24 May 2012
Trigger: Use a name from a list of well known names to make a story: Ghengis Kahn; Adolph Hitler; Sean Connery, David Beckham; Dr. Who; Christopher Wren; etc
Who’s there?
“Come along Sarah Jane. I don’t want to hear any more about telephone boxes.” Beverly Smith tugged at the hand of her daughter, willing her to move more quickly away from the street and up the steps and into the house along the narrow street in Hampstead.
Sara Jane however was still thinking of the blue police telephone box she had seen, and then, not seen.
“But Mummy, I tell you it really did disappear”.
“Sarah, I don’t mind you having fun but I want you to stop making up stories this instant”, Beverly commanded in frustration. “Telephone boxes do not disappear!”
Sarah at last kept her mouth shut as she trudged up the stairs into her tiny room, flinging herself down onto her bed. “I know what I saw”, she said to herself. “And I saw the tall, frizzy haired man in a long coat and scarf walk into it, and right after it disappeared with him in it. I know I saw it.”
Later that evening she sat with her cat Skittles on the back porch of the house, staring up at a bright star in the night sky. “Oh Skittles wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to just go anywhere you wanted, like to that star, when you wanted. Our life is so boring here.” Skittles brushed her leg with his body, wanting just to be petted and scratched.
Sarah Jane continued looking up into the dark sky when a loud rasping noise began in the ally behind her house followed by a resounding thump. Skittles slunk behind Sarah Jane, holding his body tense as he looked toward the noise. Sarah Jane was a rather forward young girl and quite curious as well. Despite her better judgment or fear, she stood up and walked toward the gate at the rear of their small garden which led out to the ally.
Just as she reached out for the gate it creaked open toward her. Standing in the space was a small, rather thin man with an angular jaw, wearing a white suit with a thin black tie and wide rimmed glasses.
“Hello Sara Jane”, he said to her with a big smile.
You know my name. Who are you.
“Yes, I am who.”
“You are whom?”
“No, I am Who, the doctor.”
“Which doctor?”
“No, I’m not a witch doctor. I am Who Doctor, the Doctor.”
“But how do you know me?” asked Sarah Jane, now thoroughly puzzled but quite interested in this strange man standing so comfortably in front of her.
“Why Sarah Jane, I have known you and will know you all your life…and mine too.”
The answer confused her but it somehow seemed to make sense. She peered around him and there in the ally, saw the blue call box.
“You have the same call box that I saw earlier today. But it was a different person who went in.”
“Well, it was a different Who, but it was me just the same,” he laughed.
Skittles scuttled through the gate bypassing the Doctor and ran over to the blue call box and with only a slight hesitation, charged through the door that had been left slightly ajar.
Sarah Jane called out, “Skittles, come back!” And pursued the cat and entered the door. The doctor calmly followed.
“But this cant be true”, she said in wonder as she regarded the huge space dominated by a circular walkway with dials and levers and buttons around a central core that stretched up several stories high.
“Mr. Who, how can this be so big on the inside and so small on the outside?”
“Its just “Doctor”, Sarah. And well… its complicated. I hadn’t really intended you should see the Tardis just yet. You always were/are rather likely to jump into things without thinking. I always liked that about you.”
The Tardis?
“Yes, it’s a kind of ship and that’s what I call it. Like the name of your cat.”
“Oh, Skittles, I forgot all about him. Skittles, Skittles” she cried out. “Where are you. He doesn’t seem to be in this room.”
“Oh Dear”, said the Doctor. “I think Skittles has gone exploring in the Tardis, Who knows when he will find his way back?
“Oh then, you know”, Sarah replied somewhat skeptically.
“Well, yes, I guess I do know when. We’ll have him back in no time.
“But Doctor”, Sarah said forgetting about Skittles for the moment. Who was the man who entered the, the… Tardis?” she stammered”
“Who” replied the Doctor simply.
“Yes, who was the man who entered the Tardis that I saw earlier today in the village. It was not you.”
“It gets a bit complicated”, said the Doctor. “It was me but it wasn’t me.”
“But that’s not possible” said Sara Jane.
“Perhaps I can show you. Would you like to take a little trip?”
“Oh, Mummy would not like me to leave.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll have you back before you’ve even left. And Skittles will be with you too.”
“Well, perhaps… but where will we go?”
“How about, we go into your future?” And with that the Doctor bounded up onto the circular platform, twisted two dials and pulled a large lever.
Sarah Jane saw a huge pump like device begin to move up and down in a clear glass cylinder in the center of the room, and heard the same loud rasping sound, but in all other ways, she felt nothing. There was the loud thud and the Doctor took her hand and they walked over and looked out the door.
Hampstead was no where to be seen. Large buildings were everywhere. Small shiny ships flew past back and forth between the buildings and on further out into the sky. There were two moons shining down on her. It looked like nothing she had ever before seen, even on television or at the movies.
“Where are we”, she asked?
“Titus Setti 9”, replied the Doctor. “It’s the bright star you were looking at, in the sky at home. In Earth years it’s 2438. This is what the future looks like. Or, well…if everything turns out all right.”
“What do you mean Doctor?”
You Sarah Jane, may not realize it. But you are one of the most important people in your world, or maybe even in your galaxy. You will help me make things right. And even save my life. That is in your future.”
“Look, over there.” In the distance, Sarah saw another blue call box. In front stood the tall, frizzy haired man in the long coat that she had seen earlier in the day. Next to him was a young, attractive woman with long dark brown hair, parted on the side with curls hanging down around her neck. She was shaking her finger at the tall man and obviously giving him a piece of her mind.
Sarah Jane could not hear what was being said but she could see that the woman was angry.
“What’s wrong with her?” Sarah Jane asked.
“Well, that’s you in a few years time. And that’s me from many years back.”
“It’s whom?” She asked.
“No it’s Who, and you.”
“That Doctor took her a little too close to danger this time. And she, you, are reminding him that sometimes he goes a little too far. And he could be a lot more considerate.”
“How far can he go?”
“Well, that’s just it. We can go about as far as we want. And you will be wanting to go along, at least until you don’t. And that will happen too.”
“But that’s all in the future. Now, we have to get you back.” And with that, the doctor closed the door to the Tardis, went over to the control panel and pulled the lever once again.
Sarah heard the noise and the thump and the Doctor opened the door onto the back ally. Skittles who had been cowering in a corner, made a dash and was out and through and passed the garden gate which had been left ajar.
“You are home Sarah Jane Smith. For now. I will see you again sometime and we will go somewhere new.”
“When I will see you again?” she asked.
“When you are ready. You’ll know how…and with Who,” he said as he closed the door on the blue box.
“Whom”, Sarah Jane said to herself as the box disappeared.