BR043 Hat In Thought

I changed trains to Burrow Hall and sat down next to a old Skunk for a couple of stops and then felt like I needed better air. It wasn't exactly that he smelled really bad but it somehow felt stale and airless all around the old guy. It could have been an old age thing. I walked through the train into the next carriage, which was fairly full, and then I just kept on walking. In the carriage after that I saw Professor Hat sitting all on his own.
Actually, he wasn't on his own, he had his Doves and Bunnies with him and in fact one of the Doves was perched on the rim of his top hat. But Amanda Rabbit wasn't with him. And his whole presence was that of an animal alone. He was deep in thought, with his hand resting on his chin, leaning forward in his seat and staring intently. I didn't even feel comfortable interrupting him be saying hello. Other animals, sitting across for him, were looking at him with great interest.
"Hey, Jack," called Meenie. "What are you doing here?"
"I'd been spotted so I walked right over. Hat looked up and came out of his daze, waving me into the seat next to him.
"Jack," he said as soon as I sat down next to him. "I've just been thinking about your business."
"Really?" I said, "You mean the Jackster plant."
"The Jackster, yes." and he looked like he might go back into his daze for a moment. "The Jackster. What I was thinking about was some way that cars on the highway could be connected the way these individual trains are tied together on this track. What if there were some kind of invisible coupling that could manage the power in individual cars as soon as they were part of a chain? Like when they travel fast down a highway."
"It sounds great," I volunteered, "as long as you could find some way to do it technically. Do you have any ideas for it?"
"I was just thinking as you turned up," and Hat gave me his shy smile, "That I might talk to some Spiders about it."