Doctor Who_ Nightshade - Mark Gatiss [57]
‘Doctor! Hang on!’
get on?’
The Doctor didn’t stop.
Ace and Robin walked into the room grinning. The Doctor Who rattled his cage? thought Ace.
looked at them almost coldly. ‘Ah, there you are. I need to She sighed. He was keeping something from her as usual.
see the Abbot again up at the monastery, if you’d care to Why did she always let him treat her like this? She thought accompany me?’
of the feel of Robin’s hand against her face, his lips on her Robin looked at Ace. ‘I really should be getting back.’
cheek. He was real, uncomplicated, human. Until then, she
‘Oh.’ Her face fell.
hadn’t realised just how much she’d missed that quality.
‘It’s my mum.’
Ace nodded. ‘They can be a pain in the arse, can’t they?’
On the radio, The Move were urging everyone to call the
‘Look, if you’re going to the monastery, I can meet you fire brigade. Medway hummed along tunelessly until static there. I’ll only be a couple of hours.’
crackled across the frequency.
The smile returned to her face. ‘All right then. It’s a date.’
With one hand still on the steering wheel, he fiddled with Robin grinned and shrugged. ‘Yeah. I suppose it is.’
the dial and cursed as the reception broke up completely.
He kissed her quickly on the cheek and, waving goodbye He clicked the dial to ‘off’ and the car was silent except for to the rest, left the room.
the gentle hum of the heating.
‘Ready?’ said the Doctor.
The road ahead emerged on to the moor and he pulled up Cooper began to fumble under a bench. ‘Hang on a tick, the car a moment to check his bearings. The windscreen Doctor. I’ll need to get in touch with you if there’s another wipers thrummed repeatedly as a fine drizzle swept across energy surge.’ She popped up again. ‘Here.’
the land.
She tossed a small black box across the room to the Doctor, Medway craned his neck and saw the old bus shelter with which he caught nimbly.
the road sign by it.
‘Walkie-talkie,’ she said. ‘Not much of a range but that
‘Crook Marsham. One mile.’ He smiled to himself, might work in our favour. It may have survived the pressing down on the accelerator.
blowout. Anyway, if you hear from me, then we’ll know.’
The road across the moor was narrow and black, rain
‘Thank you.’ The Doctor slipped the device into his glistening on its old surface. Black and white posts studded already bulging pockets. ‘Au revoir.’ He marched out. Ace with hexagonal reflectors appeared every few yards. They gave a general smile to the room and dashed after him.
were quite tall, in order to project, Medway assumed, above
‘What a funny little man,’ said Cooper.
the deep snow which doubtless struck the area.
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DOCTOR WHO: NIGHTSHADE
DOCTOR WHO: NIGHTSHADE
He fumbled in the glove compartment and pulled a relation of other families’ real ones, was imbued with the succession of keys, loose change and chocolate wrappers on special aura of the morning, glowingly lit by the light to his lap before finding a crumpled packet of Camels. He filtering through heavy, gold-coloured curtains.
clamped his lips around a cigarette and struck a match off At last, the tea would be ready and presented, with some the dashboard, drinking in the smoke hungrily.
gravitas, to his parents.
Shame he wouldn’t be in London for Christmas. It was After deliberately stalling, Medway’s mother would say always the best time to be there. Anyway, what did he have
‘All right then’ and they would line up at the top of the to go back to now? Since Julia left him he’d spent two stairs, squealing with excitement.
Christmases alone with the dog, falling asleep in front of
‘Go!’
Alastair Sim on the box and a bottle of whiskey on the table.
And, in a flurry of loosening pyjamas, the two girls and It was a terrible time to be alone. And no one, he thought, boys would hurtle down the stairs, fling open the living-ever thinks it can happen to them. He certainly didn’t, not room door and fall upon the mountain of parcels like after the Christmases he used to have.
vultures.
Relatives crowding the kitchen which steamed