menu as Roast Duck, Broiled Potatoes, Carrots and Peas, with an unspecified sweet to follow.

It listed first class passengers eating from 7.00pm until 8.00pm, with passengers in 2nd class eating at 6.00pm and 8.00pm, depending upon the number of their carriage.

[Mr. Handy]

"Dinner looks good," says William. "Let's not be late for that."

[Philulhu]

Friday March 7th, 1930 14.05pm.
Baton Rouge to Boston Train

An hour had passed and the promised food had failed to materialise. To make matters worse, the steward in the salon car had disappeared, so no drinks had been served either.

Everything else was as it was previously. The young man dozed on the settee, the woman was sat talking to her children, and the older man they had spoken to was sat studying his book, his unlit pipe twitching slightly as he read to himself.

[Mr. Handy]

"I don't think the food's coming," says William. "Let's go back to the compartment."

[Bullfrog]

"That's just great." Lawrence annoyedly remarked, looking about the room. "And it looks like the steward up and left."

[HoneyDog]

Howard is less certain.

"There's something wrong here" he tells the others quietly. "Have those people been sitting here like this all this time?"

[Philulhu]

Looking down the carriage, it appeared that their fellow passengers were still engaged in sleeping, talking and reading, as they had been when the men had walked through the carriage more than an hour before.

[Mr. Handy]

"The steward has to be somewhere," says William. "We're on a train, and I don't think there were any stops, so he couldn't have gotten off."

[Bullfrog]

"We may as well try and find him, or maybe another steward." Lawrence suggests, standing up and briefly looking around the room.

[Philulhu]

There was no sign of the steward anywhere in the salon car.

OOC,Which way would you like to explore? Towards the sleeping car or the dining car?

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,I think we should go toward the sleeping car.

[HoneyDog]

"Let's check the sleeping car" says Howard.

[Philulhu]

With William in the lead, the four men made their way from the salon car, through the carriage connector and into the sleeping car. Passing the WC, they could see down the corridor, past the closed sleeping compartment doors, to the conductor’s fold-down seat at the end.

As they watched, it slowly creaked shut, as if vacated only moments before.

[Mr. Handy]

"Did the rest of you see that this time?" asks William. "Something weird is going on."

[HoneyDog]

"I knew that already" says Howard nervously. "We should get off this train."

He looks out the window, hoping to see an urban area.

[Bullfrog]

"This is getting pretty odd." Lawrence suspiciously notes, walking over to examine the chair for nothing in particular.
"I don't know what's happening, but I don't think we're out of this mess yet."