by S G Read
William tried several times to support the ladder and rejected each one, as he thought it would not do the job, in the end he moved the table again and tied the ladder to a chair which in turn was tied to the radiator. Now he was happy all he had to do now was slide the slate down into the television but he could not let go as it would break if it landed heavily. He had thought of getting a little blackboard they were 10 a penny down the road but they did not exist in Victorian times. William struggled and struggled, in the end he gave up there was no way he was getting that slate through that television without destroying the television. He stood the slate in the corner of the living room and that's where it would remain for many years.
He returned to Victorian times and walked over to the tavern to find out where Goliaths was working. Goliath immediately suggested that George Yeoman was the person to ask about a slate that big. He had to wait for Gus to arrive to be able get a ride up to George’s yard, so he settled at his usual table to eat and drink a tankard of ale. He made the one tankard last until Gus arrived and they set off to find George.
George saw them coming and walked out to meet them, he had earned well from the last job and always looked after a good customer. William climbed out of the chaise and walked up to shake his hand.
‘This time I need a large slate, something like the sort of thing a school teacher uses, George.’ William announced.
George waved for him to follow when their hands parted and for once Gus followed, wondering just what George had hidden away in one of his many sheds. He was surprised to see a schoolteacher’s blackboard, which still had chalk writing on it from the last teacher to use it.
‘A school closed down and I was asked to remove certain items,’ George explained, ‘I knew it would come in useful one day.’
‘Can you deliver it to my house please, George,’ William asked, ‘I have a project I'm working on and it will prove very helpful.’
‘I will load it up later today and bring it over, I have a little errand to run up until then.’ George answered.
‘Later today then George I'll see you when you arrive.’ William agreed.
Gus drove William back to the tavern and they sat drinking a pint until someone in the tavern needed to go somewhere and Gus was called into action. It was to be a busy day for Gus and William did not see him again. He obviously had found fares wherever he went and it kept him busy.
William sat in the tavern and waited for a while then walked over to see how Mary was getting on with her polishing. She had done the cleaning, washed the walls, washed the ceilings and now she was polishing the woodwork. William walked into the building, looking at everything as he walked. The windows were clean but there were no curtains, he wanted curtains to make it more like a home. He walked upstairs, still looking as he walked and found Mary polishing the banister, he nodded to her and she nodded back but neither spoke. He could see that she was sweating quite well and therefore must have been working hard or so he thought. A shout from below made him walk back down the stairs to see who it was, although he did expect it to be George.
It was George with his blackboard between them they carried it into the back room to be out of sight of Mary, when she came down. William cleaned it and then covered up with a cloth just in case Mary walked into the room for any reason. He paid George, slightly more than he asked as usual and that made George happy. William had his blackboard, which meant that he was happy and that was what counted. Now all he had to do was to persuade Mary that she wanted to learn to read and write, or at least that learning would be beneficial to her.
William decided to wait until the next morning and then make it part of her duties, to learn to read and write so that she would be paid to do it, that ought to sweeten the pill he thought. When Mary went home William returned to his flat after locking up the house securely. He had already dragged the blackboard out into the larger area by the stairs and set it up ready for the morning’s lesson.
Back in the flat he opened his post to see just how rich he was now, there were cheques from the auction house for things that he sold at auction and there was also a bank statement amongst all the letters, the rest was junk mail which went into the bin. Well, it didn't actually go into the bin as the bin was full, it landed on top and then fell off again on top of the other junk mail, which lay there having suffered exactly the same fate. As he was rich now he could afford to take a taxi to a restaurant and have an expensive meal just to see how it compared with Goliath's food. Afterwards he had to admit that it was a mistake, Goliath’s cooking was much better and much cheaper but he had learnt.
He slept in the flat but his alarm woke him in time to go down and take the metal braces off the front door, so that Mary could get in. With that done he climbed back up and went to bed for another two hours. When he finally climbed out of bed, he had a shower, dressed in his Victorian clothes and climbed into the past. He had locked the door to his little room firmly and now unbolted it and sought out Mary who he could hear working above.
He got a surprise when he walked up the stairs, it was not Mary at all it was the young girl who looked to be 12 years old or thereabouts and she was doing Mary's work. She did not stop work when William walked up the stairs and saw her but when Williams stood waiting for an explanation she did stop.
‘My name is Sarah, my mother is ill so I am doing her work for her so that we can eat.’ The girl announced.
‘What is wrong with your mother?’ William asked worriedly.
‘The man who lives in the next shack thinks it's scarletina whatever that is.’ Sarah answered.
‘Scarletina,’ William repeated, ‘I think we ought to find out if it is scarletina and if that can kill!’
The look on Sarah's face told William that she had no idea that scarletina in this day and age was a killer. She had obviously been told that it was scarletina but it had meant nothing to her and the look on her face told William that she was frightened of being left alone in this world if her mother did die.
‘You will take me to her and I will talk to this man.’ William ordered.
When William came out the front door with Sarah, he saw that Gus was in the tavern. William took her with him in the chaise. Gus stopped the chaise where he had stopped before and sat on top with his blunderbuss in plain sight while William followed Sarah to the shack her mother was lying in. He reflected back to the sweat he had seen, as they walked down the slope, it was not due to her working but was due to the fact that she was ill.
Sarah held her hand up to ask William to wait while she went inside to make sure that her mother was decent. William stopped dutifully and waited until she reappeared and signalled him to come in. Mary was in a makeshift bed and the man who had obviously diagnosed her was nowhere to be seen.
‘Where is this man said it was scarletina?’ William asked.
‘He has probably gone out to find something to steal if he hasn’t already taken what we have.’ Sarah answered sadly.
‘And you are sure that he said it was scarletina?’ William asked.
Sarah just nodded. William thought for a few seconds, by going into the future he could find out about scarletina and how to cure it and he could get some pills to give her. Mary having a daughter was a complete surprise to him and with them both living in this little shack in amongst a lot of ne'er-do-wells, it meant that while Mary was working for him Sarah was here all alone. That would not do at all and William came to a decision. He walked back out to find Gus, who was still sitting there daring anyone to come near him.
‘Gus I need your help.’ William called from the mouth of the Alley.
Gus climbed down immediately and followed William into the Alley leaving his chaise where it was parked. Between them they picked up Mary and carried her to the chaise then they all squeezed into the chaise, Sarah electing to sit next to her mother rather than to go on top so William climbed on top, now was not the time for protocol.
Back at the house William unlocked the door an
d they carried Mary inside as far as the bed William used when he was sleeping there. They laid her on the bed and covered her with the blankets, then Gus left them to it, closing the door as he went out. William nipped into his little room, up the ladder and brought back a bowl of water and a flannel for Sarah to try to keep Mary’s temperature down. William showed Sarah how to dampen the flannel and put it on Mary's forehead.
As soon as Sarah knew what to do William left her to it and hurried into his little room to go into the future so that he could find out about scarletina. He turned on his lap top and waited impatiently for it to boot up then he typed in scarletina to find out more about the disease and where it came from and if it was contagious.
He soon had his answer and knew what was required to cure it. It was obvious by the wording that the sooner she started taking the pills, the better were her chances of surviving without causing other problems. All he had to do now was to get hold of some antibiotics. The choices were, to either buy them on the internet, and risk getting fakes or to go and see a Harley Street doctor, as they would usually do anything for a nice fat fee.
He hurried out of the flat but only made it as far as the street door where he realised that he was still in Victorian clothing. He rushed back and changed then took a taxi to Harley street. The first doctor he saw asked questions and listened politely then prescribed just what William wanted at a price. William did the same at two more doctors before returning to his flat but now he had to persuade Mary, Sarah, Gus and Goliath to take the pills to keep the latter two well and to make sure Mary became well.
It was easy to get Mary to take them as she was very poorly, Sarah took some persuading but Goliath refused them point blank. When Gus returned from a fare he took little persuasion to take the pills. The pills had to be taken every four hours. William made sure they were taken and swallowed, the other option was crush the pill into powder and mix it with something to hide the taste. Before he did that he waited to see if Mary recovered and if Goliath fell ill, he could decide what to do after that.
Mary hovered between life and death for three days with Goliath by her side, then her fever broke and she finally woke. The first person she saw was Goliath who merely nodded and mopped her brow with the damp cloth he had in his hand.
‘You won’t earn much money being in here.’ Mary said quietly.
‘That’s true but I think it is time well spent.’ Goliath answered.
Slowly Mary recovered her strength and when she was well enough she watched Sarah doing her lessons with interest. She picked up a few things as Sarah learned. She did as well as Sarah did in some aspects, better in others and worse in spelling. It was all going well until Goliath went down with Scarletina, the roles were soon reversed, with Goliath in the bed in his tavern and Mary looking after him. When William was not teaching Sarah, he served in the tavern to allow Gus to be able to take on fares.
Goliath’s refusal to take the pills was soon pushed aside by the irrepressible Mary and with their help he was soon on the mend. When he was better William expected Goliath to ask Mary to stay but he just waved as she walked across the road. William shrugged, it would happen sooner or later. If Goliath had any sense it would be sooner.
William made Mary and Sarah move into one of the upstairs rooms and met very little argument. The lessons now included Mary who was learning fast, she was very good at maths and she helped Sarah when she needed help. To be able to read and write meant that Sarah could command a better position than she had aspirations for before she met William.
The next night they were safely tucked up in bed when William smelled smoke. When he opened the door to his room he saw flames coming from the front door with smoke billowing into the house, someone had set it alight. He ran up the stairs only to meet Mary coming down.
‘Someone has set light to the front door,’ William gasped, ‘we’ll go out the back.’
‘I’ll get Sarah, she could sleep through anything.’ Mary answered and as she went back up William returned to the ground floor in time to see flames appearing at the back door, this was just like Ebenezer Gold burning to death in his fortress.
He heard Mary and Sarah arrive behind him and heard Mary’s sharp intake of breath.
‘It looks like the remaining Barber has killed us all.’ She declared.
‘What happened to one of them then?’ William asked.
‘Died of blood poisoning due to his wound by all accounts, Tom Barber is having his revenge.’ Mary answered.
‘It is about time we got out of here.’ William answered.
‘How?’ Mary asked.
‘Follow me before we are roasted alive.’ William ordered and returned to his room and the ladder.
‘Follow me up this ladder and don’t tarry.’ He ordered.
The other two did not argue and ended up in William’s flat in the twenty first century. William did not let them settle but opened the back door to carry the plasma television outside but as he neared the door he had to retreat. Not to be beaten he took it off the table, carried the table into the yard and stood it under the window then returned to pass the television out of the window on to the table.
He walked back outside poked the ladder into the television and looked through to make sure they were far enough from the flames.
‘You two go through while I find something to cover the door in case it rains.’ William ordered and watched the two returned to their century.
When he climbed down he helped the other two to climb onto the toilet roof ready to drop into the yard but he still had to deal with the dog. When he climbed up Sarah was in the yard stroking the dog which was on its back. He led Mary out through to the street and Sarah caught them up then they had to walk round to Tooley Street. When they arrived Goliath was trying to break down the front door to the burning house.
‘Come away from there or you will be burnt to a crisp you silly man.’ Mary ordered.
Goliath turned, then ran over to where she was, dropping the axe on the cobbles as he ran.
‘I thought I was going to lose you Mary, Marry me please.’ Goliath asked as he picked her up in his arms.
Sarah smiled at the idea and William stopped in his tracks. All it took was her life to be in danger and he proposed but the damage had been done, they had seen where he came from. How could he explain their escape from certain death?
Goliath stood waiting for an answer with Mary in his arms.
‘Let me go you big hulk.’ Mary cried.
Goliath obeyed.
‘I can think of no other person I would rather wed Goliath Flint so you can make the plans.’ She answered.
Goliath swept her into his arms again and Sarah jumped for joy despite them both being in their nightclothes.
‘Come on we need to get you inside and off the street before the house falls down.’ Goliath cried.
They hurried inside the tavern and William closed the door, there was no mention of their miraculous escape and they were soon in bed. William lay in bed thinking up a story to tell the others in the morning, he could not sleep and lay there all night or so it seemed.
Chapter 7
By morning he was still tired, he washed using the bowl and pitcher in his room and then dressed. He needed to get back and make sure the television had not been damaged by the rough treatment it received. He found Goliath and Mary in the kitchen cooking breakfast.
‘It’s a good job you had a way out last night or you would have been burnt to a crisp like the house.’ Goliath declared when he saw William.
‘After the way Ebenezer Gold went, no sane man would leave something like that out,’ Mary answered, ‘it was getting a bit hot in there by the time we got out but that board you write on will be destroyed.’
William did not add to Mary’s answer, just nodded in agreement. He sat at his usual table and waited for Goliath to bring him his breakfast, he wanted to go back and rescue the television as soon as he could.
As soon as he had eaten he w
alked over the house but there was no way to get through to reach the opening. In the end he had to walk back using the same route they had used when they had escaped the flames. When he reached the yard behind the back wall to his house the dog was there snarling and looking like a killer.
‘Oh hush now,’ Sarah said from behind William, ‘we just want to go through.’
A few seconds later she was stroking the dog and it was on its back again. Sarah waved William passed and he walked to the back wall, climbed up, but then stopped.
‘Well are you coming?’ He asked.
Sarah smiled and walked to the wall where William was waiting above. He pulled her up onto the wall so that they could both climb onto the toilet roof and drop down. The dog looked quite put out that Sarah had gone and stood there watching her. Once they were down in his backyard, William looked for the door back into his time but there was no sign of the ladder or the opening. Despite searching for an hour inside and outside the house he found no way back to his own time. They returned to the tavern with Sarah tarrying to stroke the dog on the way, William was very distressed but tried not to show it.
