Doctor Who_ Return of the Living Dad - Kate Orman [27]
He’s a hero.’
Benny looked at him. ‘I promised you I’d back you up, no matter what, and I meant it. But how can I compete with that?’
She walked up to him, grabbed hold of his ears, and angrily kissed him. Jason made a surprised noise.
‘You get back in there,’ she said, ‘and you talk to him like a human being. That’s all he is, a human being.’
‘I thought you’d be furious,’ he said.
‘This isn’t a competition.’ She kissed him again. ‘I want you to like one another. Go on, get in there.’
‘What about you?’
Benny sighed. ‘I need a bit of fresh air.’
Jacqui didn’t like the Friday evenings. Usually she stayed at the peace camp, sitting around the fire with the others, playing her recorder. But this time she thought it would be a good idea to come back to Little Caldwell, help with searching or something. She had spent a little bit of time tidying up in the cottage she shared with Ms Randrianasolo and the Bannerman. The poor alien left things all over the place, not because he meant to, but because he just forgot about them. He was stone deaf, too, so you couldn’t ask him where he’d left things. When she was finally finished, she switched off all the lights and locked the front door.
It was raining steadily, making a soothing, drumming noise on her umbrella. She sloshed through the puddles in her wellies, humming to herself. It would be her thirty-fifth birthday in two days.
Someone was standing outside the Pyramid, watching the rain come down. As Jacqui got closer, she could see it was Bernice Summerfield. There was a hologram up, making the shop look empty. She didn’t know why they bothered with that. Mr Sullivan the postman went home to Newbury at night, and it wasn’t as if anyone was going to come here in weather like this.
Bernice had noticed her. ‘Hello,’ she said.
‘You’re getting wet,’ said Jacqui. She thought her voice always sounded tiny and rusty, like a bit of machinery that hadn’t been used for a while.
‘I just needed to get outside for a bit,’ said Bernice, scooping sodden hair out of her eyes. The shop’s rolled-up awning didn’t offer much protection.
Jacqui waited to see if she was going to say anything more. ‘I’m caught between three men,’ said the Admiral’s daughter, at length. ‘I don’t believe this — we’ve only been here one day.’
Jacqui nodded seriously. ‘Do you feel as though it’s all going a bit fast for you?’
‘It was always like this.’
‘Travelling with him?’
Bernice looked down at her. ‘We’re lightning rods,’ she said wearily. ‘The Doctor and the Summerfields. Whatever’s started here, it’s not going to get easier: it’s going to get harder. More complicated instead of simpler.’
‘Lightning rods,’ said Jacqui.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Bernice. ‘You must be freezing down there. Let’s go inside.’
Jacqui shook her head. ‘I’m all right. It’s my birthday in two days.’
‘Well, happy birthday for Thursday.’
‘Thank you.’
Jacqui turned around and went back down the street, the rain pouring from the rim of her umbrella. Perhaps the Admiral’s daughter watched her go.
The clock over the sink chimed softly. Quarter to midnight.
Isaac pulled the plug out, found himself watching the suds go down the drain.
The Doctor and Jason had moodily volunteered to do all the washing up, probably at Benny’s insistence. But the final tidy-up was the Admiral’s job — making sure everything was in its place. Even if one of the cups had been broken during the day, even if it couldn’t be saved with a drop of glue, it made him feel right to know.
Cups broke without warning, of course. You didn’t look at each cup and think about the day it must inevitably break.
There were other times, much worse times, when you could look back afterwards and see all the little warning signs you’d missed. Like when Beilby had started