In the shop Mrs Greensleeves had row upon row of beautiful costumes for all shapes and sizes. If they didn’t fit, she could alter the costumes as she was excellent at dressmaking.
Mabble Merlin returned in no time at all, and Cynthia and Tobias couldn’t wait to put their costumes on. Mabble Merlin gave them the outfits and they went upstairs to room 103 to change. The room they had was huge and luxurious, with an en-suite bathroom. They were so glad that they didn’t have to stay at the Partridge in a Pear Tree, as they were sure they would end up with bed fleas.
From their room window Cynthia and Tobias could see Hampton Court and men on horseback. There seemed to be a lot of activity. People were running about as though something was about to happen. Cynthia wondered what all the commotion was about, and she decided to use the communicator to call headquarters.
She pressed the communicator call button and a voice immediately answered: “Hi. This is Galaxy Zeta, at your service. How can I help you today?”
“Hi, it’s Cindy Chimes. I have just a few questions about what is happening outside Hampton Court - and, by the way, what month is it?”
“To answer your question, Cindy, it’s January and it’s almost time for the wedding of Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII.”
“Oh, my word!” said Cynthia, feeling so excited. “Thank you, Galaxy, for that information.”
“I am pleased to inform you, Cindy. Have a nice day,” Galaxy replied, and the communicator device fell silent.
Cynthia noticed there was a button to press to bring up a picture of the person she was talking to. She wondered what Galaxy Zeta looked like and where she was from. She hoped she and Tobias would get an invitation to the wedding, and she wondered if it could possibly be arranged. She decided to use the communicator to call headquarters again.
She pressed the communicator button and a voice immediately answered: “Hi. This is Quasar Moon, at your service. How can I help you, Cindy?”
“Oh, hello, Quasar. I was just wondering if we could somehow be invited to King Henry VIII’s wedding?”
“Of course you can.” Quasar replied. “We’ll get you an invitation - we will pass the details on to you in due course. Have a nice day, Cindy.”
“So do we have an invitation to the wedding?” asked Tobias.
“We will get the details soon,” Cynthia told him. “I feel so excited about going to the wedding - especially if we get to meet King Henry and go inside Hampton Court.”
Room 103 was really lovely, and Cynthia and Tobias were so glad they had such luxury comforts in the room, like a hair dryer and a kettle and hot running water. They wondered what someone from the Tudor court would think of what they had. They really wanted to be able to show someone from the Tudor court what modern plumbing and electric circuits could do. Mabble Merlin had advised them to be discreet and not tell anyone, but Cynthia wasn’t very good at keeping a secret.
Cynthia and Tobias decided to just relax, so they called room service and ordered some food. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. Room service had arrived.
“I am Solar Ray and I have brought your food and drinks,” came a voice from outside.
Cynthia opened the door and a very lovely lady stood at the door wearing a jumpsuit. She had blonde pageboy hair. Cynthia thought the lady looked very similar to herself.
The lady handed Cynthia a silver tray containing lots of little dishes instead of one large dish. They had ordered an array of Chinese food, and it was certainly cooked nicely. They didn’t want to miss out on having food they really enjoyed. They also had a drink each, and this time they were rainbow-coloured.
Included on the tray was a can of spray, which could be used to decontaminate food if there was bacteria on it.
Cynthia and Tobias enjoyed their Chinese food and drinks, and then they decided to get dressed and go to the Partridge in a Pear Tree.
Room 103 was furnished with a four-poster bed and the walls were panelled. It wasn’t original sixteenth-century oak, but it looked like it. There was also a bookcase, and they noticed that a book was sticking out from one of the bookshelves. Tobias pushed the book back in, and suddenly the whole room changed. It was transformed into a very futuristic room with reclining chairs and a marble floor. There were crystal lights and fibre-optics lamps and a bed that was named ‘The Dreamer’ (that is, it was enclosed like a cocoon, and when you went to bed soft music played and lulled you to sleep).
Cynthia and Tobias certainly realised they were in a very big adventure. Their room was incredible. They could either choose to have the Tudor-style room with a Tudor-style luxury bed, or they could have the cocoon-like Dreamer and the fibre-optics lamps and the plasma-screen television, which filled one wall and made them feel as though they were at the cinema.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Tobias opened it.
“I’ve got an invitation to the wedding for the both of you,” said Solar Ray, and she handed Tobias a scroll of paper.
Tobias found it difficult to believe that Solar Ray was from another galaxy, and he felt like asking her, but she gave him the scroll and then disappeared along the corridor. He didn’t actually see where she went; she just vanished, and he wondered if she had beamed herself up to some sort of space station.
He wondered if it was really 1533 or if it was just like a huge Hollywood stage set. He thought it could be just a huge joke, but he made up his mind to take a lot of photographs of everything he saw, so that when he got back to London in the year 2010 (the year he’d come from) he would have a portfolio of evidence. After all, he was on a working holiday and he hoped to be able to make a good living from his photographic portfolio. Similarly Cynthia had made up her mind to keep busy, drawing and painting everything. She decided that when she got back to the year 2010 she’d go to the same spots and compare her landscape pictures with what she saw. She sometimes wondered if the whole thing was a dream or a very long hallucination. Things were very bizarre, and she was sure that they would get a lot more bizarre, but she was enjoying the trip.
Cynthia and Tobias thought they were being very well looked after by the strange staff of the Magical Mystery Tours Corporation (working for us, working for you), and they wondered how many staff were working on the trip. They had already met Quantum Phoenix and Solar Ray and Quasar Moon, and they were all most helpful. They looked just as they imagined people of the future would look.
Cynthia was so impressed with the hotel-type room.
“It’s above and beyond expectations,” she said. “It certainly is beyond expectations,” said Tobias. “It’s like something from science fiction.”
“Well, I have read about people disappearing in the Bermuda Triangle, and sometimes boats and planes disappear too. Possibly they go to the past, just like we have. We may have to stay here in the year 1533 for ever,” said Cynthia.
Then Tobias said, “In the London Times there was an article about a place in Liverpool - it was Bond Street, just near Lime Street - where people have been walking along the street and suddenly they have found themselves back in the 1960s or 1970s. According to the article, many people have had this experience.”
“Well,” said Cynthia, “we’ve just gone a little further back than they have - to the year 1533 - and we got here by taking a trip in a magical musty old shop.”
Suddenly there was a knock on their hotel door - room service was there again.
“Who’s going to open the door this time?” said Tobias.
“I’ll get the door,” piped up Cynthia.
She opened the door with a flourish.
“Hi. It’s Quark Lunar, at your service. Would you like some refreshments?”
“I would love some doughnuts,” said Cynthia.
“And fresh orange juice,” called Tobias.
“Anything else?” asked Quark Lun
ar.
“Well, actually I’d like some perfume,” said Cynthia.
“And I would like some aftershave or fragrance - something from Tudor times if possible,” called Tobias from the bathroom.
“OK,” said Quark. “I will get you these things and be back in a few minutes.”
Then Quark Lunar trundled off along the corridor and vanished.
Cynthia had asked for some perfume as she hadn’t brought any with her.
As well as the clothes Mabble Merlin had bought from Mrs Greensleeves, there were other outfits and accessories in the wardrobes and drawers, so they had plenty of choice.
Cynthia wondered where Quark Lunar would get the perfume. She also wondered if it would be some sixteenth-century perfume smelling like lavender or pigswill.
Quark Lunar was very slim and handsome. He had long dark hair parted in the middle. He wore a white tunic and trousers and sandals. In fact, he was dressed like someone from India except that he was wearing make-up and nail varnish, and glitter in his hair. Cynthia thought the glitter looks like cosmic dust. She thought she would like to take home some of the glitter and start a fashion trend. It looked like a kind of hair gel with coloured glitter in it. She thought she’d like gold glitter, or silver glitter, or maybe pink glitter, or purple glitter ...
Quark wore a wristwatch communicator, but it was slightly different from Cynthia’s. His beeped and made strange noises, and she noticed that he glanced at it from time to time. She decided that someone else requiring room service was possibly giving him a call.
Cynthia thought Quark and the other room-service attendants seemed ultra-relaxed.
Tobias came out of the bathroom. He’d had a power shower, and he was wrapped in a dark blue fluffy bathrobe with his name embroidered on it.
There was a knock at the door and Cynthia swung around to answer the door.
Quark was standing there with a gold tea tray, and it looked like there was a map of the stars on it. There was also a large jug of fresh orange juice and an assortment of doughnuts (jam, vanilla, chocolate, custard and orange) and they were all different shapes. They looked delicious.
Quark put down the tray and handed Cynthia the perfume and aftershave.
“Thank you, Quark,” she said.
“Do call again if you need anything,” said Quark, and as he whizzed off along the corridor his wristwatch communicator was beeping.
Cynthia quickly opened her perfume, which was called Tudor Dance; and Tobias opened his aftershave, which was called Tudor Soul.
Cynthia sprayed her perfume on, and it certainly didn’t smell like pigswill. In fact, it made her feel like dancing. Tobias sprayed on his aftershave, and he immediately felt like a Tudor gentleman of 1533.
Cynthia started to swirl around the hotel room, dancing and singing, but then she realised she didn’t know any Tudor dances.
“We don’t know any of the Tudor dances, Toby,” she said.
“Oh, I’m sure we can call room service and ask Quark to come and teach us some. If he doesn’t know any, I’m sure one of the other ‘spacers’ will be well versed in Tudor dancing.”
At that moment there was another knock at the door, and this time Tobias answered it.
“Is there anything else we can help you with?” asked Quark Lunar.
“As a matter of fact, there is. We don’t know any of the Tudor dances and we don’t know much about the customs of Tudor times. Is there anyone that could help with that?” asked Tobias.
“Yes,” said Quark Lunar, “we have Pulsar Nova. He knows all the Tudor customs and all the dances. He’s an historian - a ‘spacer’ historian.”
“Excellent!” said Tobias.
“In fact, Pulsar Nova will be your tour guide. He’ll show you around. He has satellite navigation on his wristwatch communicator, so you won’t get lost.”
“Excellent! Thank you for that, Quark.”
“Always at your service, Toby,” said Quark, and he ran off along the corridor as if there was no time to lose.
A few minutes later Pulsar Nova knocked on the door of Room 103. He was dressed in Tudor costume, so he looked just like a Tudor gentleman of 1533. He had long dark hair and he had a hint of silver glitter in his hair. He was very slim and handsome. He wore a scarlet-coloured suit with a huge feather in his scarlet velvet cap.
“Hi. I’m Pulsar Nova, at your service. Good morrow, lady and gentleman. ’Tis so good to see you both. I am, of course, your very good tour guide.”
“Very good to see you,” said Cynthia.
“Pleased to meet you,” said Tobias.
“I’ll be showing you around 1533 London, and we’ll be meeting King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.”
An Evening Out in Tudor London
“Shall we dilly-dally no more? Let’s go,” piped up Pulsar.
The three of them walked along the corridor until they came to a space-age-looking elevator. Cynthia, Tobias and Pulsar got into the elevator, Pulsar pressed a button and the elevator whizzed downwards. When it came to a halt, they stepped out into a wide corridor and then went through a door and came out in a small courtyard with a few trees and wooden benches. It looked like a typical Tudor courtyard. Then they all walked out of the courtyard and out into the Tudor night.
As they walked along the street, everyone was friendly and said “Hello” and “Good morrow”. They all seemed to think Cynthia, Tobias and Pulsar belonged there in Tudor London.
Pulsar looked very handsome and he had a lovely smile. He seemed to know his way along the streets. The ladies seemed to like Pulsar; they all smiled and said hello.
The little cobbled streets looked so quaint - there was a blacksmith’s shop and a cobbler’s shop and a butcher’s shop with lots of pheasants and rabbits hanging in the window.
The streets were a little bit smelly, but there were no tin cans rolling in the gutters and no newspapers. On the other hand, there were a great many trees - in fact they had to go in and out of the trees. They had to keep ducking and diving.
The three of them walked for a while along the street, until at last they came to Hampton Court. It looked very splendid. It was so large. Tobias wanted to take some photographs of it, so he got his camera out of his satchel and took several pictures. He also took several of Cynthia and Pulsar Nova, and then he asked Pulsar to take some photographs of him with Cynthia, standing in front of Hampton Court.
Cynthia took out a sketch pad and made a few sketches. She was quite pleased with them, and she thought she might spend more time the next day working them up into a painting.
Pulsar did something with his wristwatch communicator, which also seemed to be taking photographs.
Tobias took a few pictures of the trees, as they were huge, very impressive oak trees. He also took photographs of the street and the butcher’s shop and the pheasants and rabbits hanging in the window.
Then they made their way to the Partridge in a Pear Tree. Inside, there was a wooden floor covered with sawdust. The parlour was furnished with hand-carved furniture. They thought it looked rather cool. A large open fire was burning bright. A group of patrons dressed in the finest clothes sat huddled together talking, with large pewter jugs of ale on the table in front of them.
Cynthia, Tobias and Pulsar decided to have a tankard of cider each.
Everyone was so friendly to them - very chatty. No one seemed to realise that they had just arrived by time travel in the Musty Old Magical Curiosity Shop.
Bartholomew Mead brought the cider to the table in pewter tankards. His wife, Eleanor Mead, poured out the cider for them.
“Thank you,” said Pulsar Nova.
Tobias tasted the cider.
“It tastes very good,” he said.
“It’s from our own apple orchard,” said Eleanor, seeming very pleased.
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She handed the three of them a bread bun each with their drinks. They looked as though they had just been baked, and there was a lovely smell of freshly baked bread.
“We’re on holiday,” said Cynthia.
“Oh, where are you staying?” asked Eleanor.
“We’re staying at a tavern not far from here,” piped up Pulsar.
“Which one is that?” asked Eleanor.
“It’s the Half Moon Tavern in Orchard Court,” piped up Pulsar Nova.
Cynthia and Tobias were so glad that Pulsar was with them, because they really wouldn’t have known what to say to Eleanor’s questions.
“Oh, yes,” said Eleanor. “That’s a lovely little tavern.”
“Yes, it is,” said Pulsar Nova.
“Well, I do hope you enjoy your holiday,” said Eleanor.
The Partridge in a Pear Tree wasn’t very crowded, and the time-travellers were just enjoying the peaceful atmosphere when suddenly in walked a very loud, boisterous group of people. They were musicians from Hampton Court. There were forty of them. They had come to enjoy a few drinks in the tavern and play their music and sing the songs of the day. They were all excellent musicians, and King Henry had chosen them himself. Their names were:
Eric Goldstein
Angelo Cello
Steve Trimble
Stanley Tunes
Hugh Moon
Stephanie Blues
Jaxon Domino
Rebecca Choir
Kirsty Silvano
Dennis Wardrop
Paul Keys
Julia Concerto
Sarah Quaver
Mary Waltz
Gareth Bows
The Musty Old Magical Curiosity Shop Page 14