Dead of Winter - James Goss [73]
‘It doesn’t need them,’ laughed Amy. ‘It’s an English carriage. They don’t have wheels.’
‘Does Monsieur Rory push it?’
‘When necessary,’ laughed Amy.
We fell silent. We were clearly all waiting for the Doctor to come out of the box. A bit awkward, like waiting for a bus that’s just a bit delayed.
Instead the Doctor stuck his head around the back of the TARDIS. He was grinning.
‘Maria!’ he said. ‘I’ve a surprise for you!’
Maria looked at him, doubtfully. ‘An English surprise?’
The Doctor shook his head. ‘No, no, no. Why would I give you one of those? It’d be rubbish. This is a fine and lovely Paris surprise.’
The Doctor stepped forward, bringing with him an elegant woman in a cloak.
Maria gasped and ran forward. ‘Mother!’ she cried, clinging to the woman’s skirts.
The woman reached down, and kissed her daughter. ‘Oh my dear love,’ she said. ‘I have missed you. You look wonderfully well.’
‘I know! I have ever so many things to tell you! Isn’t the Doctor the most amazing man! He’s ever so clever – he has such a brain!’
Maria’s mother looked at the Doctor, and for a moment her face was cold and blank, as though she didn’t like him much. ‘Indeed,’ was all she said, though.
‘Can we go back to Paris?’ asked Maria.
Her mother shook her head. ‘No, indeed, I rather think we shall travel for a bit. See a few countries.’ She bowed stiffly to us. ‘Come along,’ she said with a smile for her daughter. ‘St Christophe’s this way – I have a fancy to hire a carriage.’
‘Did you not bring one with you?’
Maria’s mother smiled tightly. ‘No, I’m afraid I have been walking along the sea front with the Doctor. He has been explaining many things to me.’
With that, she took Maria’s hand and walked away. And if her mother’s feet didn’t quite reach the ground, Maria didn’t seem to notice at all.
The Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS. ‘As I said, only a ghost of it remained. Just enough for one more Familiar. A marvellous creature. It needed something to do in life.’ He ushered us in. ‘Someone to love.’
Amy ran to the console. We watched her go. The Doctor turned to me, studying my face.
‘How are you, Rory?’ he asked.
I looked over at Amy before I answered him. ‘It’s been odd being you.’
‘Isn’t it?’ The Doctor’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.
‘How do you cope?’
‘Ah…’ The Doctor picked away at a scrap of loose paint on the door. ‘Well, I just get as close as I can to a happy ending, then I shut the door behind me and move on.’
I nodded.
We shut the door behind us and moved on.
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Published in 2011 by BBC Books, an imprint of Ebury Publishing A Random House Group Company
Copyright © James Goss 2011
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Doctor Who is a BBC Wales production for BBC One. Executive producers: Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Beth Willis
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