Acme Time Travel Incorporated - Volume 2

The Olde Swan Pub – Clacton

Monica looked across at Barney. Gabriel’s phone had been ringing, so it looked as though his phone was turned on. But there was no answer.

“I’m really sorry,” Barney said. “I’m as worried as you are ... but for different reasons, I guess.”

“It was worth a try,” Monica said, feeling a sense of hopelessness. She knew she had really wanted to get in touch with them. That was assuming they were still together. But she hadn’t realised how helpless she would feel if they weren’t able to contact them.

And then Barney’s phone started ringing.

Barney looked at the phone. It was Gabriel. He clicked on the answer icon.

“Hi there, Barney,” Gabriel said, his voice as clear as if he was standing next to them. “You ok then mate?”

“I’m fine, Gabriel,” Barney said. “Just wondering how you were getting on.”

Barney looked across at Monica. She looked tense. She was trying to hear the conversation. She looked like she might grab the phone off him at any moment.

Before Gabriel had time to answer, Barney said, “Er, Gabriel ... would you mind if I put you on speaker-phone. I’m sitting here with Monica, Ginny’s friend from the care home. We’re sitting in a pub, but there’s only the two of us here in the pub.”

“You on a date then, Barney?” Gabriel said, just as Barney clicked on the speakerphone.

Barney felt his cheeks beginning to flush.

Monica reached over and took hold of Barney’s hand ... the one holding the phone. She pulled his hand closer towards her. She leaned down nearer to the phone.

“Hello Gabriel, this is Monica ... I’m Ginny’s friend. Is Ginny with you?”

She felt pleased that she was keeping her voice very calm, even though her nerves were very much on edge.

“Hello Monica,” Ginny said. “Are you ok? You sound worried.”

Monica breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn’t hear any tension or worry in Ginny’s voice. And she was sure that she would be able to detect it if there was. The phone signal was so good, it was like talking to them face to face.

“I’m fine, Ginny, but I was worried about you. I was concerned that maybe ... well, I don’t know ... I mean, the last time we spoke, you said you had been frightened, and I ... well ... I didn’t ...”

“I’m absolutely fine, Monica. Really I am.”

Monica realised that she was still holding Barney’s hand. She was cupping his hand, the one in which he was holding the phone. He saw her looking at her hand holding his, and when she looked up at him he smiled warmly back at her.

The bar-girl walked over and put down Monica’s glass of wine, trying to make no noise.

“Are you guys ok for money?” Barney asked. “I mean, if you’re on some sort of trip, then you will need a bit of cash. I can maybe transfer you a bit. I still have your bank account details.”

“Not to worry, Barney. We’re ok. We don’t need any cash or anything,” Gabriel said.

“But ...”

“No, honest Barney. We’re fine. My mum had a bit of money, so we’re ok. Don’t worry.”

Barney reckoned that Gabriel’s mum would not have been the sort of person who had a bit of cash to give her son, but he didn’t say anything.

“Ginny?” Monica said.

“Yes, Monica.”

“Are you ... well ... are you under any pressure to ...?”

“How do you mean, Monica?”

“Well, if you wanted to come home ... I mean, if you wanted to come home right now ... would there be anything stopping you?”

They could hear Gabriel starting to laugh.

“I don’t think I could stop her even if I wanted to,” Gabriel said, still chuckling. “I mean, she’s the pilot. What could I do?”

“How do you mean, ‘she’s the pilot’?” Monica asked, puzzled.

“He’s just joking,” Ginny said.

“But seriously,” Monica said. “It’s easy to get swept up. I know it. It happened to me. I can’t forget ... and I wouldn’t want to think ... not if I could have helped and ...”

Monica’s hand, the one cupping Barney’s hand, was starting to tremble, and Barney reached his other hand across and wrapped it around Monica’s wrist, steadying it.

She looked up and smiled at him.

“Monica?” Ginny said. “I know that you had a dreadful time when you were a young girl. You told me about it, and I know that you’re worried for me. I know that when we spoke, I said I was frightened, but I wasn’t frightened about Gabriel. He’s a really sweet boy. He’s ... well ... I don’t think that I could live without him.”

They could hear Ginny’s slightly muted chuckle, as though she had turned away from the phone, followed by “honest boyfriend, didn’t you know?”

Monica waited a respectful moment, before saying “so where are you then?”

“We’re ... we’re travelling,” Ginny said.

“Can you maybe send us picture or something?” Monica asked. She realised that an actual photo would give her a final confirmation that nothing was amiss.

“Can we do that?” Gabriel asked.

Barney looked at Monica, unsure who the question was being addressed to. A few moments later Barney’s phone pinged. He was in receipt of a photo. Barney shuffled his chair closer to Monica, so that they could both see the photo. It showed Gabriel and Ginny. They were standing side by side. Gabriel had his arm round her shoulder, and Ginny was snuggling into the crook of Gabriel’s arm. They both looked very happy.

“Anyway, we’d better get going mate,” Gabriel said. “We’ll keep in touch. Hope you two have a nice evening.”

“And don’t worry, Monica,” Ginny chipped in. “It’s very nice that you worry for me, but I’m having a lovely time.”

“Oh, and Monica?”

“Yes, Ginny.”

“Barney’s a real nice guy. Gabriel thinks of him as his step-dad ... well you do ... you know you do.”

Monica looked up at Barney. He looked very proud but also somewhat embarrassed.

“Anyway guys ... we gotta go,” Gabriel said. “Be seeing you.”

And they heard the phone connection close.

“I think Ginny seems sort of fond of you as well,” Monica said.

“That’s nice,” Barney said.

“You can probably let go of my hand now,” Monica said.

“Eh?”

Monica was smiling at him, and pointing with her spare hand at Barney, who was still holding her wrist firmly.

Barney smiled at her sheepishly, letting go of her hand.

He was still looking at the photo they had been sent. Gabriel and Ginny, arm in arm. Happy and smiling. Standing there together, and just behind them, clear and distinct, what looked like the flight-deck on a space shuttle. A steering yolk extruded from the console, and Ginny had one hand resting on it, in what seemed to be a very familiar and practised manner. Behind them he could see a glass canopy. It looked out onto a vista of stars. Barney tried enlarging the image, to get closer detail of the flight-deck instrumentation. The resolution of the picture was truly amazing. You could just keep on going. He didn’t realise the mobile phone he had given to Gabriel was so good. You could drill down onto each dial on the flight-deck. He dragged the picture across, to see the view though the glass cockpit canopy, and there, displayed on the glass in small glowing green letters, it distinctly read

Proximity Alert – resuming

automatic safety protocols

What was it that Gabriel had said?

“Anyway guys ... we gotta go”

He popped his phone back into his jacket pocket.

“They seemed ok, don’t you think?” Monica said.

Barney nodded. He still looked worried, she thought.

“Ginny looked very happy ... not worried at all.”

Barney continued to nod. His mind was evidently elsewhere.

“I feel a lot better now,” Monica confided.

“Er, yeah, I guess so,” Barney said.

“So, anyway, I think you should know that I am fifty years old, I have two kids; two girls, aged seventeen and twenty-one. They both live at home with me. And I’m divorced. Have been for fifteen years.”

She had his attention now.

“So how about we treat the rest of this evening as a date?” she suggested. “We can, if you want to?”

“You know I’m sixty-three years old, don’t you?” Barney said hesitantly. “I’m just some old guy. Some old newspaper-man. Just some old guy who still likes to talk to pretty women. Just some old guy who ...”

Monica placed one slender, manicured finger on his lips, silencing him in an instant.

“Ginny said you’re a nice guy, and that’s good enough for me. I respect her opinion.”

“Yeah, but ...”

“And Barney?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry I broke your toilet door.”