In a Cloud of Smoke

"I'm not going anywhere else with you!" I snarl at the tollbooth. I pick self and tail up and push through what's left of the opening.

"Comin' through!" a voice roars behind me.

I turn. Somehow Blue Vinny manages to squeeze through as well. Drat!

Right behind him lumbers Hudson, Cheshire on his back and screaming. As Vinny and I watch, Hudson (the half rat-half machine... an undergraduate's bionics project) slams a big metal foot between the door and the jam, grabs both, and starts pushing them apart.

The tollbooth objects. More smoke, more sparks, trembling and quaking, and lots of high-pitched squealing fill the air.

"Hudson, get outta there! It's gonna blow!" Blue Vinny shouts.

The metal rat pulls himself and Cheshire through. The moment he does--


Clang!


--the door slams shut and--


Poof!


--the tollbooth vanishes in a metallic cloud and a shower of glittering silver confetti.