Doctor Who_ Rags - Mick Lewis [16]
Then he was being lifted into the air like a stuffed teddy bear held aloft by a disgruntled child, and the double doors came a little too close as his face was pressed against the corrugated metal.
‘You wanna look inside?’ The voice was husky with threat and whisky. ‘Wanna look inside, Mr Ruffles?’
The Doctor considered struggling, but the grip holding him showcased the power of a bull elephant. ‘That was admittedly the intention,’ he quipped, twisting his head to get away from the dried filth on the doors and to try to catch a glimpse of his assailant. The hands pushed his face harder against the cold metal. The Doctor felt his generous-sized nose flatten, and indignation betrayed itself in his shout. ‘But I’ve since come to the conclusion that it wasn’t such a good idea!’
To his relief, the man - for it was obviously a man - laughed, and lowered the Time Lord to the grass. ‘Got that right, Mr Ruffles.’
The Doctor was free, and able to turn and face his companion.
He recognised him immediately. One of the roadies, and he guessed the head one, judging by the way this man had co-ordinated the clearing away of the band’s equipment. He was big all right. Big and shoulder-chip mean. His head was like an anvil, a solid wedge of bone with a shaven head and a great spade of beard. His arms, the width of beech trunks, were etched with old tattoos.
‘Was that really necessary?’ The Doctor straightened his finery with as much dignity as someone who has just been tossed around like a rag doll could muster.
42
‘You got a biiig nose, Mr Ruffles. You poke it too close to my truck again, I’ll make sure you don’t damn find it again in a hurry. Whaddayer say to that?’
‘Only that I prefer to keep my nose where it is, thank you very much.’ The Doctor smiled wryly at the giant. ‘Well, if this little interview is over, I have some rather pressing business to attend to.’
‘I’m sure you do, Mr Ruffles.’ The giant placed a hand the size of a baseball glove on the Doctor’s cheek. ‘But if I find you here again...’ He patted the Doctor’s face twice, then stroked one finger suggestively down the Doctor’s nose. ‘You get me?’
‘Yes, well, I wish I could say it had been a pleasure, Mr er...’
‘Good night, Mr Ruffles.’ The giant waited until the Doctor had returned to the wall and vaulted over it. From the other side, the Time Lord waved cheekily at him. The roadie remained where he was, arms folded.
‘Doctor, where have -’ Jo’s face collapsed with relief when she saw the Doctor enter the pub. The mummer had walked out and, shortly after, the Doctor walked in. Nature abhors a vacuum, so they say, and why was she thinking such absurd things anyway?
The Doctor let her hug him, then held her at arm’s length.
‘What’s been going on?’ he asked, picking up a flyer from a beer-puddled table. The pub was noisy again, faces flushed and voices swollen with alcohol.
He read the flyer, then looked up at Jo. His eyes were grave.
She was about to ask him what was wrong when Jimmy came over, obviously well on his way to being drunk. ‘What’s John bleedin’ Gielgud doin’ in ‘ere?’
‘Down, Jimmy,’ Nick said and stared at the Doctor with a level, inquiring gaze. The Doctor returned it, then smiled benevolently at the four young people standing around Jo. He screwed the flyer up into a ball. ‘I’m glad to see you’ve made some friends, Jo. Very glad indeed.’
He turned and glanced back out of the open door of the pub.
43
He could just make out the silhouette of the truck, like the dark back of a slumbering dinosaur, against the paler gloom of the moor.
‘Now then, where’s the landlord? I think it might be an idea if we had a room for the night, don’t you? Or maybe we should make that two nights?’ He beamed even more expansively and threw the ball of paper into an ashtray.
44
Chapter Five
The police were laughing at him. He’d wasted their money, time mid resources and they were bloody well laughing at him! Pole dragged furiously on his cigarette and spat on the roadway.
‘OK, you’ve had your fun,’ the sergeant was smirking into