Book #2 of the
Aunt Maddie's Castle series
by Genie Gabriel
a romantic comedy novella
rated PG-13
My dogs love spring! When the sun comes out, they lay outside and soak up the warmth. They also love to play and have adventures, though perhaps not exactly the adventures I wrote about in the Aunt Maddie's Castle series…
EXCERPT FROM ST. BATZY & THE TIME MACHINE
As soon as she pulled to a stop, Horace grabbed Rissa's hands and helped her out of her car. "I'm so glad you're back! What did Ian find out?"
"Aunt Madelaine's airplane went down in a wilderness area of the national forest in Southern Oregon. So the good news is they aren't far away. The not-so-good news is there appears to be a couple hijackers on board."
Horace's heart slid to his belly. His Maddie was at the mercy of terrorists.
"One of the passengers managed to send a message that said the hijacker's face was painted green and he was wearing a leprechaun suit and hat. Aunt Madelaine can handle kooky people--and she has help this time from the other passengers."
The words meant to allay Horace's fears. Instead made him more determined to finish the time machine. He would not leave Maddie in the clutches of crazy green leprechaun hijackers!
"Ian is on his way to join the search and rescue teams," Rissa said. "He'll let us know when they find the airplane."
Horace wasn't going to just wait. The time machine was ready for a test flight. If everything worked as he planned, the rescue team wouldn't be necessary.
Leaving Rissa in the kitchen with Ryan and his cooking show, Horace rejoined his cousin, Clement, in the fabrication lab. "Is everything ready?"
"Countdown has started."
On the monitors Horace watched the giant fire hydrant. On the outside it looked much the same as it had when Horace set it up for the dog next door. However, the monitors showing the inside of the hydrant revealed major changes. Living quarters for human time travelers were contained on the second floor of the hydrant. On the ground floor a mini-nuclear reactor had been installed. A semi-circle around it contained a bank of monitors and control panels linked to the computer that controlled the time machine and contained a calendar program to calculate the day, month and year where the time machine had traveled.
"T minus thirty seconds and counting," Clement intoned.
Horace drew a deep breath to calm the buzzing of adrenaline through his veins. If this worked--no, when they proved the time machine worked, Horace would rescue Maddie and never let her travel without him again.
"Ten, nine, eight..."
A movement on one of the inside monitors caught Horace's eye. "What's that?"
"...two, one. Activate."
"I think we have an unexpected passenger." Horace dashed outside to where the fire hydrant used to sit. Now only a flattened patch of lawn separated his back yard from the neighbor's fence.
A freckle-faced girl with bright red hair leaned against the fence. "Have you seen my dog, Batzy?"
***
-Genie Gabriel
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