LONDON CALLING

They arrived in London without a hitch, and they found there was a completely separate entrance and lounge for the pullman that would take them to Calais. They checked in without a problem. Angus was fascinated that each pullman car had a name and a rich history. Their car was named Ione and was done in rich shades of plum. Instead of regular seats, each chair was a deeply upholstered armchair. They were seated four at a table, and it appeared to be set for a meal.

For this leg of the journey, Brian sat with Angus in case he needed any sort of adjustments to his shoulder brace. Brian wasn't sure if the vibrations from the train would cause the brace to rub or not.

Breakfast started with bellinis served in champagne flutes, followed by an elegant presentation of fresh berries, freshly made granola and yogurt, a scrambled eggs and potato rosti dish with salmon and hollandaise, and individual lemon olive oil cakes, and plenty of fresh tea or coffee. None of the portions were large, so it all felt light and refreshing. It was a relaxing couple of hours that they spent just enjoying the brunch, without much conversation but small talk. The bus across the channel was nothing to speak of. It was a 30 minute bus trip, and they sat and read the local muggle newspapers on the bus ride.

When they finally arrived in Calais at the station and Angus got to see his first look at the train, it impressed him. He wished Ruby could see it. He made up his mind that he needed to bring her here. She needed this opportunity too.

"Alright, we need to figure out who is going to share which compartments," Brian said. "Angus is going to need a lower berth because he might have trouble with the ladder with his shoulder. Jessie, I presume you and I will get the upper bunks, unless that's a problem? How about I bunk with Angus in case I need to help him tend his shoulder along the way? Any objections?"

"None on my part," Michael said. "But I think I could still manage a ladder. I'm not that frail yet, Junior."

"Never the less, manners matter," Brian said. "Besides, if Jessie snores, you can always close up the bunk with him still in it--so long as you let him out in the morning."

"I have to let him out?" Michael teased.

Jessie walked with the others duffel bag slung over his shoulder as they walked to the bus. Stepping in he looked around then stowed his bag above the seats. being early he sat down and dozed untill they had to get back off to get on the train. Now walking to the station he watched Angus and smiled " you'll bring her and she'll be just as amazed as you are." he told him as he looekd at the opulent train they would travel on and whistles softly as he walked.

"Now thats fancy" he said following the others inside. Listening to them he shook his head " no worries on that front, I don't snore, so my platoon tell me" he said chukaling " ah that will remind me of trainning, I had a top bunk there too." he chuckled placing his bag at his feet. On hearing the banter he laughed out loud " no need." he said with a smirk. " I just hope michael dosn't snore, or I'll be the one closing the bed." he picked up his duffel bag.

"Just so you know," Angus told Jessie, "if I ever get past my heebies about marriage, I'm not asking your parents squat. I don't want their permission for anything. Your permission might be a different story, but she deserves better than them, and frankly so do you."

"I don't snore, don't worry," Michael laughed. "My dogs do, though. both of them."

"Can't say that I've ever heard a footstool snore," Angus said.

"I have," Brian laughed. "Babysitting those freaking puppies. Abbey kept bringing them into our room, and then, of course, Otto and Faline were there too. So we had a herd of snoring footstools."

"That's why I sleep upstairs and they sleep downstairs," Michael said.

"I've booked us two cabin suites. They're different from the usual twin cabin. Each cabin suite is two connected cabins. One is a sitting room area, and the other cabin is where the berths are. There is one cabin suite for Angus and me, and another cabin suite for you two. They're next door to each other in the same car. There is a bar car comfortable seating and a live pianist in the evenings, and a dining car. But any of the meals can be delivered to the compartments if we don't feel like breaking out the tuxedos. Order what you like within reason since it goes on Robert's tab anyway."

"So you know, there are eleven sleeping cars so make sure you know the number of the car and the number of our compartments. There are three restaurant cars, one bar car, and two staff cars."

"I'm sure we'll find our way around," Michael said. "Our car is down there." he pointed down the train a distance.

Jessie chuckled and then spoke " brother I wouldn't exspect you to ask my perents, as for me you got it anyway but just so you know she will wait forever given the chance, she did when she was a kid I rember her holding her breath becuse mom said she couldn't, she proved her wrong ." he said smiling then he looked at Michael and smiled again.

"Nice, a quiet room mate for once." he said and laughed at the foot stools snoring " can't say I've heard of snoring foot stools, but that sounds a logical idea Michael" he said then listened as they spoke of the cars. he followed Michaels gaze as he pointed to the car they would be in " alright we should get settled in" he headed down towards the car that had their state rooms in.

"Here it is," Michael called, a few step ahead of them. The porter checked Michael's ticket and led the way through the corridor to the door of the cabin that would be his and Jessie's. Brian and Angus found their cabin was one more compartment down from theirs.

Angus was pleased with the plush compartment. His and Brian's was done in a lush royal blue. Angus only took a moment to unpack his tux, his suit for tomorrow and his pajama bottoms and his robe, the ruby accessories for his tux, his toiletries, his book, his crossword puzzle book, the little box of board games, and his deck of cards. He left everything else in his bag and locked it and secured it in the overhead bin for the bags.

He came back out and took a seat so that Brian could go and unpack his things as well.

"Supper should should be served in a couple of hours, so we have some time," Angus said.

"Good. I think I might order myself a pint. Want one?"

"Sure. Sounds good to me," Angus said. Brian asked the porter to bring a couple of pints for them and send two to their friends in the next compartment when he had the chance, no rush. The porter said he would bring them as soon as the train left the station.

Jessie went with Michael to the state room and marveled at the colors in it. " wow" he said simply before moving to the bedroom. Placing his bag on the upper bunk he took out his tux and hung it on the back of the door redy for if they went to dinner. It was now he felt teh soft pull as the train began pulling out and sat down. " I could use a pint" he said happy to have been asked to come along. " at least this train isn'r filled with sweaty hairy men." he said chukaling as he felt the gentel rocking of the train.

It was now he heard a knock and moved to the door to find the steward stood holding a tray with two cold pints on it. " wow, hey Michael I think Brian orderd drinks" he said and handed him his drink. Taking a swig he sighed " oh this is going to be wonderful, and dangerous too, can't forget that" he said with a chuckle.

Angus and Brian were both delighted with the quality of the pints when they arrived.

"So here we are, on, arguably, the most luxurious train in the world, and we could be drinking champagne, but here we are, with pints. Cheap dates, aren't we?" Angus said. Brian laughed.

"That, we are," Brian agreed. "Khaat would love this."

"So would Ruby."

"We have to remedy this with them," Brian said.

"I bet its beautiful in the winter," Angus said.

"Doesn't run in the winter. March through November only. I was thinking I'd maybe consider late March or early April--for Khaat's birthday. Maybe in the Grand Suite."

"Well, now that would be doing it in fine style, I must say," Angus said.

"Don't tell me you hadn't considered it for Ruby."

"I did. And I considered giving a trip for two to Edward and Simone for Christmas. Edward has everything he could ever want or need. What he values now are experiences--being with the people he loves."

"Then it sounds like it would be a gift tailor made for them."

"Brian, about this mission," Angus said. "Don't let me be an anchor around all of you, will you?"

"An anchor? You're our bloody guide. We can't begin to do it without you. Or are you talking about the climbing."

"Yeah."

"We've got it figured. We'll be alright. Don't worry about it. I think we ought to get together after supper and maybe play some cards with Michael and Jessie. I bet they'd let us use a dining table for it."

"We can ask. Does Jessie play cards?"

"Dunno. We'll have to ask. It can't be that hard to beat Michael if he gets beaten by his hat rack."

"Well, I've played against that hat rack. He cheats," Angus laughed.

Jessie looked out the window " wonder what there up to?" he asked michael " Brian and Angus?" he placed down his glass and took out a pair of cotton pj bottoms placing them folded on his bunk. " you know how to play cards?" he asked taking out a pack from his duffel bag and placing them down on the small table infront of him. " I like solitaire but black jacks good, played with my platoon buddies back in the day, lost more than I won but I made good freinds." he opened the pack and began shuffeling them and laying them out.

After a while he looked up " wonder when lunch is?" he asked placing a red six on a black seven.

"I'll go see that they're understanding the schedule. I'll be straight back," Brian said. He took his pint and stepped out of the compartment and knocked on the door of Jessie's and Michael's compartment.

"Come," Michael called, recognizing Brian's knock.

"Thought you two would like to know that there are two seatings for supper, apparently. One is in about 90 minutes, at 7:30. The other seating is at about 8:30. We have our choice tonight of which seating we want, unless we want dinner delivered. I'm thinking I'd rather go to the dining car to see what it's like. After all, if it requires a tux, I presume it must be fairly upscale."

"Completely upscale," Michael agreed. "I don't care which seating we go to. Not sure that I'm necessarily one to go spend the night in the bar car, though. Not my style."

"Not mine or Angus's either necessarilyl," Brian said. "Jessie, do you have a preference of which seating we pick for supper tonight?"

Jessie saw Brain walk in and listened to them talk " hum.. nope, I don't think so, but the seven thirty sounds about right and I agree Im not a drinker so the bar car is not my scene." he said turning over a fresh card as he played. he motioned to the back of the door " got my tux all set " he said then remebered he'd not cleaned his shoes, standing up he tool the black patent dress shoes from his bag and sat with a cloth to clean off the dust " yeah, not worn these since I left home." he said chukaling.

Now he looked at Brian as he spoke again "hows Angus?" he asked " his shoulder bothering him any?" he asked hoping it wasn't affecting him that mich.