Acme Time Travel Incorporated - Volume 1

The Gazette Office Frinton-on-Sea

Gabriel had made their first morning tea, and Barney had pulled a packet of Digestive biscuits from his desk drawer, looked at them speculatively, and then put them back again.

“Maybe have one a bit later,” he said sadly.

“I think it’s the beer that does it, mate,” Gabriel volunteered.

Barney was worried about his weight and had taken the strategy of replacing his daily packet of custard creams with a packet of Digestive biscuits. Even then, his daily regimen of getting a quick shower followed by getting weighed was not showing any promising signs.

“I can’t believe you said that!” snarled Barney in mock anger. “My doctor advised me on my beer intake.”

“Yeah, you told me, but I think he said ‘drink less beer’, not just ‘drink beer’,” quipped Gabriel good-humouredly.

They sat and drank their first-of-the-day tea together, and Barney checked for any urgent e-mails or promises of payment.

“So, how did it go yesterday?” Barney asked.

“He is an interesting guy. Lots to tell, mate.”

“Not confused then?”

“Not a bit. He’s given me one or two ideas for stories. Not just ‘they built this, I saw that’ stuff”.

“So what ideas then?”

“Well, for one thing, John was born with some sort of problem. He couldn’t talk. Couldn’t move on his own, that sort of thing. Given up by everybody. His mum looked after him for thirty years. He couldn’t wipe his own arse even”.

“So how come ...?” Barney asked, bemused.

“Well, here’s the thing. He got better. Just like that.”

“Just like that?”

Barney looked both puzzled and suspicious.

“Yeah, he got better. Sort of over-night.”

“And the doctors said ...?”

“That’s the thing. Their doctor said he had never heard of anyone with that condition getting better.”

“And so, your idea for a story is ‘ill guy gets well’ is it?” said Barney, holding out his arms as if he was proclaiming the Second Coming of Christ.

“Not really,” said Gabriel. “I was thinking of doing a piece on people back then bringing up kids with serious physical and mental issues, completely without support. You know that John’s mum cared for him for thirty years without any social care at all. Just had to rely on her friends. Can you imagine?”

Barney reached out for a biscuit, and then remembered he had put them back in his drawer.

“No, I was thinking of doing a piece on how MENCAP was founded. As a response to the complete lack of social care for people in that situation. Maybe find other examples of people in the area who had to go through the same thing. See how it affected them. See how times have changed. So, what do you think, Barney?” Gabriel concluded, his face very serious.

Barney looked back at Gabriel. He hadn’t known the lad for that long, and he had tried to give him what knowledge he had of journalism. That, plus the skills necessary to work in a small but (he felt) important local industry.

Barney smiled at Gabriel. “I feel very proud of you, Gabriel. I sent you to cover the local dog show, and you ignored the dogs. Instead you came back with a genuine human-interest story.”

“You think it’s a good idea, then, Barney?”

“It’s excellent, mate. I can’t wait to see what you dig up. In fact, this could be the best thing we have published since they knocked down the old Victorian bogs in Walton High Street,” said Barney, smiling wryly.

Gabriel looked pleased with the approval.

“Ee those were heady days, lad,” Barney chuckled, feigning a northern accent.

“Heady days, indeed,” said Gabriel. “Oh, and I am going out to see John again tomorrow, for more research material.”

“Research away, mate,” said Barney happily. “Tell you what, buy the old guy a bottle of sherry or something. Take the cash out of the tea fund. He probably doesn’t get much to entertain him, not at 100 years old.”

“I’ll do that,” said Gabriel, smiling to himself. “Yeah, the poor old sod probably just sits there all day long, thinking about what’s for dinner.”