Awl Aboard! Orient Eggspress

In the bar car, Monty FitzThomas steps up to the bar. "Bon jour. Un
petit Benedictine, sil vous plait."

"Bien sur," replies the bartender, Henri, pouring the aperitif into a
glass. "Will there be anything else, sir?" he asks, switching to
English with a bit of a grin at his customer.

Monty laughs. "I thought my accent was better than that! Do you
suppose anyone would mind if I played the piano for a while?"

Henri smiles. "Of course not, sir. We have a professional who plays
in the evening, but I will unlock the instrument for you now."

Following Henri (who has pulled the key to the piano from under the
bar), Monty strips off his gloves, and picks up his drink. "Merci," he
says, and slips Henri a small pour-boire before he starts to play a
slow rag. (Being a cat, Monty plays piano by stepping on the keys,
quite delicately considering his size. His mother always claimed there
was some cougar in his ancestry somewhere...)

Outside, there are shouts and bells, followed by a deep sigh of steam.
With a single jerk followed by smooth acceleration, the train begins to
move, the station sliding by the windows. Kitties (and humans...)on
the platform turn to watch, and to wave. Monty seques into the Orient
Express Waltz (from the movie of the Agatha Christie novel; a lovely
piece).

Another wait-kitty staggers into the bar car, under a silver tray with
a bottle of champagne and a silver bowl filled with crushed ice, in
which nestles a tin of caviar. "M. FitzThomas?" he asks, and, when
Monty nods, continues, "With the complements of Mlle. Ana=EFs,
monsieur."

"How kind of her," replies Monty. "Tattinger '39 and Beluga. Clearly
a lady of excellent taste." He scribbles a quick thank-you on a leaf
from his pocket notebook. "Take that to Mademoiselle, if you would be
so kind. And is Her Royal Highness Cleopatra aboard?"

"Yes, monsieur. She will meet you at dinner."

"Ah, good. I should have known she would not miss the train. Thank
you." The wait-kitty pauses long enough to open the champagne and pour
a flute. Monty takes a sip, dips the little horn spoon into the
caviar, places it on a crouton, and munches appreciatively before
returning to the piano.

"Hmm...," he thinks. "I shall have to arrange some roses for our
hostesses. And I wonder if the chef could transform some of that
salmon I saw earlier into a coulibiac for everyone to share one
evening..."

As the train slides through the outskirts of Paris, the Orient Express
Waltz wafts softly behind it...

Montgomery Gawain FitzThomas, DOC


Mlle. Ana=EFs wrote:
On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 12:42:42 -0600, Miss Violette wrote:

snip

Tiger and Ana=EFs are snuggled on the window seat on the bow-window
in their
stateroom when a knock is heard on the door. A wait-kitty comes in
pushing
a silver cart

"Would you please serve us over here?" The wait-kitty then puts down
a
white linen table-cloth between them, and on it a platter of smoked
salmon,
some small buttered toast squares and a small blue can with Russian
writing
and a picture of a fish on it on it - Tiger looks at it
quizzically.... The
waiter then brings in a wine-bucket, and shows Ana=EFs the bottle:
"Tattinger, 1939 as you ordered, Mademoiselle. Shall I open it?"

Ana=EFs nods, and the wait-kitty pops open the cork with a "pop", and
pours
them each a flute. "Will there be anything else, Mademoiselle?" She
pauses
- "Yes, please send the same order to a gentlecat named M. Fitz
Thomas, who
is in the lounge, please. And put it on my bill, if you would."

snip

Purrs,

Mlle. Ana=EFs
12/2/2004 10:22:15 AM
anais+at+electric-ink+dot+com

On Tue, 7 Dec 2004 13:48:26 -0600, Miss Violette wrote:

Heriz yourown drink, I wonner if dey iz just temporari workin fur da suitz?
dat wuuld make sense. OHHH i duz lloooff fud, almoz az much as you... Kan
TV kome to diz eaty plaze, him lofez pasta anna sauce, he efin getz hisown
bow atta owr house, Tiger, smurglin anna lookin outta winnow anna think, he
wuuld uze up alla dat nip if he wuz doze cats

Uv cawze TV and Cleo can come - so can anykitty! I'll phone ahead to ask
my Uncle to haff a rental car meet ussez at da station - we can awl driff
togeffur.

--
Purrs,

Mlle. Anaïs
12/7/2004 8:00:24 PM
anais+at+electric-ink+dot+com

On Tue, 7 Dec 2004 13:48:26 -0600, Miss Violette wrote:

Heriz yourown drink, I wonner if dey iz just temporari workin fur da suitz?
dat wuuld make sense. OHHH i duz lloooff fud, almoz az much as you... Kan
TV kome to diz eaty plaze, him lofez pasta anna sauce, he efin getz hisown
bow atta owr house, Tiger, smurglin anna lookin outta winnow anna think, he
wuuld uze up alla dat nip if he wuz doze cats

Uv cawze TV and Cleo can come - so can anykitty! I'll phone ahead to ask
my Uncle to haff a rental car meet ussez at da station - we can awl driff
togeffur.

--
Purrs,

Mlle. Anaïs
12/7/2004 8:00:24 PM
anais+at+electric-ink+dot+com

Dis iz great, I juz hope trudi anna Miz violette getz here wif deir datez
soon, Dey iz gonna misses alla fun, and Where iz dat STT anna cleopatra, TV
anna OEJ iz purbably hafin az muc fun az we iz, Tiger, smooch
Mlle. Anaïs wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 7 Dec 2004 13:48:26 -0600, Miss Violette wrote:

Heriz yourown drink, I wonner if dey iz just temporari workin fur da
suitz?
dat wuuld make sense. OHHH i duz lloooff fud, almoz az much as you...
Kan
TV kome to diz eaty plaze, him lofez pasta anna sauce, he efin getz
hisown
bow atta owr house, Tiger, smurglin anna lookin outta winnow anna think,
he
wuuld uze up alla dat nip if he wuz doze cats

Uv cawze TV and Cleo can come - so can anykitty! I'll phone ahead to ask
my Uncle to haff a rental car meet ussez at da station - we can awl driff
togeffur.

--
Purrs,

Mlle. Anaïs
12/7/2004 8:00:24 PM
anais+at+electric-ink+dot+com

Dis iz great, I juz hope trudi anna Miz violette getz here wif deir datez
soon, Dey iz gonna misses alla fun, and Where iz dat STT anna cleopatra, TV
anna OEJ iz purbably hafin az muc fun az we iz, Tiger, smooch
Mlle. Anaïs wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 7 Dec 2004 13:48:26 -0600, Miss Violette wrote:

Heriz yourown drink, I wonner if dey iz just temporari workin fur da
suitz?
dat wuuld make sense. OHHH i duz lloooff fud, almoz az much as you...
Kan
TV kome to diz eaty plaze, him lofez pasta anna sauce, he efin getz
hisown
bow atta owr house, Tiger, smurglin anna lookin outta winnow anna think,
he
wuuld uze up alla dat nip if he wuz doze cats

Uv cawze TV and Cleo can come - so can anykitty! I'll phone ahead to ask
my Uncle to haff a rental car meet ussez at da station - we can awl driff
togeffur.

--
Purrs,

Mlle. Anaïs
12/7/2004 8:00:24 PM
anais+at+electric-ink+dot+com

[Cleopatra and TV finish arranging their belongings in their suite,
admire the view out the window, and get themselves straightened up.]

Well, TV my love, shall we wander down to the bar car and see who all is
around? I think I could use a flute of nip champagne.

[Cleopatra and TV walk paw-in-paw down the aisle of the train cars,
greeting the kitties they meet. They finally arrive at the bar car.]

Ah, here we are! Bartender, I believe my handsome boycat and I would
like some of your finest nip champagne.

Cleo

[Cleopatra and TV finish arranging their belongings in their suite,
admire the view out the window, and get themselves straightened up.]

Well, TV my love, shall we wander down to the bar car and see who all is
around? I think I could use a flute of nip champagne.

[Cleopatra and TV walk paw-in-paw down the aisle of the train cars,
greeting the kitties they meet. They finally arrive at the bar car.]

Ah, here we are! Bartender, I believe my handsome boycat and I would
like some of your finest nip champagne.

Cleo

[The transporter on the boarding platform sparkles and out step OEJ and
STTom. STTom looks around for a moment, confused by all the bustle and
noise.]

Ummm, it lookz to me like wez wanna go over to doze liddle stairs on da
train. I don't know which part of da train we wantz to get onto, though.
Let's ask dat official-looking kitty wif da spiffy uniform.

Excuze me, kittysir, but could you tell usses where we iz spossed to go?
We'z wif da RPCC kitties.

"Certainly, Monsieur. The RPCC kitties are in the last passenger cars on
this train. You may board right here, then walk down the central
corridor towards the rear of the train. May I ask your names?"

Um, we iz OEJ and ShortTail Tom.

"Very good, sir! You are in cabin 5 in the RPCC carriage."

Fangu, sir. We'z will get on board den. I fink our bags are already on
board, OEJ, so letz go check.

[They both board the train and STTom leads the way down the corridor,
holding tightly to OEJ's paw to try to conceal his anxiety in the new
situation.]

Here we iz, mine dear! Let's see - yes, our bags is here. What duz you
fink, mine luff? Duz you like da room?

STTom

[The transporter on the boarding platform sparkles and out step OEJ and
STTom. STTom looks around for a moment, confused by all the bustle and
noise.]

Ummm, it lookz to me like wez wanna go over to doze liddle stairs on da
train. I don't know which part of da train we wantz to get onto, though.
Let's ask dat official-looking kitty wif da spiffy uniform.

Excuze me, kittysir, but could you tell usses where we iz spossed to go?
We'z wif da RPCC kitties.

"Certainly, Monsieur. The RPCC kitties are in the last passenger cars on
this train. You may board right here, then walk down the central
corridor towards the rear of the train. May I ask your names?"

Um, we iz OEJ and ShortTail Tom.

"Very good, sir! You are in cabin 5 in the RPCC carriage."

Fangu, sir. We'z will get on board den. I fink our bags are already on
board, OEJ, so letz go check.

[They both board the train and STTom leads the way down the corridor,
holding tightly to OEJ's paw to try to conceal his anxiety in the new
situation.]

Here we iz, mine dear! Let's see - yes, our bags is here. What duz you
fink, mine luff? Duz you like da room?

STTom

TV lookz arownd fur a seat anna when he sees the one higher up he goes and
fluffs the kushin fur hiz ladycat, then he comes back to the bar where his
lady is talking and orders some snacks, Letz see... Gif uses dat samplez
platter, alla doze sownd gud, TV, smilez at hiz ladycat and goes to the
table and watches her botiful self sokalize, he admires how easily she duz
diz az itz very hard fur him, ...
Her Royal Highness Cleopatra Silvercat wrote in message
...
[Cleopatra and TV finish arranging their belongings in their suite,
admire the view out the window, and get themselves straightened up.]

Well, TV my love, shall we wander down to the bar car and see who all is
around? I think I could use a flute of nip champagne.

[Cleopatra and TV walk paw-in-paw down the aisle of the train cars,
greeting the kitties they meet. They finally arrive at the bar car.]

Ah, here we are! Bartender, I believe my handsome boycat and I would
like some of your finest nip champagne.

Cleo