Doorways to Everywhere (Tourist Trap Book 2)

Chapter 3

It was well into the morning when Dr. Octavius plugged the last fuse into place and pulled the switch, causing the door to begin to glow with a luminescent blue light.  Sarah had grown weary and fallen asleep shortly after midnight, but the good doctor toiled on alone.  He had worked it out the first time by himself and he hadn’t even had plans to work with then, so it wasn’t too difficult to complete the task.

Sarah suddenly stirred and sat up.  “Oh, it’s morning already.  How are you coming along?”

“I’m all finished.  We just need to wait for Maurice and Max to return and we can be on our way.”

“You mean they’re not back yet?” Sarah frowned.

As if on cue they heard some loud off-key singing outside along with some heavy footsteps approaching.  Max stumbled into the room supporting Maurice who was slumped against him with his arm wrapped around his shoulder.  Max peered around for a second before a broad smile crossed his face.  “Yes, this appears to be the right place this time.  See, I told you I’d get us home.  Never doubt me, Maurice.”

“Where the hell have you guys been?” Sarah asked.  

“Very long story,” Max hiccupped.  “Remind me to tell you about it sometime.”

“Oh my god, Maurice!  What happened to your face?  Are you all right?”

“I don’t remember,” Maurice mumbled as his head slumped forward.

“Is that alcohol I smell on your breath?” Sarah demanded.  “Maurice, are you drunk?”

“I think I am,” he murmured as he removed his arm from around Max’s shoulder and fell to the floor.

Sarah ran over to tend to him for a few minutes before whirling around to glare at Max.  “You!  This is your fault somehow, I know it!”

“Hey, don’t blame me that the guy decided to pick a fight with the biggest dude in the bar.  Between you and me, your new boyfriend here is one crazy fuck.”

“Where’s Maurice’s car?  For that matter where’s his shirt?”

“We seem to have lost both of those items somewhere along the way,” Max said matter-of-factly.

“What?” Sarah asked.  “How did you get back here?”

“Well, it wasn’t easy, I’ll tell you that.  At some point in the midst of our journeys we happened upon something called a ‘convenience store.’  Not a bad place if I do say so myself.  In addition to purchasing some high quality pornographic magazines and several large bottles of ‘malt liquor,’ we were also able to acquire a city map.  Maurice here passed out in the middle of the transaction and smacked his head on the counter, but I juiced him up with a couple of these ‘forties’ and he was ready to go again soon after.  Of course, even with the map it took a few tries before we guessed the right building to enter.”

Sarah got a stern look on her face.  “What other places did you go?”

“Well, gee, I don’t know.  I’m not familiar with your world.  The first place we tried had a whole bunch of books in it and some stern lady in a pair of glasses told us we’d have to be quiet or leave.  Then we walked into this other elegant looking building where there were a whole lot of people sitting in rows staring at some guy in a tuxedo and some girl in a white dress that were standing at the front of the room with some old dude wearing black robes.  It appeared to be some odd sort of ritual.  At any rate they didn’t seem too happy to see us there.”

Sarah let out a sigh.  “Maybe it’s for the best we’re going to another universe for a little while.  Honestly, you I expect this from, but how you ever roped Maurice into this, I can’t begin to imagine.”

“I told you the guy’s a nut bag,” Max yawned.  “Man, I’m sleepy.  Is there time for a nap?”

“I thought you were in a huge rush to get back to Quartzwater City,” Sarah said.

“Huh?” Max lowered his eyelids halfway.  “Oh yeah.  Is the door all rigged up?”

“All rigged up and ready to go,” Dr. Octavius called out from the other room.

“Well, in that case, sleep can wait.  Let’s be on our way!”  Max dove headfirst through the open door, disappearing with a loud crackle.

“Are you coming along, sweetie?” Dr. Octavius asked as he stuck one foot through the doorway.

“Yes.  I’d kind of like to go back for a visit.  Not forever or anything, but a short little jaunt would be nice.  Plus, I’d be worried about you the whole time if you went by yourself.”

“How about Maurice?”

“Yeah, we’d better bring him along,” Sarah said as she jostled him awake.  “It sounds like there may be some angry people looking for him and it might be good if he disappears for awhile.”  She started towards the door but then stopped in her tracks.  “Wait a minute, shouldn’t we bring along a large supply of dental floss?  You know, for money?”

“I’m way ahead of you sweetie,” Dr. Octavius smiled as he held up a plastic bag and shook it.  “Come on.  We’ll get ourselves some Hawaiian shirts when we get there.”  With that he turned around and disappeared through the door.

“Come on, Maurice.  You can nap later.”

“Where are we going?” he asked groggily.

“You’ll see…”