"Fine this is just great." Karen said. "I thought we locked the car up."
"We did, but if we parked it in the wrong place, wouldn't they have like called us?" Glory said.
"It was pretty hard to hear in there." Chea said. "It says only one hour parking." She pointed out a sign.
"Right, good one. As if we can get in and out of the Mall Of America in one hour. It took half an hour to find Glory alone." Karen moaned and sat down on pavement. "Its just getting better and better. I'm beginning to wish we stayed home."
Chea patted her friend on the back. She thought for a minute. "Its not like there was anything important in the car anyway. We took out all the gadgets..."
"Yeah but it was a gift from the guys to us." Karen said. "A gesture of love. And now its gone." She sighed.
"But you still have your health!" Glory pointed out. Karen glared at her for a second, then looked at her shoes.
"Shes got a point. Worse things can be happening." Karen said.
"You don't wanna say that." Jack said.
"Why not?" Karen said standing.
"Because..." He started to say as a crack of thunder rumbled across the sky. "...well thats a good reason." He pointed to the sky. Heavy rain began to fall on the four. Other people in the parking lot ran to their cars or to nearby overhangs. Karen looked at the sky for a moment, then looked at her friends and started to laugh.
"Kar?" Chea said moving to her friend. "Kar?" Karen continued to laugh. "Thats it, shes cracked up."
Karen slowly stopped laughing. "Everything will be fine." She sighed. "We have money, we have the gadgets."
"And soaked clothes." Jack said. "We might want to go inside somewhere."
"But where? I don't feel like walking all the way back to the mall." Glory asked. "This outfit is feeling a tad see-through." She said noting her now drenched clothing.
"I don't have a problem staying out here then." Jack said with a smile on his face. The girls looked at each other and walked away from him. He followed up slowly behind them. "Hey, I'm a guy, its in my nature." He protested.
"Manor-ville park"
Paul helped Brianna into one of the Swan shaped boats going into the tunnel of love ride. Brianna sat down slowly, as the boat rocked a bit when she got in. She sat down on the bench in the middle of the ride. Paul got in after her. Without realizing it, she grabbed Pauls hand.
"I've never been on a ride like this before." She confessed. "Much of the guys I've known have been so straight forward."
"I would hate for you to be made uncomfortable by me." Paul said. "It'll be fun." He promised. "Do you trust me?"
"If I didn't trust you I wouldnt have gotten into the boat." Brianna sighed. "I barely know you but I feel like I would trust you with anything right now."
Paul smiled a little bit at this. The boat moved forward under its own power. They were really in a mystical place, Brianna had seen no one working the rides or the food concessions she had seen.
"Are we safe in here?" Brianna asked. "What if something were to..."
"...happen?" Paul finished her sentence. "Don't worry." He squeezed her hand. "You're safe with me."
Brianna nodded and sat back in the ride. They came from one part of it into another. There were romantic scenes from movies and books painted onto the wall: Jack and Rose, Rhett and Scarlet, and some other ones she didnt recognize right off. The soft romantic light surrounded them both. Brianna couldnt see in front of her or in back of her. It seemed like they had drifted into a soft focus dream. Some guitar music played, though Brianna couldnt really place the song. She liked it though and it relaxed her. She turned to Paul and found him looking into her eyes. He was so close to her now, as close as he had been in their room when Catfish had caught them almost kissing. She had found herself a little bit angry at the clone for walking in at that moment. A moment she was so afraid she wouldnt be able to get back. But now, looking into Pauls sparkling blue eyes, she knew that it was back again. Paul leaned in a bit and softly kissed her on the lips. It was hesistant at first, because he sensed that she was feeling the same way. He pulled away and kissed her on the forehead. Before moving back to her lips where Brianna moved to continue the kiss this time. The music came to an abrupt stop and a light blinded them as they drifted out of the tunnel of love. Brianna and Paul rubbed their eyes in order to get used to the light quickly. The Swan boat came to a complete stop at a small dock.
"We have to get off now." Paul sighed.
"Do we have to?" Brianna sighed.
"I don't think they let you go through more than once." Paul said. He leaned in with a conspirital glance. "They may think we're horndogs."
Brianna laughed. "Yeah, thats a good idea." Paul helped her off the boat. "Want to go on any more rides?" She asked. She looked around as she noticed the fair slowly disappear. All the rides were vanishing. Livvie was helped off the now vanishing roller coaster by Catfish.
"Whats happening?" Brianna asked.
"I have no idea." Livvie said. "I now know I never want to go on a roller coaster ever again." She sighed uneasily. "At least not three times in a row."
"Auntie Livvie went blaaahhh!" Catfish said making a puking sound.
"I so wanted to know that, thank you." Brianna said.
"I want to go on the slide!" Catfish took off running. In doing so he knocked Livvie on the ground. Paul shrugged and ran off after him. Brianna helped her friend off the ground.
"So what happened in the tunnel?" Livvie asked her.
"Shouldnt that be between us?" Brianna asked. "He kissed me."
"I have no idea. In this world where an a amusement park appears and disappears, anything is possible." Brianna shrugged. "We havent talked to Chea and Karen in a while."
"Good point, we don't know what their status is." Livvie said as Brianna dialed a phone.
In Cheas wet pocket the phone rang.
"Hello?" Chea said.
"Chea!" Brianna said accidentally hitting Livvie harder than she intended. "Sorry."
"Whats goin on?" Chea asked.
"Have you found the last clone yet?" Brianna asked.
"Yes." Chea said. "We found her in the Mall of America just like you said." She said as Glory and Karen found a seat next to a jukebox. Jack went over to the jukebox and started looking for a song. "But one problem, our car is missing."
"Oh no." Brianna said. "The car is gone." She said to Livvie. Livvie took the phone.
"Try to track the location of the car via the time gadget." Livvie said.
"Livvie? Youre back at the manor?" Chea asked sitting down next to the two girls.
"Its a long story." Livvie said. "We have catfish and an additional clone here."
"An additional clone?" Chea said out loud. That got Karens attention.
Brianna took the phone back. "Not my fault. Catfish went into the machine and came back with a friend."
"What kind of clone?" Karen asked. Chea repeated the question.
"Elijah Wood." Brianna said. "We've named him Paul."
"Huh." Chea said. "So things havent been too boring back home eh?" She asked as Glory went onto the dance floor and started dancing. "Uh oh. Call you back later." Chea hung up as a hairy looking man went over to Glory. She shook her head no and started to move off the dance floor. The man, not taking no for an answer grabbed her and started to dance with her against her will. Jack standing by the jukebox stood up and went over to the man and knocked him onto the ground roughly.
"Don't you ever treat her like that." Jack said. "She deserves better respect than you gutter hogs could ever give her!" He growled. The man got up off the ground, put his hands up in protest.
"Easy pal, I had no idea." He said with a southern drawl.
"Now you do." Jack said leading Glory off the dance floor. A man suddenly appeared in front of them. Karen and Chea stood next to them.
"Wow." Chea muttered.
"We have to ask you to leave now." The man said.
"He came onto me." Glory said. "I tried to move away from him."
"Tough." He said. "We have the right to reserve service to anyone we want." He pointed a thumb at the door. "Leave now or we get someone to help you."
"All right." Jack said. "We're going, but if you want to eject three pretty women out into the rain with no ride home, then thats well just not nice." Jack said. The man made the same "get out" gesture. Jack nodded and walked out the front door. The girls soon followed.
They were out in the parking lot when they spotted a familiar site. The caddy was sitting across the road from them, at a gas station.
"Okay how did that happen?" Karen asked.
"Whoever took the car gassed it up?" Jack asked.
"I get the feeling whoever had the car didnt want us to leave just yet." Chea said. "I can't explain it."
"But do you want to leave now?" Jack asked.
"Oh yeah." Chea said running across the road. The trio left behind soon caught up. They popped into the car and headed off down the road.
"Monkee manor here we come!" Karen called out.
"Home sweet home." Chea agreed. "I can't wait."
