The Adventures of Ada and Mr. Clovis

Adventure One: The Train Station

Chapter 1: Missing

Twang.

Twang.

The tag on the suitcase was attached with a thin rubber band. Apparently, it amused the little girl sitting atop the large case as she pulled it over and over again like a mandolin string.

Twang. Twang. Twang.

She giggled delightedly. Around her, thousands of people were briskly walking by as they hurried around the huge train station. West Brixton Station was one of the biggest in the world and it was easy to get lost in.

Luckily, the young child's guardian had told her to stay put on the suitcase and her mechanical nanny was perched nearby on his portable stand.

He ruffled his metal feathers indignantly as the girl continued to strum the tag string.

Twang. Twang. Twang. Twang.

Soon, he'd had quite enough of the annoying sound.

"Now really, Ada. I'm sure you can find something else to do. How about you play with your..." he opened the small hatch in his metal stomach and carefully picked out the girl's favorite toy: an expensive ball made out of Persian-Hungarian leather.

Her father had come by the trinket on one of his travels and couldn't resist.

"Your ball. It would be a lot more fun than the tag string, don't you agree?" he continued, holding out the ball for Ada to take.

She looked up, still giggling from the noise. Her eyes grew wide when she saw her leather ball.

"You brought my ball?" she asked, carefully sounding out every syllable.

"Why, yes, of course. Isn't it wonderful?" he said smugly. He was quite proud that he had gotten his charge to take the bait.

She held out her small hand and the mechanical owl dropped it. Her tiny fingers managed to grasp it before it tumbled to the smooth marble floor of the station.

"Can you play with me?" she said slowly, her 'l' sounding much like a'w.' The owl sighed.

He should've known it wouldn't be that easy to distract the child. Even at four years old, she was quite mischievous.

Ada's nanny took off and fluttered right above her head.

"Alright. Toss it to me, Ada," he said a little annoyed. The girl giggled and wildly threw up both of her hands, her stumpy legs kicking with delight.

The ball flew into the air, soaring above the black bowlers and fancy hair-dos. The owl caught it with ease and flew back down to Ada who took the ball from his bronze talons.

"Again!" she demanded and the mechanical bird flew into the air with another sigh of agitation. Ada flung the ball straight up in the air and as before, the owl caught it and returned it to her with a flourish of his talons.

"Again!" she shouted and a few people turned to look as the ball soared toward the vaulted glass ceiling.

The owl went after it, mumbling under his breath. He was so intent on catching the expensive toy that he didn't notice an extremely tall man passing right in front of him. His shiny top hat made him all the more taller, so for a bird, he was quite the obstacle.

As Ada's 'nanny' watched the ball fall, he collided with the man's hat and toppled to the ground. The flustered gentleman glanced down at the surprised owl and picked up his smudged hat. He marched away with his nose in the air, trying to look as dignified as possible after crashing into a bird.

The mechanical owl, however, did not look dignified in the slightest and he groaned as he straightened out his bent wing.

He checked himself over carefully. All wires and screws were in tact and nothing felt out of place. His head was a bit boggled, but he was alright.

Shakily, the owl picked himself up and slowly flapped off the ground.

In a panic, he remember the ball. He soared into the air and perched on a water pipe positioned just below the ceiling.

His well trained eyes picked through the crowd.

The ball was nowhere in sight.

He groaned inwardly. His master had spent quite a bit of money on the ball and although it wasn't much of a cost at all for the man, the owl never liked to disappoint him.

As he scanned the huge space, his eyes came across a large suitcase sitting near ticket desk 11. It was in a clear spot and no one seemed to be around to claim it.

That's funny. It's seems like an expensive suitcase. T'would be a shame to lose, the owl thought.

He continued on to the next part of the floor when a thought struck him like a lightning bolt and his head swiveled back to the suitcase in horror.

Ada was gone!

Image credit goes to: jonone