Loco-motive
Loco-Motive
Pulling it off
The great black steam engine roared into Winnipeg�s Union Station. It slowed to a stop at the station platform. The few passengers on the platform scrambled to get inside the train.
Poor, clumsy old Mrs. Huckstable stumbled with her absurdly large purse to the back of the line. She fumbled around in her things to get her ticket.
She looked up in front of her to see that the line in front of her had disappeared. She fumbled around in her purse some more.
The usher, sounding annoyed said, �Please madam, you are holding up the train!� She fumbled around in her purse some more. Then she dropped it to the floor, and in an explosion of change and lipstick, her ticket popped out!
The usher, having lost his patience, looked at it and said, �Welcome aboard!� But, after closer inspection, he finally said, �My apologies, Madame, but your ticket is false. Nice try.�
He slammed the doors to the train in her face and in a few seconds, the train was off, and soon out of sight. Mrs. Huckstable had no idea what to do.
Just then, she took off her mask to reveal that she was only disguised as an elderly woman! It was actually a man in costume!
He looked around the station to see if anyone had seen him. The station was virtually deserted. He breathed a sigh of relief. That was until he noticed a security camera in the top corner of the station platform! He panicked. He had no idea what he should do. He knew that any second this place would be swarming with security guards and he would be under arrest for fraud.
Meanwhile, up in the security room, the guard was fast asleep on the job. He hadn�t seen anything of the incident.
Back down on the station platform, the man ran around wildly wondering what to do. Then he realized, I�ve been running around for almost five minutes panicking now. They must not have seen!
Casually, he acted as though nothing had happened. He whistled as he walked down the stairs, away from the platform. He walked into the grand entrance. There was a woman in the information booth. She smiled weakly, then she noticed he was wearing a pink gown and was carrying a purse. She was forced to hold in a laugh.
He walked out the front door. There he stood at the corner of Main and Broadway. He had to go back to the hideout to tell the others what went wrong. He looked to the right. There was downtown and the skyline. To his left, was a bridge and an entrance to the Forks. Straight ahead was Broadway and the Fort Garry Hotel. He turned to his right.
He walked along Main Street until he got up to the Manitoba Museum. Men wearing a dress and carrying a change purse were not quite as strange in this particular neighbourhood.
He looked across the street. He saw a ratty, old building. It had, at one point, been a theatre. It had long since been abandoned. He walked crossed the street to the building and knocked on its run down doors.
A woman answered the door. She asked, �Jeff? What are you doing here? What happened?�
�It�s a long story. I�ll tell you all when I get inside.� She stepped aside and allowed him in. As he walked by, she giggled at his attire.
�Hey! That�s the same dress I have!�
�This is the same dress you had, I borrowed it from you, you clod!�
She shuttered in embarrassment. There was a long, awkward silence. Then she continued, �The others are right through those doors.� She pointed at the doors. They were the exact same type of doors as the exteriors, except they were slightly less worn. He walked towards the doors and swung them open.
