Doctor Who_ Father Time Part 3

Chapter Three.

The Girl with Two Hearts.

Mrs Castle got home safely, and the snow kept falling for three more nights and days, but she didn't mind so much any more.

All that time, as she prepared and taught her lessons, she thought about the Doctor and how he had helped her. It was a simple, kind act, but the more Mrs Castle thought about it, the more complicated it became. Who was he? How long had he been living all alone in the farmhouse? How did he make a living? What did he do with himself all day?

She tried to work out how old the Doctor was. She could remember seeing the crows' feet around his eyes, and she thought he had a couple of grey hairs, but Mrs Castle found it very difficult to guess. She decided that he was older than he looked, but she couldn't decide how how old he looked. She found herself looking forward to Tuesday night, and the chess club. The Doctor was a fascinating man, and she had the feeling that the answers to her questions would be even more intriguing than not knowing. Whatever the case, the answers were bound to be more interesting than her ordinary life, with its routine of schoolwork and living with Barry. old he looked. She found herself looking forward to Tuesday night, and the chess club. The Doctor was a fascinating man, and she had the feeling that the answers to her questions would be even more intriguing than not knowing. Whatever the case, the answers were bound to be more interesting than her ordinary life, with its routine of schoolwork and living with Barry.

On Tuesday, around half three, as the sun set over the hills, and her pupils began packing up, she began to worry the Doctor wouldn't come. The snow was inches thick, now, and although the roads had been gritted it was still a hazardous journey. This time of the year, it was already night when the school day ended.

The school secretary put her head round the door and told Mrs Castle there was a phone call for her. Mrs Castle trudged over to the main building, leaving her cla.s.s to pack up under the watchful eye of the secretary.

Mrs Castle thought the phone call must be from the police, wanting to talk to her yet again about the accident. The last time she'd been to the station, the desk sergeant, who had a couple of sons at the school, a.s.sured her that she wouldn't be charged: Arnold agreed that it was his fault for running out into the road. But that hadn't stopped an endless pile of paperwork from mounting up.

But it wasn't the police: it was Mr Moxon, the teacher from Mill Vale Primary who ran their chess club. He told her the snow was coming down, and their team had been hit by the flu. He was sorry for the late notice, but he was going to have to cancel.

Mrs Castle put down the telephone, disappointed.

She walked back through the playground to her cla.s.sroom block. Greyfrith Primary School was a collection of Portakabins huddled around a small playground. The only permanent structure was the Victorian main building she had just left, a wet, grey, slate-andstone building which had the a.s.sembly hall, the headmaster's office and the small library. The cabins were meant to be a temporary solution to the expanding school roll, but they'd been saying that as long as Mrs Castle had been teaching here. The flat roofs leaked in this weather. The cabins were easy to heat but there was no insulation, no double-glazing, and Mrs Castle could almost see the red arrows coming out of the doors and windows as the heat escaped, as they did on the public-information films.

The curtains for her cla.s.sroom had been drawn the first members of the chess club must have arrived. She could hear the sc.r.a.ping of tables and opening of cupboards. She knew she would have to break the news that the match that the club had been looking forward to for a week wasn't going to go ahead. She was disappointed for her pupils, but she knew that she was really disappointed because she wouldn't be seeing the Doctor this evening, if ever again.

There were a lot of parents around, picking up their children. Mrs Castle recognised a few of them, and stopped to say h.e.l.lo. The parents had heard about her car accident word got around Greyfrith very quickly and they all offered their sympathy and support.

Then Mrs Castle saw them: a man and a woman in their early twenties, looking more like a twin brother and sister than husband and wife. Mrs Castle remembered their piercing blue eyes, and their plastic mackintoshes. When she last saw them, they had been sitting down, so she didn't realise how tall and thin they were. They were standing right at the gates, looking at the children as they came out.

They watched her pa.s.s, in silence.

'Good evening,' she said, refusing to be cowed.

The two looked at each other.

'Good evening to you,' the woman said. Mrs Castle had forgotten how deep the woman's voice had been. She was tall, with long thin legs like a fas.h.i.+on model's. Mrs Castle crossed her hands over her chest.

'Good evening,' the man echoed in his woman's voice.

'I've seen you before,' she said. She looked around for confirmation and yes! she saw their black Volkswagen Beetle parked over two s.p.a.ces of the little school car park. 'You didn't stop for me on Sat.u.r.day night, even though I told you there had been an accident.'

'We're not following you,' the man a.s.sured her. The woman glared at her... brother? 'I promise,' he added, insincerely.

'It's just that we've been taught not to talk to strangers,' the woman said smugly.

'What are your names?'

'Call us the Hunters,' the man suggested.

'You don't have a child here, do you, Mr and Mrs Hunter?'

The two smirked back at her.

'Then what are you doing, hanging around the school gates?'

'This and that,' the woman answered.

Mrs Castle dug her heels into the sludgy snow, and drew herself up to her full height and began telling them that she didn't care what they were doing, but they ought to leave, before she called the police.

But Mrs Castle realised the pair weren't listening at all: they were staring over her shoulder, the oddest expressions on their faces.

'Must be going,' the man announced.

Mrs Castle turned, and saw the Doctor sitting on the low stone wall, as if he had been there all the time.

'Are you having trouble?' the Doctor asked her.

Mrs Castle turned around, but the man and the woman had gone. She tried to see their car, but that had vanished, too.

'No,' Mrs Castle said, puzzled by the speed of their departure. 'Did you see them?'

'See who?'

'The...' She looked around. 'There was an odd couple. I saw them just after the accident on Sat.u.r.day night. It doesn't matter. Er, h.e.l.lo. Bad news the other team aren't coming, so I'm going to have to cancel.'

'Won't the children be disappointed?' he asked.

Mrs Castle sighed. 'Of course they will be, but what's the alternative?'

The Doctor frowned, unable to come up with the answer.

The school secretary was trudging towards them, arms crossed over her chest. She looked very cold her big gla.s.ses were almost misted over. 'Your Barry's on the phone,' she announced.

Mrs Castle rolled her eyes.

'I'll look after the chess club,' the Doctor offered.

Barry hadn't wanted anything in particular he rarely did when he phoned his wife at work. He just did it to remind her who was boss. As she walked back to her cla.s.sroom (along the path that the school caretaker had carefully cleared in the snow and ice), she was feeling very cross it was cold and dark, and things weren't going the way they should be. She wasn't sure whether the world was whispering behind her back, or had forgotten that she was there altogether.

She went into the Portakabin, tuning at the slick of water in the corridor. The heating had been turned off, despite her asking the caretaker not to. Every week the caretaker forgot about the chess club and left them s.h.i.+vering. She wondered if the man genuinely forgot, or whether her constant requests and badgering had left him with some ill-formed grudge against her.

She braced herself to tell the children her bad news and opened the door.

The chess club were all sitting at their desks, heads down, trying to figure their next move. But they were all sitting on their own. The chair opposite each of them was empty.

The Doctor was sitting on the edge of her desk. He turned at the sound of her entering and beamed at her. Mrs Castle felt elated she remembered what it was like when a teacher praised her work.

'I hope you don't mind. I came up with a little challenge of my own.'

She looked again and realised.

'You're playing all of them? Ten games at once?'

'Eleven,' the Doctor said simply, moving aside. There was another board set up on her desk. 'I hope you don't mind.'

Mrs Castle smiled, and picked up a white p.a.w.n and a black p.a.w.n, hiding one in each hand.

'Black,' the Doctor said, picking her left hand. His mouth twitched into a smile when she opened her hand to reveal the black p.a.w.n.

Mrs Castle put the pieces back and opened by moving her king's p.a.w.n.

'Be with you in a moment,' the Doctor said. He stood, and walked around the room. He stopped at the first board, made his move and quickly moved on to the next one. He drummed his mouth with his fingers, then slid the castle up the board. Lee clearly hadn't expected the move, and it left him deep in thought. The Doctor was already up to the fifth board. Mrs Castle watched him scratch his head, purse his lips, strut about. He returned to her within a minute.

'Incredible,' she told him.

'Early days yet,' the Doctor told her. 'Anyone can do this and lose eleven games. A couple of them will give me a run for my money.'

'You can tell that already?'

'Oh yes.' He moved his king's p.a.w.n, nodded happily at some secret joke and began his circuit of the room.

'Check!' Stephen announced, delighted.

The Doctor sat down hard on the tiny chair opposite his opponent, shook his head, then took the offending piece with a p.a.w.n. 'Check!' he echoed. Stephen slumped.

'You're trying the king's gambit,' Daniel announced.

'Am I?' the Doctor said. Mrs Castle wasn't sure whether the surprise in his voice was feigned or not. He looked Daniel straight in the eye. 'So, what move should I make next?' he asked the young boy. Mrs Castle smiled Daniel had ordered a book on chess openings for the school library, and had kept it out on permanent loan ever since it had arrived. He had it memorised, but couldn't always put what he had read into practice.

Daniel told him what he should do, and the Doctor obliged.

A few minutes and a few circuits later, the Doctor was at Mrs Castle's desk again.

He chuckled. 'Thought so,' he told her, 'you're castling early on. Quite apt, given your surname.'

'Gordon?' she asked, before remembering that her surname now was 'Castle'. 'Is there a Doctor's defence against it?' she asked.

He checked the board, a puzzled expression on his face.

'No need to pretend with me,' she a.s.sured him.

'Um...' the Doctor replied, feigning innocence.

'I can see what you're doing you don't really need to think it through.'

'No?'

'No. I know you don't want to make beating the kids look too easy, and I appreciate it, but there's no need to spare my my feelings. Especially not this early in the game.' feelings. Especially not this early in the game.'

He moved a knight out.

Mrs Castle opened up the drawer in her desk and rummaged through the confiscated Smurfs for her packet of Polos. She offered them to the Doctor, who popped one his mouth, then asked her if she knew that the gelatin in them was made from melted bones.

Mrs Castle quickly swallowed her Polo and put the rest back in the drawer.

'So who's giving you trouble?' she asked, pus.h.i.+ng out a p.a.w.n.

'Stephen, Daniel, Stacey and Rachel,' he replied without hesitation, moving his castle.

'You know their names?' she asked, moving her castle out.

'Of course.' Knight move to keep the castle in check.

'How?'

'They told me when I asked,' he replied, confused by the question.

Mrs Castle was impressed. Faced with a new cla.s.s, it would often be a week before she could remember what they were all called.

She moved another p.a.w.n out. 'What about Miranda?'

The Doctor glanced over to the tiny blonde girl, sitting at the last table, deep in thought. 'Not really.'

'Watch out for her,' Mrs Castle warned. 'She's smart.'

The Doctor smiled. 'Thanks for the warning.'

He moved his castle's p.a.w.n forward two s.p.a.ces and stood up to go about his rounds. Mrs Castle sipped at her coffee and looked down at the board, unable to believe what a poor position she was in already. She pulled herself away from the Doctor's theatrics and decided to concentrate on her game. It had been years since she'd had a proper opponent, and Mrs Castle was out of practice. The Doctor was back before Mrs Castle had put her coffee mug down.

'Not moved?' he asked.

'Thinking it through. How are you getting on?'

'Stephen's not planning far enough ahead, but he's good. Daniel... he's not seen my rook yet: he's too hung up on the theory. Stacey's being clever, playing a long game. Rachel can see what I'm doing, I'm not sure she knows how to stop it.'

'Miranda?'

He hesitated. 'I'm not sure. She doesn't look like a threat.'

Mrs Castle looked over. Miranda was an odd mix. She was small for her age nearly eleven, but looked more like an eight-or nine-yearold but was very confident: two things that rarely went together. But that was hardly the oddest thing about her.

Mrs Castle moved her castle, trying to press forward.