::In the dining room, Ned slowly takes out a piece of paper, looking around quickly to gage the people currently in the room. With a deep breath, he stares down at what he's written, shoulders hunched up, and reads aloud his note ( Read more... )

::The facts were these ( Read more... )

::It was with trepidation that the Piemaker thought over his new feelings. What he was feeling at the moment was not unlike something he had felt long, long ago, back before the days of Young Ned had ended and the days of the Piemaker had begun ( Read more... )

::The Piemaker was a believer in small, but kind gestures of friendship. His mother had instructed him, once upon a score, that a little kindness went miles, when put in the right place ( Read more... )

::Young Ned, at eight years, 40 weeks, 5 days and 12 minutes old, had once upon a time contracted a severe case of the chicken pox, which had kept him in bed and away from school for approximately two weeks. When young Ned as a boy would feel ill, or sick, or lonely, his ever-present, loving mother would be there with a pie and a smile, and thus it ( Read more... )

::The Piemaker was fast making the Dining cart his own personal sanctum. Having spent a good deal of time in the cart already, by now he was treating it as though it were his second home away from home. Stirring around a cup of lukewarm tea with a spoon, he paused to consider the ramifications his new life on the train had resulted in ( Read more... )

::The Piemaker was never one for festive cheer. April Fool's Day frightened him. New Year's Eve made him cranky and tired and troubled about the upcoming year. Halloween gave him acid reflux ( Read more... )

::It was four minutes and forty-two seconds since the Piemaker had snuck behind the aptly named Xiao's Restaurant of Horrors and rooted purposely through the dumpsters. To his surprise and delight, what he had found inside the trash cans were days of heaps of discarded and rotted animal innards, many of which he could not identify. Curiosity may ( Read more... )

::Young Ned was nine years, forty-eight days, eight hours and thirty-seven seconds when he first discovered the many varied and useful abilities of his invention known only as the Stick. With the Stick, Young Ned could give his beloved dog Digby the love and affection a good pat on the head demonstrated, without directly touching Digby and ( Read more... )

::Young Ned was eight years, one hundred and twelve days, ten hours, and twenty-three minutes old when he took a ride on his first train. It was the express, running from the village of Coeur d'Coeurs into the city of Lakeshore, and his mother had insisted he go with her to her dentist's appointment ( Read more... )