4| Diversion

by Becky Miller

  ~~~~~

  When he approached the house he found Sarah and Adrian playing outside. It was clear they had left the house only recently because they were still buttoning their coats and tying up their shawls, but they were already running down the street.

  "Hey, you two! What's all the excitement about? Where are we off to?" the Doctor asked them, like any concerned parent would do.

  "We are going to look for the Knoba's." Adrian informed him. Though the words Knoba and Gnome are spelled quite differently, they sound very similar. Neither the parents nor the children notice the difference, yet.

  "There are no Gnomes in the streets of London." he said, implying it is not safe to go out like that alone.

  "We know that." Sarah said, "They are in the wood."

  "Will you come too?" Adrian asked innocently.

  "Or don't you want to come on an adventure with us?" Sarah added.

  The Doctor stared away melancholically for a few seconds, then he answered, "No, it is too cold. Come play inside."

  "Why won't you let us look for the Knoba's?" Sarah asked sadly.

  "You can look for them some other time. Lynne will have dinner ready in a few moments. Come on." he said and took Adrian by the hand, while Sarah stubbornly remained on the pavement. She looked at the pendant she got during the school trip.

  "But they want us to come, now." she mumbled.

  The Doctor stood in the doorway and when she looked up and saw him waiting for her, she quickly came running inside. Her two orange braids dancing merrily on the back of her green winter coat.

  6. One child missing

  Friday morning started like any other morning. Lynne had prepared breakfast for Sarah and Adrian and she had the Doctor's lunchbox made and a pot of steaming hot coffee ready.

  The Doctor had only just come into the kitchen and poured himself a cupper when Lynne hastily put on her coat, kissed the kids on the cheeks and said goodbye before storming out the front door.

  "She really got the hang of this new job thing." the Doctor thought proudly to himself. "Come on, little ones, hurry up a bit. We need to get you off to school." he said while putting all the dishes in the sink. Adrian and Sarah hurried off to put on their coats and shawls. Sarah was particularly excited about going to school today.

  It was another cold winter day, they noticed when they ventured outside, though today there was no sunshine. Grey clouds governed the sky and there was plenty of wind.

  Luckily, the walk to school wasn't too long and soon they were warm and cosy in the classroom together with all their mates. Well, except one. The boy who went missing the other day had still not returned. The classmates parents were in a right state about this affair and the teacher, Miss Ruby, did her best to calm the parents down for the sake of the children in the class.

  "I?don't believe he ran away from home." one of the parents said.

  "Yes, he's too small for that." another parent agreed.

  "I don't think so and why would he. Jack and Lily are great parents and give Daniel everything he could want. The boy has no reason to run away from home." said a parent who knew the distressed family better.

  "You're suggesting he was kidnapped?!" the first parent exclaimed.?

  "I do think that is the most logical explanation." the woman said.

  "Oh dear." the other parents mumbled in choir.

  "Sarah, you go ahead to Ro...Miss Ruby, I'll help Adrian take off his coat." the Doctor said.

  Sarah went into the classroom as told, while Adrian was being undone of his slightly large stubborn coat. The Doctor placed the coat on a little hook on the wall, neatly in row with all the other little coats.

  "What kind of creep would do such a thing?" the ladies continued chattering.

  "I don't know but the thought of such a person walking our streets frightens me."?

  "Yes and the police don't seem to be making any effort to catch the monster." the parents discussed amongst each other. "Come now ladies, I am sure the proper authority will deal with this?affair in due?time." Miss Ruby said when she emerged from the classroom and she looked the Doctor sternly in the eyes. Then she took Adrian by the hand and went back into the classroom. She firmly shut the door and started her class.

  The ladies had been quiet for this little while but as soon as the door was shut they couldn't help themselves.

  "Maybe?just one little kid is not enough?for anyone to do something." a parent commented.

  "Then I wonder how many it takes before it is important enough." the other parent said sadly, shaking her head. The women let the subject rest and dispersed.

  The Doctor followed them out of the school building and went to the High school where he was due to teach in 15 minutes.

  The rest of the morning went by as a spring breeze. At the end of lunch break the Doctor went to the teachers room to collect the history tests which he had graded during the weekend evenings. Like any other ordinary class there were some good results and some less good ones, but most were just above average. He was on his way to the classroom when the end-of-brake bell rang and as usual Nick was already there.

  "Hello, Nick. You'll be pleased to know that you got top marks on your history test of last week." the Doctor said proudly.

  "Thank you Sir." the boy answered politely but didn't seem very happy.

  "What's the matter boy? You look a bit under the weather. Or have you been partying till late last night?"

  "No, my baby sister kept me up all night. She couldn't sleep. She made a whole fuss about some pendant she couldn't find and had to have. Once she had found the pendant, she came to my room again because she was too scared to be in her own room alone. So she crept under my blankets. She kept waking up from bad dreams again and again during the night, therefore I didn't get any shuteye at all." Nick explained.

  "Ah, I see. A pendant you said? The one she got on the school trip, right?" the Doctor wondered aloud.?

  "I suppose."

  "Hm. How many does it take indeed." he said staring sternly through the window.

  "Sorry? What do you mean, Sir?" Nick asked, thinking the comment was meant for him.

  "Oh. Yes, your story is very interesting, Nick. But there is nothing I can do to help. Sit yourself down, class has started." the Doctor said. He was tempted by his intuition telling him there was something extraordinary going on with those pendants, something he would normally go and investigate, but he defied the temptation and resumed being a history teacher instead of a curious Time Lord. He handed out the marked tests to the students and made a start on the next topic: Medieval times.

  After history class the students went to Mr Daly's class. This time they weren't held up by the Doctor's extensive tales of times long gone. He had watched his clock closely and dismissed class right on time.

  There was no other class for him to teach today, so the Doctor left school. He walked past the primary school, where he stopped briefly by Sarah and Adrian's classroom window.

  He watched the children sitting in a circle being read a story by Miss Ruby. He strained his hearing somewhat to hear Miss Ruby.

  She was telling a story about a man made out of metal and a scare crow that could walk and talk.

  "This was no ordinary fairytale, was it?" the Doctor thought worriedly.

  Then miss Ruby asked the children what the characters had to do now.

  "Follow the yellow brick road!!" they all called out.

  "Of course, the wizard of Oz. Lovely story." the Doctor said to himself and resumed his way home.

  Once home he was joyfully greeted by Laika. He took the dog out for a walk, since there was nobody else home anyway. The Doctor and Laika walked through the streets to the park. There he sat on a bench and watched. He watched people of all sorts go by. Small people, big people, children, mothers with baby's in prams, fathers with their sons on bikes. He sat there thinking, "Was he now really one of them, or is it only false pretence?" Deep inside he knew he didn't bel
ong here, not really, not like this. He belonged somewhere else, a place he had known so well, a place he had tried to run away from so often and now, now it was gone, his hearts longed to return there more than ever. One heart was in love with the people here on earth, the other was broken by the loss of his own people.

  This is the curse that comes with every wish. Once the deepest wish has been fulfilled, the heart will grow a new desire. Until the impossible is reached and then one is only a heartbeat away from insanity or happiness. Which one it will be depends solely on a person's mentality.

  The doctor was beginning to doubt whether the path he had chosen for himself now was the right one. Was this the life he had been looking for? He wanted peace of mind and he did have that at the beginning, but now something was astir inside him. It felt like the silence before the storm.

  "Oh, Laika. If change is coming then let it come. Until then I wait contently." he said while he petted the dog.

  7. Silence before the storm

  As the day progressed the Doctor felt evermore uneasy. Lynne used to be at home having done the shopping, preparing dinner and she would pick up the children from school. But since she had her new job, these things were now left to the Doctor. He didn't really mind. After all, Lynne had sometimes gone on daytrips with some lady friends and at those times he had taken care of all things domestic, so it was nothing new. He had cooked the kids his signature dish, curly fries with a hint of chilli, chicken wings from the grill and a sticky toffee pudding as desert.

  After dinner he helped the kids with their homework and then it was time for bed. When the children were both tucked in, he went downstairs to make himself a cup of tea.

  "Lynne still isn't home. I wonder what is keeping her?" he said to himself.

  When he had finished his tea he decided to give Lynne a call on her mobile. A ladies voice mechanically informed him that the number was unavailable right now.

  "Hmm, it must be switched off then." he mumbled and put the receiver down. Maybe she was in a meeting, he thought.

  "At this hour of day?" he said to himself, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. She is taking this new job way too far."

  He looked through some papers to find an office phone number but he was unsuccessful.

  "Well, she can fend for herself. I am sure there is nothing to worry about." he told himself and went upstairs.