• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

'Oh, very nice. If only Essex hadn't started throwing drumsticks about.' . .

'Do you remember watching the coronation on the television, Hugh?' Janet asked.

'Couldn't forget it, could I? We all piled into the bus and drove down to Doctor Snape's house in Gwydyr. And Gareth stood in front of me the whole time so I couldn't see a blasted thing. Should've stayed at home and listened to the radio.’

'Who's Gareth?' asked Ace.

'My little brother. Emigrated to Australia in the sixties,' Janet told her.

'Bit on the backside by a bloody great spider and died out there,' added Hugh.

'Oh, sorry.'

'Never mind love, it all happened a long time ago.

‘Nasty things: some spiders,’ the Doctor said. 'I seem to recall one almost killed me. The memories are vague. Redback was it? '

'I don't think he noticed the type.'

'No, I suppose not. Not if he was taken by surprise. This food is really is excellent. You must give me a sample so that I can program it into the TARDIS food machine. He stopped and sighed heavily.

Hugh pushed his plate into the centre of .the table and half rose from his chair. 'Tea?' he asked, looking around.

‘Oh, yes please,' Ace said. The Doctor nodded in agreement.

'That's right, you put the kettle on the Aga, love, and I’ll put the apple pie out.'

They bustled around the tiny kitchen and before long a dish full of pie smothered in thick, creamy custard alighted in front of Ace. She dug in eagerly. By the time she had finished a steamy whistle was just beginning. Hugh poured out the four mugs of tea and set them down in a cluster in the middle the table.

'There you go, take your pick,' he told them and took the milkiest for himself.

Ace slid a mug over and sipped at it, watching the Doctor finish his meal. She began to shift impatiently and finally could contain herself no longer.

'Professor, when are we going to go over to that village? It's six o'clock now. Surely it's about time?'

'Patience is a virtue, my dear,' Janet told her, 'which you have exercised remarkably well. I think the Doctor is waiting until your excursion is less likely to be noticed by our friend, Emrys. Isn't that so, Doctor?' She looked to the small figure for confirmation but he merely gazed down into the swirling vortex of tea in his mug.

'But,' Ace protested, 'if we leave it too late we won't be able to see anything either. Come on, Professor, we've got to do something! '

The Doctor looked up, one eyebrow raised as if he was surprised at her remark. 'Do we, Ace? Do we always have to do something? To interfere? The village interests me so does the circle. Emrys less so.

But this is meant to be a break, R and R, a holiday, a furlough.' ,

'But he shot at me!' And then Ace leaned across the table and said more pointedly, 'And why did the TARDIS bring us here? You can't tell me it was for a holiday.'

'Wasn't it? Maybe she does just need a rest. She's been through bad times recently. She's been damaged - badly. Maybe she needs time to recover.'

'But the cat!'

'I know, I know. But sometimes I feel I ought to resist the flow of events dragging me into involvement. Maybe it's my training struggling to the surface. Perhaps I'm just a bone-weary traveller, perhaps I need a rest too. No exploring ancient, deserted villages, no examining stone circles, no quarrels with irate landowners.'

‘But Professor! What about ... '

The Doctor suddenly leapt to his feet. 'What indeed? What are we waiting for, Ace? We're not the stay-at-home types. Adventure is in our blood and in our souls. Let's see what we can find. Ghosts of long dead villagers, their chains a-clanking? Primitive druidic rituals performed by the light of a gibbous moon? Who cares? Let's go!'

Ace shook her head in bemusement. 'I wish you'd make up your mind. One moment it's, "I don't feel like it", the next its all go.'

‘I am a man of passion and extremes,’ the Doctor told her pompously.

'Could almost be a Welshman,' said Hugh, evoking a derisive snort of laughter from Janet.

‘Ha! Passions and extremes, that's