Acme Time Travel Incorporated - Volume 1

John walked alongside Mary, his brown brogue shoes shuffling quietly through the grassy covering of the Walton cliff top. He was holding her hand. This was the third walk they had taken, and on the first two walks they had taken, John had linked his arm through hers, as if for support. He didn’t need support since he had no problems with his balance. He only needed the contact to give him direction. If she had let go of him, he would simply stop where he was, waiting for something or someone to give some sense of volition.

But today, he had automatically taken hold of her hand.

Mary turned and looked at him. His face was expressionless, but nevertheless he seemed keen to hold onto her hand. She had tried to link arms with him, more out of curiosity than anything, and he had simply released himself from her arm and re-established his hold on her hand.

Mary thought how delighted John’s mum had been to see Mary at her doorstep, only four days ago. She hadn’t seen her since Robert’s death, and Margaret had automatically wrapped her arms around Mary, gripping her tightly, with tears in her eyes.

“It’s so lovely to see you again, Mary,” she had said. “It’s been months and ...”

She hadn’t been able to finish her sentence, and Mary wished she had had the strength to come and see Robert’s mum much sooner. Losing her younger son had obviously been terrible for her, and not even being able to talk it through with Mary had probably made it even worse for her.

“I’m ... I’m sorry Marge,” Mary had muttered, feeling herself a wealth of emotions welling up inside her. “I just ... I just couldn’t ...”

Margaret stepped back, still holding Mary in her arms. She looked at Mary, directly into her eyes. Then she stooped towards her, resting her face against Mary’s cheek. They stayed like this for some time. Finally, Margaret straightened up.

“What was it that ...?” Margaret said.

“I was wondering ... I was wondering if John would like to come with me on some walks,” said Mary. “I have started walking along the cliffs, just like we used ...”

She felt her voice start to choke up.

“Maybe John would like to ...,” she continued.

“I’m sure that he would,” said Margaret. “He always enjoyed your company, and maybe ...”

The two women looked at each other. Their looks expressed more than words could say.

. . . . . . .

The next day Mary had called round and John had accompanied her. He had shown no sign that this was anything out of the ordinary. And now, on their third walk, he had decided to hold her hand.

She wondered what went on in his mind, if indeed anything did at all.

They walked out across the Naze, where the cliffs were no taller than a dozen feet above the sandy beach. People had intermittently found fossilised shark’s teeth on the beach. She herself enjoyed this section of coast just because of the openness, the big sky, the counterpoint of the grassy cliff top and the sea so close by. There was always a strong breeze at this point, and today it came off the sea towards the land, bringing the sense of tangy salt and seaweed. She loved this. It made her feel happy, and she smiled to herself.

John had stopped. He was looking at the ground by his feet. There appeared to be a watch lying in the grass. Initially she couldn’t quite make out the shape, but then she could see it was just a conventional watch with a brown leather strap. Mary bent down and picked it up. Holding the watch in her hand, John looked at Mary expectantly. Mary wasn’t sure what to think. John didn’t normally show much awareness of things around him. He had to be encouraged to eat and drink, and having taken a mouthful, he would need to be prompted to swallow. Broadly speaking, John had little contact with the basic physical objects around him. But for some reason she couldn’t envisage, he seemed to have taken an unusual interest in this watch. She could imagine that someone had dropped the watch on the grass some time ago, and it had lain here in the wind and the rain long enough for its tiny cogs to become immovable. Surely if no one had come looking for it, then it wouldn’t be missed.

She took the watch and strapped it onto John’s wrist. The brown leather seemed soft and pliable, not as she imagined it might feel if it had been lying around outside on the grass for a length of time. It didn’t look particularly military. During the war, many servicemen had been given a standard, sturdy and robust wristwatch, to ensure that everyone had the correct time. Maybe it was one of those. Anyway, John seemed very happy to be wearing the watch. He probably had no real idea what it was supposed to do, but he looked proud to be wearing it.