Chronicles
Paradise
Prelude
Conductor: Tickets Please for the next stop. Tickets please.
The Adventure
The posse debarks at their next stop. The conductor makes mention of a Professor Meeks who's in town and has made a study of plants. Grimaldi is, predictably, very intersted in meeting him. The rest of the posse is more interested in finding better accomodations than they had at their last stop. As they leave the car, there is a brief discussion of the dreams they've been having. They determine that they don't really know too much. When La La begins to get angry at their lack of progress, some of the lovely white flowers near him begin to die and he grows more reasonable.
All around them the town appears to be very prosperous. The buildings are clean and freshly painted, the boardwalk is well maintained and everywhere there are flowers. A white flowered vine appears to be the most prevalent, the very vine which made La La calm. Grimaldi studies it and pronounces it very unusual, perhaps a new species. He resolves to see the professor once they've found a room.
They get to the saloon and find that many of the beatiful flowers on the outside wall have died. Heading in, they discover a rather calm Mook. They arrange rooms and while La La heads over to the general store, most of the rest decide to visit the professor. Along the way they find that the flowers are everywhere. They spot a few of the locals picking the flowers up in wheelbarrels. Moments later they come upon a wounded townie. Grimaldi examines him and is stunned to find a broken leg. The man does not appear to be in much pain from the leg, although there are more dead flowers everywhere.
They arrive at the professors and Meeks sets the leg while Grimaldi helps. They explain that they're interested in the greenhouses and he takes them on a tour of all but the largest greenhouse. He also shows them his composting machine, a device that creates a super-fertilizer which is largely responsible for the town's prosperity. The group stays for lunch, then eventually heads back to the saloon.
The idyllic calm is shattered by a scream and they run the last quarter mile to the saloon. Their young lady friend has been attacked by a large creature, something like a racoon or a small bear. Grimaldi sketches the beast based on her description and Oscar declares that it is probably a wolverine, though he's never seen one so big. La La and the others begin tracking the creature.
The tracks lead back to the professors place, to a runoff pipe beneath the composting machine. Adjacent to the pipe is a large hole, La La enters the hole and exits quickly, pursued by a giant wolverine. The group begins shooting at the wolverine, which fights with a berserk rage. All around them is chaos and death and flowers begin dying rapidly.
The professor shows up and starts screaming at them to stop, but they can't, for the wolverine won't. It dies, but in the process, the parent plant of all the vines dies and the entire town is free of the curse of the white weed.
Meeks is very angry, because the weed has made his town and it's people happy. He immediately begins planning to regrow the weed, this time without accidentally breeding more of the giant animals. The posse helps him collect the dead blooms, which will render the soil poisonous. In the end, there is a large philosphical debate and the young lady chooses to join him while the rest of the posse returns to the train.
Quotebag
Don't have anything
Noteworthy
??