by S G Read
‘It is just what I was looking for,’ William affirmed, ‘I will sleep here tonight.’
‘And me.’ Sarah added.
Gus looked at them as if they were both mad.
The tavern owner smiled, he was happy to rent the room to anyone. He kept the fact that he was uncomfortable when he was in the room, well hidden but it seemed like it did not matter to the two prospective renters.
‘Breakfast is served at six AM but we can make you something when you come down if you are later.’ He informed them, thrust the key into William’s hand and left them to it.
Gus left them to it as well but he had no idea what he was going to say to Mary and Goliath. William and Sarah looked round the room again without finding the way back to the twenty first century.
‘This could be just a haunted room.’ Sarah said quietly, as if not to awaken the ghost.
‘There are no such things as ghosts, Sarah, but the noises must be made by something,’ William replied, ‘and we are here to find out what.’
‘I’m glad you’re here.’ Sarah said quietly.
They settled down to wait, one in each room, lying on the bed for comfort. It had been an interesting day and William looked through his notes to try to work out where to look next. Time was a deciding factor as he had no idea how the electricity supply was controlled wherever he had moved to, if the flat they were in now did not exist when he was looking for a place. It was hard to get his head around it all. He wondered if he would ever have thought about it, if Sarah had not suggested it and she was a thirteen year old Victorian girl who could not read or write when he first met her
Sarah was sitting on the bed just waiting for a reason to run in to where William was, she did not like ghosts. A noise made her stand up but she waited to try to find out just what it was. It was a strange noise, not frightening but interesting. She traced the noise to the cupboard in her room and walked over to the door but hesitated before she opened it. The noise did not sound like a ghost but then she had not really heard a ghost before.
She opened the door bravely and found the cupboard empty. She closed the door and she was the other side of the bed, hiding, very quickly. The noise did not change, so she walked back bravely and opened the door to try to trace where the noise was coming from. When she traced in to the middle of the cupboard and was able to make her arm disappear by thrusting it upwards in the middle of the cupboard she ran in to where William was now sleeping.
‘Will, I’ve found it.’ She cried.
William opened his eyes.
‘Found what?’ He asked.
‘The way through!’ Sarah answered.
William jumped of the bed.
‘Show me!’
They hurried through to the room which Sarah was using and she demonstrated by slipping her arm through the door. William could hear a vacuum cleaner working in the flat on the other side of the door and closed the door to the cupboard. He led Sarah back to his room and closed the door to make sure whoever was using the vacuum cleaner could not hear them.
‘That is the doorway but we will wait until the cleaner has gone before we go through but we need to keep quiet while we are waiting.’
‘A cleaner, like my mum?’ Sarah asked.
‘Yes, just like your mum, she will finish and go home.’
They settled down to wait next to the cupboard door and heard the cleaner’s progress. The vacuum cleaner stopped and they heard a cup being stirred, pointing to the cleaner having a drink. The vacuum cleaner started again and when it stopped the next time they heard a door slam.
‘I think that was her leaving so I will have a look through.’ William said in a normal voice.
‘Is it safe?’ Sarah asked.
‘We will find out any second,’ William answered, if I am suddenly headless, it is a good sign unless it goes off when I am halfway through.’
He lowered himself to the floor and slid under the opening, giving it a wide enough berth to be sure of getting through it. By the time he was standing up the top half of his body was invisible to Sarah. He was still in a cupboard wherever he was going and above his head was a key. He assumed that it was a key to the cupboard. He used it to open the door and then climbed out using the rope ladder which was attached to the top of the cupboard. The rope ladder was designed not to be visible from the people in the nineteenth century and the cupboard locked to stop anyone in the twenty first century from seeing it as well. Sarah jumped when William’s head appeared through the door.
‘It is safe for you to come through.’ He said quietly.
Sarah climbed through then explored the flat, this was vastly different to the one she had been to before, this had a rug which covered the entire floor and the flat was very tidy.
‘So I have a cleaning lady and a really posh looking flat.’ William declared. ‘As I recall this one was cheaper but in quite a state, it must have been all that I could afford when the other one wasn’t available. When I got some money I must have had it done up, what do you think?’
‘It’s lovely,’ Sarah answered and walked to the window.
Outside cars were going by, some with their lights on as it was after lighting up time.
‘Where are the horses?’ She asked.
William walked over to look where she was looking.
‘It is probably better if I don’t tell you, just in case you mention it when you get home.’ He answered.
‘I am not likely to mention carriages which go along on their own now, am I?’ Sarah retorted. ‘How do they work?’
‘Follow me, I must have a computer round here somewhere.’
‘What’s a computer?’
William sighed, this was all new to her of course so he had to explain what a computer did in words she would understand but without trying to make her out an idiot, because an idiot she was not. Without her he may never have returned to this century.
‘You saw the newspaper?’
‘Yes William.’
‘Well a computer has all the newspaper stories on it for you to read at the same time.’
‘It must be big, William, so it shouldn’t be hard to find.’ Sarah answered.
Sarah followed him while William found the laptop and turned it on, Sarah found it hard to believe that all the newspapers were inside it.
‘Well they aren’t, this thing,’ he pointed to the wire, ‘sucks the news from the store of newspapers and shows us anyone we want to see.’
‘Oh,’ Sarah answered, ‘like a tap sucks the water out of the pipe.’
‘Something like it.’ William agreed.
He showed her in great detail how a car worked and what fuel it used. As she read things on the computer, she became very interested in it but in the end it was a lot of information to take in. William realised that he had been wrong to suggest it and now it was too late. He looked at the time and came to a decision.
‘Wait here and don’t go anywhere, if I lose you in this century your mother will have my guts for garters.’ He ordered.
‘I will be just here, William.’ Sarah promised.
She watched William go out of the door and then turned the computer back on. It was not as easy to call up things as she thought but she did manage to read some more while he was gone. When she heard him coming up the stairs outside she closed the laptop to lead him to believe that she had not been looking at it.
When he came in he had two carrier bags, Sarah hurried over to where he was, to see what he had bought. He took out some jeans, some tee-shirts, a sweatshirt and a pair of trainers.
‘This is what girls your age wear now, so put them on and we will go out into the big wide world.’
‘What go outside, now?’ Sarah asked.
‘Yes, if you want to.’
‘Oh goody, oh.’ Sarah answered.
‘Why, oh goody, oh?’ William asked.
‘I can’t tell anyone about it when we go back, can I?’
‘Not without sounding like a mad woman, well
girl.’ William answered. ‘Do you still want to go out?’
Sarah picked up the carrier bags and went into the other room to change, a few seconds later she stuck her head round the door.
‘What are these?’ She held the pants out for him to see.
‘Pants, they stop the jeans chafing, they go on underneath the jeans.’
‘Oh.’
They head disappeared, when she came out she was dressed in modern clothes and after looking at herself in the full length mirror, she was ready to go. They walked out into the street and Sarah took in everything she could see. William was surprised by her reaction as she was a Victorian girl in the twenty first century. The electric light was new to her, although there were some about in richer houses in her time, she had never seen one. She was eager to see everything, so much so that it was late when they returned to the flat.
After Sarah was asleep in bed William looked through the flat, it was the first time he had seen it and it was his flat. He found that hard to take in. The electricity supply was paid for by direct debit and that was why the television was still working. It was obviously in the locked cupboard, with its own power point because William employed a cleaner named Shirley. He found all that out by looking through his paperwork before he fell into bed.
Sarah had another treat in the morning, William introduced her to the power shower and she was in it for half an hour, squealing with delight. He had the sudden realisation that Sarah might not want to go home again. He waited patiently for her to come out of the bedroom she was using, wondering what she would be wearing but when she walked out it was in her Victorian dress.
‘Let’s go, Gus will be here soon to take me back to start on my chores but this has been fun, can I come again sometime?’ She asked.
‘Yes you can, if Mary will let you, Sarah.’
‘Do you believe in dreams, Mr. Just?’
‘How do you mean, Sarah?’
‘I dreamt of carriages that went along without any horses pulling them and today I have seen them,’ Sarah answered, ‘not like I expected but without horses.’
‘If you can come back I will take you to the car museum so that you can see what the early cars looked like.’
‘I’d like that.’ Sarah answered.
They climbed through to the haunted room over the tavern and William made sure the door to the cupboard was locked to stop the cleaner from unplugging the television to plug the hoover in the same socket. They hurried downstairs to eat breakfast before Gus arrived and found him eating some breakfast while he was waiting.
An hour later they were on their way, Sarah was quiet and pensive on the journey back and started on her chores as soon as they arrived. Neither Mary nor Goliath complained about them staying away overnight and the talk was mainly about the approaching wedding.
They were planning it in great detail, the church was close to the tavern where Sarah and William had, allegedly, spent the night. After the wedding their friends were coming back to the tavern for a meal but they had to arrange someone to cook it. William had ideas on that and it involved Gus as well as cooking lessons from Goliath.
Now that he was able to get back to the twenty first century William was a lot happier, he also liked his new flat although it was a good walk to Goliath’s tavern, if there was no transport available. Sarah returned to her routine as though nothing had happened and William spent his time, either in his Victorian house, the twenty first century learning how to cook and in the tavern doing the same. He was preparing for the big day in a big way. A trip to the library in the twenty first century gave him another list of winners in all fields of sport and he used the knowledge to increase his fortune so that he could pay for everything he wanted to, including the whole wedding and a wedding present.
The wedding present took a lot of thought, but neither Goliath nor Mary had ever left London, the farthest Goliath had been was to the races with William and that was further than Mary. He wanted to give them a honeymoon to remember but it was not as easy in Victorian times, you could not book on line and catch a plane to your destination, the only way to travel was a coach and then a boat. Was William willing to send them on a boat to another land, knowing that boats sank quite often in these times?
Across the sea to France seemed like an option but what was it like in France in Victorian times, when was the French revolution, he did not want to send them into the middle of that? A trip to the twenty first century was called for to find out what was going on at this time in the world but at the moment that was not easy to get away, as he was cooking the food for the tavern with Sarah to make sure they could cope if they did go away. They described it as practice and Goliath accepted that and took Mary out for journeys in Gus’ chaise which meant that Gus did not have to stay and help them cook.
‘What happens after the wedding, William?’ Sarah asked when they were alone in the kitchen.
‘The married couple have a holiday called a honeymoon and usually go away to be alone but it is difficult to decide where to send them.’ William explained.
‘What, out of London?’
‘Yes, out of London. I was wondering what Ireland was like for a holiday.’
‘I expect you can get there quite quickly using one of those horseless carriages?’ Sarah replied.
‘Yes but you also have to take a boat over the Irish Sea to get there.’
‘They are going on a boat,’ Sarah squealed, ‘how lucky is that?’
‘While they are gone, we have to run the tavern with Gus’ help but when they come back I might take a holiday and they might let you come with me.’ William answered.
‘Oh, I wonder where that will be to,’ she replied, ‘do they have boats there as well?’
‘You wait and see but remember, a word out of place in this time and they’ll start to think you are going mad.’
The bell on the counter stopped the conversation and William went out to serve the group of customers who had walked in, the tavern was getting well known. While he was serving he saw men looking at the burnt out building across the way and wondered what they were doing. As one of them was George Yeoman, William knew how to find out. If George did not come in for a tankard of ale, he could go to his yard and ask. Now that things had changed and he thought for the better, he wondered what would happen if they rebuilt the house. Would it change things again, and then he would be back on the prepaid meter. If that did happen he had to go back and change it to a normal meter and pay it by direct debit to make sure that the door to the twenty first century remained usable. For now he had to wait and see, he was not up on cause and effect. Surely, if they planned to rebuild it nothing would have changed in the twenty first century as that was a long way off. He had to admit it was worrying, less so, now that he had found the doorway.
At quiet times he sat in his Victorian house and mulled over the happenings that led him to buy the place, something he had had no plans to do before he had found himself stranded. What impact would it have on things in the twenty first century, him being the owner of a house?
Chapter 8
The wedding day arrived and William dressed in the best Victorian clothes he could find but he had to admit that they were not comfortable. Gus was the best man, as he had known Goliath for a long time. William sat in the crowded church and the service dragged by, he did not really like churches. The vicar announced that Mary and Goliath were man and wife and it was all over. He did wait just to be able to congratulate the couple before he and Sarah hurried off to get the food ready. They had already cooked some and it just needed warming through, other food had to be cooked from scratch, although it had all been prepared before they went to church.
The tavern filled with friends and family. All there to wish the married couple their best wishes, and to get a free feed. Gus joined Sarah and William to serve the guests, starting with the newly married couple, for once they came first. Only when everyone was served did the other three get a chance to join them on the tab
le. They were able to enjoy a meal as the remains of the food was left out as a type of help yourself when people had eaten what was in front of them. Gus thought of it as a strange idea, as he had never met a buffet meal but William insisted that the idea would work and it did. William did think by doing it that way, he might cause some sort of paradox but he made sure that he never referred to it as a buffet. He was amazed at how much food the visitors put away, he thought that they must have starved themselves for a week, before they came but Gus assured him that this was normal.
The meal was over long before the drinking stopped but Gus left for the railway station with the newlyweds during the afternoon, so that they could catch their train. Sarah and William started with the clearing up. He had saucepans on to heat up water, to use to wash all the crockery and utensils. In the absence of a proprietary brand of washing up liquid, they used elbow grease and some of the carbolic soap that William bought from the future. He was aware just how many germs were about in the nineteenth century and made sure the water was boiled for some time, before they used it. The wait for it to cool down was hard to explain to Sarah but she complied and resisted the urge to add cold water to cool it down.
The next morning Gus and William opened the tavern, food was already cooking which meant that Gus could take any fares that came along, especially as William had the very willing Sarah to help him while Gus was gone. William did wonder if he would have ever known that Sarah existed, if Mary had not gone down with scarletina.
The honeymoon lasted a week with William, Gus and Sarah running the tavern. It was a happy day for William when they returned to take over the work. The building work across the road was continuing but he could see that it would be sometime before it was habitable again. That thought made him think about Tom Barber, would he try to kill him again? Mary was right, he should have killed them both when they tried to rob him. As he now slept alone in his house and there were no window bars to keep him in and Barber out, if Tom Barber found out where he lived. If Barber did try again, then one of them had to die and William had his ideas on which one it should be!