The History Channel

by S G Read

  William did that, he took one book and read it from cover to cover, returned it to its place and took another book until he found the book he was looking for. He had no real idea of the date he was visiting in 1841, in fact he was wondering if it was like the film he watched when one man kept reliving the same day time after time. When he returned to 1841 would they remember him? Would it be the same day again or would it be the next day? Were the days running concurrently through the television? If so, he knew just what day it was, it was today but in 1841.

  He photocopied two pages of results choosing only the results in London, as to travel elsewhere would take ages by horse and chaise. That reminded him that he needed pound coins for the meter and after paying for his photocopies, he stopped at a shop to buy something for a few pence using a £10 note.

  ‘Can you make that, five ones please?’ William asked politely before the man pulled a five pound note out of the till.

  The man did not argue, he gave him five one pound coins as well as the four one pound coins he had already given him. William slipped the change into his pocket and was on his way he had a date with history.

  When he returned to the flat he picked up his post which was piled just inside the door, even though he knew it was his, as he was the only one who had not collected his post for ages, he still looked at each address to make sure. He knew most would be bills but with no money to pay them, there was no point in looking at them, the one thing he knew was that his electricity would not be cut off as he paid for it as he used it. He glanced at each letter in turn when he was back inside his flat but did not bother to open any, none of them seemed very interesting and a lot of them were junk mail. Like everything else he piled them onto his bed for his attention later. Of course, when he went to bed they would be scooped onto the floor, which is where the rest of the coins were. He remembered the electricity meter and quickly checked to see what was left in credit but when he saw that it was about to run out he quickly force-fed it as many coins as he had.

  When everything had settled he looked through the TV and was pleased when he could still see the floor below. He smiled, it was still working and that's what he needed. He started to think about his next actions in Victorian times. At the moment he was squatting, albeit in his own flat but back then it was a house and obviously not used at the moment. He needed to find out who owned it and try to either buy it or pay rent on it, he considered that for a moment then came to the conclusion that rent, even though it was a waste of money, was the best option. That way he could keep his name off the deed in an effort not to change anything, if it was empty now, his renting it would hardly cause a major reaction.

  He thought about the actual door to the past that needed to be in a room, which was not accessible from the street door. He thought about putting it in his bedroom, but there was just no room for it in there. The only place where there was room was the bathroom. The design suggested that they were initially going to fit a bath in there but changed their mind and just fitted a shower. That meant that there was plenty of room by the sink.

  He considered dragging the television into the bathroom and tucking it in the corner out of the way, but in a position where he could still go through it. It was plugged into an extension lead, and there was plenty of that, as it was his father's old lead and was not on a reel, it was just a loose cable. He made sure that the lead was not likely to snag up anywhere and carefully slid the table with the television on it towards her bathroom. He did not hurry as he did not want any problems, and he certainly did not want it to become disconnected as he moved it. He checked the cable many times as he did so but when there was only a metre to go and he was satisfied that nothing could happen. He moved it all the way into the corner but as he did so the screen changed colour, from black to greyish black.

  A quick glance at the plug showed him what had happened. The plug had come out. Not all the way back far enough to turn the television off. William used his eyes to follow the wire and where it came through the doorway. It had coiled and jammed under the door, it appeared that that was all it needed to pull the plug out.

  He was extremely annoyed at himself for being so stupid. It was the last thing he wanted to do and he had just gone and done it. He walked over and freed the coiled wire from under the door then pulled the wiring far enough to be able to plug the TV back in. He did so and waited with bated breath, but all he got was a little red light on the television. It was on standby.

  Now he had to find the remote so that he could turn it on. The search took him longer than he wanted to, but he found it pushed the on button and saw the red light go out. Now he had to wait for it to come on again and that set him thinking. If there was a power cut, while he was in the past and he did get power cuts, then he would be stranded in the past, because the television would never come back on. He had to override the standby mode, some way or the other before he went back into the past. It would also be useful to know how long it took to restart if it ever did restart. With that in mind, he set his stopwatch to record the time it took to restart from when it was off.

  All he could do now was to watch and wait. If it did come back on, which he hoped it did as he had already bought the white fiver, which would not be much good to him in this timeframe. It was more valuable in the past and he intended to make it a lot more valuable. He had results from Epsom for next week and if he could get through, he hoped the cabbie would take him to Epsom. There he could win enough money to rent the property and possibly do some good in the Victorian time. He knew there was a lot of suffering then, especially in London, and that's where he was. He lay on the bed, looked at his stopwatch and then promptly fell asleep.

  When he woke he remembered the problem and hurried over to the television in the bathroom, almost tripping over the lead as he went. One glance told him that it was back on again and he was pleased to see it was but he had no idea how long it had taken to come back on, as he had slept right through until morning.

  Now he would have to do it all over again but that did not matter, as he had to sort out the problem with the standby mode before he could use it again, which meant he had to switch it off anyway. In a way it was for the best, as it was something he had been worried about, since he found out what it did. Now he was less worried, he could very carefully find a way to stop the standby from what working so that when the TV was switched on and plugged in it would automatically come on. That way, if he was in the past and he had a power cut in modern times, he would be able to time the TV and know just when it should come back on, after the power was restored. Of course he would not know how long the power cut was for, he would just have to keep checking until he was able to go back through but at least he would know that the door would reopen.

  Now he turned it off and turned it over so that he could get at the original electrics, then he removed the cover and after inspecting the circuit which controlled the standby, he turned on his laptop to access the Internet, to see if he could see just how it worked. He knew it was going to be a long haul as every time he wanted to try it he had to wait for it to finally come on but better safe than stuck in Victorian times.

  He worked on it for three hours before he was finally satisfied that it would come on the first time it was plugged in. Now was the time to try it, he set his stopwatch to zero, turned the television over and plugged it in. Now it was a matter of waiting, something that he did not do well, he was either bored and wanted something to do, or fell asleep. He sat on the edge of the little table that way if he did fall asleep he would end up on the floor.

  Four hours later a very bored William saw the screen change, he looked at his watch and noted that it had been exactly four hours between power resumption and the door to Victorian times opening. He walked over, rubbing his backside, as it was now shaped like the edge of the table. He looked through to see the floor below. The dust had not been disturbed below as he had yet to go through the television in its new location, all that was about to change. He
had his white fiver and his sixpence he also had a list of results for the local racecourse. His plan was to go and bet on the winning horses but by betting only a little with as many bookies as possible he would make less impact and still end up with a lot of money. Well a lot of money by Victorian standards, not so where he was now. His aim was to come away with £500 at least but no more, with that he intended to buy things it Victorian times to sell in modern times and thus become richer in this time.

  He changed his clothes to look Victorian or as Victorian as he could then climbed down through the TV into the past, making sure he had his white fiver and his sixpence with him. Nothing had changed in the Victorian house but he was now disturbing the dust in the room which would later become his bathroom. He looked round the room, it was completely bare as was the bedroom, and there was no way you could tell that it would end up as a bathroom.

  He examined the door before he walked through it and saw that it was a sturdy door, he pictured two bolts, one at the top and one at the bottom. That way when he went home he could bolt the door and be fairly sure that if anyone forced their way through the door he would hear. If he heard such a commotion only had to do was to unplug the television to stop them finding out where he was.

  He walked to the front door unlocked it, walked through, locked it back up and then walked over to the tavern. He noticed that the chaise was no longer there, the cabbie, he assumed must be off taking someone somewhere. He looked at his wristwatch, realised that he should not be wearing it, turned and returned to the house. He climbed back through, found a pocket watch he could use in Victorian times and dumped his wristwatch on the bed where he dumped most things now that the table was being used.

  Chapter 3

  The next time he walked across to the tavern he was a complete Victorian, he walked in and up to the bar where the man behind the bar was working. It was late in the day as he had spent a lot of time making sure he did not end up in Victorian times for good.

  ‘Good evening,’ William greeted, ‘I would like something to eat if that is possible.’

  ‘We can always find you something to eat, ‘the man behind the bar answered, ‘take a seat I'll bring it over to you when it is ready.’

  The ‘we’ was a throwback to when his wife was alive, she had been dead for five years now and he missed her. Her death had also affected his business as she had done all the book work and set all the prices. When it came to pricing the man behind the bar was lost, he had not changed his prices since she died, a meal with a pint cost two pence and little did he know it but at that price, he was losing money for every meal he produced.

  William looked round, selected the table he was going to sit at, walked over and sat down. While he was waiting to be fed, he looked around the tavern, this was the first chance he had to have a real look at it and it wasn't a bad place. He had visions of him sitting there eating quite often for what it would cost him, especially if what he had planned worked out. While he was waiting the cabbie walked in, he had obviously just returned from whatever he had been doing.

  ‘Can I buy you a pint?’ William asked.

  The cabbie looked over to see who was speaking even though William was the only other person in there.

  ‘I never refuse a pint,’ the cabbie answered, ‘but I do wonder what is going to cost me in the long run.’ He added sagely.

  ‘How much would you charge to take me to Epsom on Saturday?’ William replied as he thrust himself out of his chair.

  He walked up to the bar and dropped his sixpence on the bar to pay for the cabbie's pint while the cabbie thought about his proposition.

  ‘It's a bit of a step,’ the cabbie answered, ‘going to the races are we?’

  ‘That is the plan,’ William answered, ‘if I can get transport there for a reasonable price as it is too far to walk, well in one day anyway.’

  ‘I take it you want me to wait and bring you back?’ The cabbie asked.

  ‘I do.’ William answered.

  ‘It will cost you a shilling.’ The cabbie declared.

  ‘A shilling sounds very fair to me,’ William replied, ‘how long do you think it will take to get there?’

  ‘It will take two hours to get there and two hours to come back,’ the cabbie answered, ‘if you want to see all the races we need to leave before midday.’

  ‘We’ll leave at 11 on Saturday if that is alright with you.’ William replied.

  ‘Fine by me.’ The cabbie answered.

  ‘Now as to payment, as you can see I have that sixpence and in this pocket I have a fiver,’ he pulled out the fiver and showed it to the cabbie, the man behind the bar also saw it as he was pulling the cabbie's pint. ‘Do you want me to change this and pay you before we start out or will you wait until we come back, assuming that I haven't lost my shirt?’

  ‘You look a sensible lot,’ the cabbie answered, ‘somehow I get the impression that you will be wearing the bookies shirt when you come back, so I think I will take a risk and wait until we get back.’

  ‘That's settled then.’ William agreed and walked back to his table with his own pint as the Man behind the bar had just pulled it.

  He did not take the cabbie’s pint to his table, as he felt that was a bit forward, considering that the cabbie may not want to sit with him and there were plenty of empty tables. Soon after he sat down the Man behind the bar brought over a large plateful food and slid it in front of him. Considering the meals that William used to make himself, this was a banquet and he tucked in, drinking beer to wash it down when he felt like it. The cabbie stood at the bar talking to the Man behind the bar while William ate and the sixpence lay on the bar where William had left it. The taverner made no move to take it, why William did not know but he would make sure he took his money and gave him his change, before he went home. William was in debt in modern times but here he had no need to be in debt and he had no plans to be.

  He emptied his plate and sat there thinking that there has been a lot of food on the plate and the beer was strong, a lot stronger than the stuff he normally drank. With everything settled about his trip in the morning, he walked up to the bar, bringing with him the empty plate with the cutlery and the empty tankard. The sixpence still lay there and he slid it across to the Man behind the bar.

  ‘Can I buy you a pint as well?’ William asked.

  ‘That is very civil of you Sir.’ The Man behind the bar answered.

  ‘I am not a sir,’ William replied, ‘my name is William, William Just.’

  Here he was not worried about his name being turned round to just William as the books had yet to be written. He held out his hand to shake and a large Man behind the bar took hold of it and shook it.

  ‘I'm Goliath, Goliath Flint.’ The man behind the bar added as she did so.

  ‘Nice to meet you Goliath, you certainly fit your name,’ William replied noting his size.

  ‘This here is as Augustus Wheeler, he is our local cabbie and will take you wherever you want to go, isn't that right Augustus?’ Goliath replied.

  ‘Enough with the Augustus, Goliath,’ the cabbie declared, ‘you can call me Gus, it seems my ma was into Romans in a big way, hence the name. You can see why they named Goliath how they did being as he is huge.’

  William shook hands with Gus and they stood there talking for more than an hour, discussing things that were happening, the new Queen and of course the weather. Goliath thought that the weather would be fine for Epsom but Gus being a pessimist, thought it would probably rain on the way. As they talked William got to know the two men. They were friends by the time he walked across the road and returned home. He fell into bed slightly tipsy and was soon asleep. He did not bother to turning the TV off or fit the bolts to the bathroom door, before he went to sleep, that would wait until the morning. He did think that it was probably best to have the second set the bolts in place before he won a lot of money, just in case.

  He woke in the morning at nine and was soon screwing on two large bolts and t
he metal receptacles to accept the bolts. He tried them when he finished and they did what was required, they stopped the door from opening. With that done while he was still in his boxers, which after he had returned to the 21st-century, he considered very silly had there been a power cut he would have been stuck in Victorian times in the pair of boxer shorts, not a good idea.

  Finally he stepped back into the Victorian time and walked across the road to where Gus was waiting to take him to Epsom, it was only half past ten but no one worried, they started out there and then. As the horse plodded along William reflected on the time it was going to take them to get out to Epsom, if he caught a taxi. He did not have a car so he could not drive himself, it would take 10 minutes to quarter of an hour in a taxi, instead it was going to take them two hours.

  After an hour of plodding along they had to stop, there were other carriages and various types of vehicles in front of them, it was like a modern day traffic jam. They were all heading for Epsom racecourse and that was why it was going to take them two hours to get there. A bit like the M25 sometimes it takes 10 minutes to reach your destination other times six hours.

  When he was finally able to get out of the chaise and stretch his legs he was quite happy. He walked around the side of the chaise and was nearly run over by a carriage coming by at high speed, it caused him to dodge back and he watched it go by. As he stood there he remembered his list of winners and looked at it, the question was, was he sure enough to bet the whole five pounds on the first race leaving him with three pence in his pocket in the shape of a silver three pence piece which was the change that Goliath had given him in place of his sixpence. He wondered if they would take three pence as a bet, in fact he wondered what the betting would be like. Would they wave fivers about, would it be pound notes or would there be half crowns and crowns?