Doctor Who_ Relative Dementias - Mark Michalowski [53]
‘The open mind of the scientist! Excellent! It’s good to see that UNIT hasn’t worn you down yet, and that you’ve still got all your curiosity. I must admit, I would have been a trifle disappointed if you hadn’t been so difficult to convince: a good scientist always goes on the evidence. But the best scientists always trust their intuition.’
‘Rubbish, Doctor!’ Joyce said – and then burst out laughing.
‘Utter, utter rubbish! As usual!’ She smiled warmly at him and reached out to take his hand. ‘It’s good to have you back.’
‘Well, it was your invite that brought me here.’
Joyce shook her head and drew her hand across her forehead, smoothing back her hair, as she was reminded of why the Doctor was there at all. ‘There’s something very wrong going on at Graystairs. Very wrong indeed – I mean, apart from the events of the last few hours.’ She felt her voice cracking at the edges.
‘Your postcard was very cryptic,’ the Doctor said. ‘What was it that made you send it?’
‘At the time, I wasn’t sure whether working for UNIT was just making me suspicious, paranoid.’ She ventured an uncertain smile. ‘I went to see Mum early the other morning – and as I walked up the road through the woods, I had the weirdest feeling that I was being watched. I brushed it off – and then I heard a none, twigs snapping. And through the trees, I could see someone.’ She shook her head at the memory. ‘He looked like an old man, and my first thought was that it was just one of the residents out for a walk. But then I started wondering whether he was, you know, confused.’ She said the word with distaste: she’d never liked euphemisms. ‘Whether he was a resident. I waved to him and he vanished. I thought about just going up to Graystairs and telling them – but then I thought about how I’d have felt if it had been Mum, and some stranger had just left her to wander, so I set off after him, calling.’
‘And did you find him?’
‘He found me. Suddenly I turned and he was there, right behind me. with a stick in his hand. I thought he was going to hit me. It’s weird: I’ve dealt with all sorts of alien incursions and threats, but I’d never been so scared as I was then, threatened by an old man with a stick.’
The Doctor nodded. ‘Human behaviour can be the most alien of all,’ he agreed. ‘Humans have preconceptions, don’t they, about other humans, in a way that they don’t about non-humans? And it’s the shattering of those that make us see the truly alien in others.’
‘There was something in his eyes,’ Joyce said nodding. She furrowed her brow. ‘Something human – and alien at the same time. I honestly thought I was a goner, and then he started to ramble, muttering about how “they” – whoever “they” were –
had put things in his head. “Bad things” was how he described them, “evil things”. At first, I thought he was simply suffering from dementia; I said that I’d take him back – and then he really flipped, threw the stick down and ran off into the wood. I’d never have believed someone of his age could run so fast.’
‘What did he look like?’ the Doctor asked curiously.
‘In his sixties – maybe seventies. Slight build, white hair, grey cardigan. Black trousers. Maybe grey. Not much to go on, is it?’
‘Oh, I think it’s enough. It sounds like the man I met in the teashop this morning.’
‘Really? So he’s still at large, is he?’
‘It would seem so. Did you find out who he was?’
‘Well, this was the thing that convinced me to write to you -
apart from the general atmosphere in the place. When I got to Graystairs, there was a right hoo-ha about someone who’d gone missing. I told that girl – Megan, the odd, gangly one – and she rushed out with a face like thunder. I must admit, I was a bit curious – and concerned. I followed her and saw that she’d gone down the cellar steps. So ...’ Joyce smiled, conspiratorially ‘You can take the woman out of UNIT... Anyway, I went down half way and heard her telling someone that Eddie had been seen.’
‘And did you hear the reply?’
Joyce nodded slowly. ‘I heard