Broken Heart Surgery

Not sure what to say about this one. Had an idea, story twisted itself, this is the result. Not sure about the title. May change it sometime.




It has been exactly four years now since my wife Jennifer passed on. As the anniversary had approached again my depression, never far away, deepened markedly. But yesterday, the anniversary of the day I had lost her, was the worst. Most of the time I could deal with the sense of loss, but yesterday it nearly overwhelmed me. Alison, our thirteen year old daughter, tried her very best to shake me out of it but to no avail. This morning was better, despite a lack of sleep on my part, but Ali still couldn’t cheer me up. She had gone next door to talk to Rachel, our neighbour, a twenty four year old who had recently moved back into her parent’s house. Ali and Ray had always got on despite the difference in their ages, almost as sisters. Ali must have been desperate though to do what she did, I hadn’t realised how my mood had been affecting her.
I was sitting staring at the kitchen wall when they came in, Ali pulling Ray behind her. They both sat opposite me. I could see something was worrying my daughter by the look in her eyes and the way she held tightly onto Ray’s hand.
“What’s the matter sweetie?” I asked.
“Dad.” She faltered immediately. Ray squeezed her hand and nodded encouragingly. “Daddy, I’ve been thinking. I hate it when you’re like this, so I went and asked Ray and she reckons I’m right. You need to cheer up. So I think… I think you need… a girlfriend!”
She was so serious and so obviously sincere that I couldn’t laugh.
“I can’t princess. Your mom…”
“Mom would want you to be happy dad.”
She was right about that. Jenny would have hated seeing me like this, but I was having a hard time letting her go. And what about Ali? She seemed to sense my unasked question.
“I want you to be happy too dad. You need to find someone.” She was in dead earnest about this I could tell. I allowed myself to smile a little.
“All right Alison, I’ll try, but not today. Today is going to be all for my always special girl. Anywhere you want to go. Go get ready.”
She sprang to her feet, a big grin on her face. After a quick hug, kiss and ‘thank you’, she shot off upstairs. I looked across at Rachel who was also grinning.
“Thank you too Rachel.”
“For what?” She shrugged.
“For helping Ali help me. She must trust you a lot to be able to talk about me to you.”
“I suppose. She has always been a bit like a little sister to me.”
“You realise that I may have to ask you to sit with Ali if I actually get a date?”
“S’all right.” She shrugged. “I’m not likely to be doing much for a while anyway.”
“Why’s that?”
“The last break-up with a boyfriend left me feeling a bit raw. I think I might give the dating thing a rest for a while.” She suddenly smiled with a touch of wickedness. “Besides, I can’t see a cutie like you having much trouble getting a date.”
I blushed.
“Just watch yourself young lady. If things don’t go too well I may have to ask YOU out after a statement like that.”
“Promises, promises.” She laughed and I joined in.
Alison came bouncing down the stairs.
“Can we go look at some shops dad?”
“Hmm. I don’t know that I want to spend that much.”
“DADDY!” She squealed and then realised I was pulling her leg and kissed me.
“Come on then princess, but no promises.” I paused. “No promises for you either Rachel.” I said waggling my eyebrows at her. She just laughed. Ali looked from one to the other of us, recognized it was a joke between us and shrugged her shoulders.

For the next few months I dated a few women, but with no real results. That isn’t to say I didn’t cheer up; some of the dates were enjoyable, but none of them felt like they were going to lead to anything more than an interesting evening in enjoyable company. I had the most fun whenever I took Ali somewhere. It was good to see her smiling again. More and more she asked if Ray could come with us. I had no problem saying ‘yes’ and she scampered off next door to ask Rachel. I began to notice that although Ray always came when asked she seemed a little uncomfortable around me. I assumed that it was because I was an older guy and that she was worried about accompanying someone obviously older; either that or her seemingly never-ending boy trouble was bothering her. Ali’s enthusiasm was always enough to overcome that reticence though, Ray enjoying herself after a while.

It was after one of those trips that I asked Rachel about this apparent shyness when we were having a cup of coffee before she went home.
“Is it me?” I asked.
“Sort of.” Ray replied. “But it’s mainly me. I can’t help wondering what people think when they see us out together, even though Ali is with us.”
“I didn’t realise being with such an old man was so worrisome for you.”
“Oh. I worry about lots of things.” She laughed. “I just think I might be hampering you in finding someone you like.”
“Don’t worry about that Ray.” I laughed back. “I’m really only going through the motions for Ali’s sake. It makes her happy.”
“But you might find someone you like.”
“I might I suppose, but Ali is the one who is important. As long as she’s happy, I am too. There are less and less days when I feel down. Soon I suspect there will only be three a year.”
“Three?”
“Jenny’s birthday, our anniversary, and…”
“I think I can guess.” She got up to leave. “Thank you for another trip out. It might be the last for a while though.”
“Why?”
“My parents want to sell up and move abroad, follow the sun. They’re going to look at some properties tomorrow. I’m going to have to find somewhere else to live soon.”
“You could…” I started, but she knew what I was going to say and interrupted.
“I can’t stop with you and Ali, much as I would like too. It would seem wrong to so many people.” She was serious.
“The offer still stands Rachel. Ali wouldn’t want me not to make it, and as I said, Ali comes first for me. She always will. That’s probably why none of the women I’ve been seeing seem right. They would have to accept that.”
“I know and I wish you luck, but a woman like that will be hard to find.”
“I know it.” I smiled as we went to the door. “The offer is always there if you need somewhere to stay Rachel.”
“I know.” She shyly kissed me on the cheek. “And thank you for that.” With that she left. I turned around and spied Alison peering through the stair railings.
“What are you smirking at? You are supposed to be in bed you little minx.”
“I was just thinking you seem to be making progress with Ray at last.” She grinned.
“Just what do you mean by that young lady?”
“Well, you finally got a kiss didn’t you?”
“Are you implying what I think you’re implying?”
“I might be!” She said over her shoulder as she scurried off to bed. I frowned to myself. Did she mean Rachel was sweet on me? I couldn’t believe that, we had been neighbours for so long that I still remembered Ray as a schoolgirl. She couldn’t have feelings for someone as old as me could she?

Two days after that little exchange Alison and I were sitting out in the garden, enjoying the evening sun. Ali was doing her homework on the picnic table and I was catching up on some reading. She spoke.
“Daddy, did you know that Rachel was looking for somewhere to live?”
“I did sweetie.”
“Well, can’t she have our spare room?”
I sighed.
“I already offered Ali, but Ray said that she didn’t think it would look right.”
“Why?”
“I’m sure she has her reasons.” I looked across at my daughter. She had a sly look on her face, like she was planning something. “Alison, you are NOT to pester Rachel about this. It’s her life; she can make whatever decisions she wants.”
“How can you tell what I was thinking?”
“Your mother got the same look whenever she was up to something.”
“Oh!” She reddened a little and looked away coyly. “But Ray is wrong about this dad; can’t I ask her to stay with us?”
“No. Promise me here and now that you won’t interfere with Rachel’s choices.”
“DADDY!” She exclaimed.
“Alison, I’m serious about this. You promise me now!”
“Oh, all right. I promise I won’t say anything to her.”
“Good girl.” I went back to my book, hoping that it was settled now, but not believing it. Alison had given in much too easily. Rachel obviously had her reasons for not wanting to move in on a permanent basis and I respected that, but Alison seemed to think otherwise. Maybe she thought she knew something I didn’t. I hoped she kept to her promise.

About ten minutes later Rachel’s head popped above the shared fence.
“Hi! I was wondering if Ali was busy tomorrow evening?”
“Well I haven’t got anything planned.” Alison said. “Why?”
“I’ve managed to get some concert tickets for that boy band you’re so fond of and wondered if you wanted to go.”
Ali looked at me, excitement shining in her eyes.
“Can I daddy? Please? Pretty please?” She batted her eyelids at me, knowing I couldn’t resist.
“It’s not a school night, so I suppose so.” I sighed.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” She jumped up and kissed me.
“Don’t thank me, thank Rachel. She’s the one with the tickets.”
“Thank you Rachel.” Ali said dutifully.
Ray laughed at her sincerity.
“Well I can’t go on my own can I? They’re not exactly my sort of band.”
“Fibber!” Ali laughed. “I’ve seen you looking at the pictures in my fan club magazine.” Rachel blushed, unable to deny it. “Come on round and we’ll plan it.”

The concert was due to start at eight so I had dropped the two of them off at seven, telling Ali to call me when they wanted collecting. Rachel thought that would be around half past ten. So I was beginning to worry by eleven that they hadn’t phoned. I began to call Alison’s phone but for some reason it wasn’t on, which was odd as she never turned it off. Worry was replaced by panic when a police car pulled up outside the house at half past eleven. I had the door open before the policeman had reached the door.
“What is it? What’s wrong? Has something happened to Ali?” I blurted out.
“Calm down Mr Kennedy. Your daughter Alison is fine, just a little upset. There was an incident outside the concert and her friend Rachel was injured.”
“Ray’s hurt? How badly?”
“Not too badly, but enough to warrant being kept in hospital overnight for observation.”
“Why didn’t Ali phone me?”
“Her phone was another casualty I’m afraid, which is why she went to the hospital with her friend instead of getting in touch with you. I said I’d come and explain and she calmed down a little. The hospital wanted to know if you could bring Rachel some nightwear when you collect your daughter.”
“Of course.” I said, and then stopped to think. “Except I haven’t got a key to Rachel’s house, and Ali’s things will be too small.” Another thought hit me. “I suppose there might be something of Jenny’s that will do.”
“Jenny?”
“My wife. She died four and a half years ago.”
“And you still have her clothes?”
“Some. I’m having trouble letting her go.”
He smiled in understanding.
“Well, anything will help sir.” He handed me a card. “Show this at reception and they’ll know I sent you.”
“Thank you officer. I’ll get there as quick as I can.”
“Just don’t get stopped for speeding sir.” He smiled as he turned away.
I dashed upstairs to the drawer in the wardrobe where I kept Jenny’s things. Clothes that I just couldn’t bear to throw away, they had been some of her favourite things. I knew that there were a couple of nighties in there. I found them out. One was unsuitable for wearing in a hospital but the second one should be all right. I took a quick look at it, gauging whether it would fit Rachel. She was a different body shape to Jenny, taller for one thing. I thought it would be okay and packed it into a bag. As an afterthought I grabbed the spare towelling robe from the bathroom and packed that too. Briefly I wondered about underclothes, but dismissed the idea for now. I ran down to the car and shot off to the hospital.

Alison was sat in the waiting room looking very sorry for herself.
“Alison, are you all right.”
She looked up, saw me and then ran over.
“Oh daddy! I’m so sorry I didn’t call you, but I thought I’d better stay with Ray.”
“No sweetie. You did the right thing. What happened?”
“It was all my fault daddy.” She began to cry. “I persuaded Ray to take me to the stage door to try and get some autographs. She didn’t want to, but agreed as long as I stayed next to her. There was some pushing and I dropped my phone. When I went to pick it up, there was a surge of people and it got trampled. Ray was trying to keep people from knocking me over and got toppled over me. She hit her head on the ground. Now nobody will tell me how she is. I really messed up daddy.” She was sobbing now. “Please say you forgive me.”
“Of course I forgive you darling. I’m sure Rachel will too. Come on, the hospital asked me to bring some things for her, so we can go and see her.”
Rachel was sat up in bed looking pale. She had a couple of stitches above the corner of her left eye and her left arm was in a sling. She gave us a watery smile as we twitched aside the curtain around her bed.
“Hello you two. Sorry to be such a bother.”
“Absolutely no bother Ray. The hospital asked me to bring you some things. I hope they fit.” I laid the bag on the bed. “Didn’t bring any undies I’m afraid. I thought it best if you give Ali your house key and tell her what to collect.”
“You could do that as well.”
“I’m sure I don’t want to go poking about in your underwear drawer. Who knows what I might find!” I grinned. Rachel just laughed. It was good to see.
Alison had been looking subdued since we came in. She suddenly burst into tears again.
“Oh Ray! I’m so, so sorry. This is all my fault. Please say you forgive me, please.”
Rachel reached over and took her hand, smiling warmly.
“There’s nothing to forgive Ali. What happened was as much my fault as yours. I could have said ‘no’ to you.”
“You did say ‘no’ Ray, but I whined until you gave in.”
“I wanted to go backstage too you know? I just wanted an excuse. Now come and give me a hug and we’ll forget it, okay?”
I left them discussing what Rachel wanted Alison to bring in for her. I was looking for the doctor. I found him checking someone’s chart and introduced myself. Then I asked when I could collect Rachel.
“Tomorrow evening probably, as long as she doesn’t suffer any reaction before then. And only if she has someone to keep an eye on her for four or five days.” He said.
“She lives next door to me, is that close enough?”
“I’d prefer someone in the house with her.” He frowned.
“So I need to persuade her to use our spare room for a week?” I sighed. “That might be tricky.”
“You’ll be surprised what people will do to make sure they get out of here.” He laughed. “I’ll tell her my conditions in the morning.”
“Thanks doctor. It’ll sound better coming from you. I’m not sure how she’d react if it came from me.” I paused and thought. “Not these days anyway.” I looked back at Ali and Ray. “Now I think I’d better collect my daughter and get her home and in bed. It’s been a long night for her.”
“I’ll let the desk know you’ll be in tomorrow, about six would be best.”
“Thanks doctor, for everything.”

I could tell Rachel wasn’t entirely happy to have to use our spare room, but as the doctor had said, people will accept a lot to get out of hospital. Ali still seemed to feel guilty and fussed around Ray when we collected her. Ray had to tell her that she wasn’t an invalid, that Ali didn’t have to do everything for her. After that, the two of them just hung out together like any other weekend. I had organised it so that I was working from home for the next week so that I could be about if Rachel suffered any reaction to the bump on her head. This seemed fine in principle, but it meant that while Alison was at school there was only Ray and me in the house. This appeared to be unsettling to Ray, which in turn was a little worrying for me. The two of us each did our own thing for that first morning; me in my office working, Rachel moodily flicking through some of Alison’s magazines while half watching what passes for daytime TV. Around mid-morning she brought me a cup of coffee. I took the opportunity to ask her about her reticence to be in the same house as me.
“It’s just that you’re a man and I’m a girl and I worry.” She went red.
“About me?” I asked incredulously.
“What!!? NO! Never that.” She said emphatically, catching my inference.
“Then what are you worried about?”
“I worry about what the other people in the street think. Some of them have nasty minds, you know?”
“They do? Well, that’s their problem, not yours Ray.” I put my hand on hers. “The doc says you need an eye kept on you until your parents get back, so the busybodies can go get lost. Okay?”
“Okay.” She nodded, a little more reassured.
Alison called at lunchtime on the replacement phone we’d got on Saturday, wanting to know how Rachel was, and to ask me a favour. She wanted her camera tomorrow, so could I download the pictures on the card and put them on the ‘picture drive’, the external hard drive where we both kept our photos. Sighing, I agreed, wondering why she delighted in leaving things to the last moment, a trait she shared with me. Her mother had been much better organised. I collected the camera from her cluttered dresser, plugged it and the picture drive in and began to download her pictures. She hadn’t done it for a couple of weeks and there were over two hundred on the card. I watched disinterestedly as the images flicked past, questioning why there were so many pictures of me, Rachel and Ali in various combinations. I quickly realised that it was because most of the photos were from our last two trips out. The final three or four pictures had me puzzled though. They were of a girl in a bikini; the fleeting glimpses I got weren’t enough to tell who they were of though, but I recognised the background as Ali’s room. What had my daughter been up to now? I thought I’d better take another look at those last few properly. I opened up the new file, scrolled to the end and clicked on one to open it. As I looked at it, my jaw dropped. It wasn’t Alison in the picture, it was Rachel! I hurriedly closed the picture, wondering what the hell was going on here. What was Ali up too? She knew I’d see those snaps and become intrigued when she’d asked me to download them. And did Ray know about them? I suspected that Ali had some plan, but was Rachel in on it? Young Alison and I were going to have a serious talk when she got home from school. Then something else struck me. I opened the picture again with more than a little trepidation. Looking at it, I realised how stunningly beautiful Rachel had become. I still thought of her as the girl next door, but she had grown into a gorgeous young woman without me noticing. A sudden insight made me understand why she was so worried about what other people might think. A widower and an attractive girl in the same house would be a gift to some of the gossips in the street. I shrugged to myself; stuff what they thought, I’d offered to help and I would.
Alison came bouncing in through the door after school where I was waiting for her.
“Hi dad! How’s Ray doing?”
“Rachel is fine; she’s fixing you a snack at the moment.” I frowned. “While she’s busy in the kitchen you and I need to have a little talk madam. My office, now!” The little minx didn’t look surprised or worried, as if she knew what this was about. “Right Miss, I think you should explain these pictures.” I pointed to the computer monitor with one of the photographs of Rachel on it.
“You found them then?” Ali grinned.
“You mean I was meant too see them?”
“Of course.”
“What about Rachel?”
“Well she knows I took them, but not why. The bikini was her idea.” She thought for a moment. “Maybe she did have an inkling then.” She grinned the same smug grin Jenny had worn whenever I realised that I was being led up the garden path.
“What are you up to you little devil?”
“Well, you saw the pictures, what do you think?”
“What do you mean?”
“About Ray. Don’t you realise she’s hung up on you? No, you don’t. All you see is the girl next door. I was rather hoping you’d see how pretty she is.”
I went bright red. Ali obviously knew me better than I thought.
“Has this been your plan all along you devious child?”
“Actually I just wanted you to find someone to start with, but when I saw how Rachel looked at you I decided to do something for both of you.” The smug grin wavered for a moment, as she gauged if I was really angry with her.
“I ought to tan your hide young lady.” I sighed.
The grin came back.
“Why? My plan worked didn’t it?”
I went red again.
“I think you should go to your room Alison. I need to discuss this with Rachel.”
“See! I knew this would work.”
“ALISON! Your room please.”
“Oh all right, spoilsport.”
I went to find Ray in the kitchen. She had just finished making Ali a sandwich. She turned as I came in.
“I thought I heard Ali come in? Her snack is ready.”
“You did hear her Rachel. She’s up in her room at the moment.”
“I’ll take her the sandwich then.”
I put my hand on her arm.
“It can wait a while. I’ve just had a serious talk with her, before I sent her upstairs. We need to talk. It appears she has been trying to manoeuvre us both, but with the best of intentions I’m sure.” I sighed, not sure how to ask what I knew I had too. “She took some pictures of you last week?”
“Yes. I think she wanted to show them to someone. It was a bit of a dare, posing for someone I didn’t know.”
“I’m afraid you do know them. She tricked me into looking at them.”
“YOU!? But why?”
“She seemed to think that… No, that’s wrong. She knew that I only ever looked at you as the girl next door.”
“I knew that too.”
“Ali wanted me to realise how beautiful you had grown up. I’m desperately sorry I never noticed before, but those snapshots showed me what I had been missing. You are stunningly attractive.”
Rachel blushed deeply.
“Th…thank you.” She stuttered. “But how is that Ali manipulating me? I was happy to do those poses. I’m happier that they were for you.”
“That’s the point. Alison thinks you have a thing for me. I can’t see it myself.” Rachel went an even deeper shade of red and hung her head. Another insight hit me. “You do have a thing for me?” She nodded. “It’s not just because I teased you about having to ask you out if all else failed is it?”
“No. No, it started after Jenny had died. I felt sorry for you, and I wanted to help you and those feelings grew into something more.” There were tears starting to roll down her cheeks now.
“Don’t cry Rachel. It’s not your fault I’ve been living in the past, blinded by grief, unable to see a helping hand when it’s offered. That was all my own doing, nothing at all to do with you.”
“Still, I’m sorry about all this. I think it would be best if I left.” She turned and opened the backdoor.
“Rachel, don’t…” I started to say, but it was too late. She had gone.
“DAD! What are you doing? Get after her you idiot!!” Alison shouted from the next room.
Galvanised by her words, I ran out into the garden after Ray.
“Rachel! Ray! Wait a minute please.” I caught up with her. “Don’t go Rachel, please. I don’t know if Ali is right, and we do need each other, but I’d like to find out. So please, stay. At least until your parents get back.”
Rachel looked up with tear-stained eyes.
“What if she is wrong? I don’t know if I can cope with that.”
“Won’t it be better to try and fail than be left wondering if she was right?”
“What about Jenny?”
“Jenny’s gone and I’ll always love her, but you know that anyway. And one thing Alison was right about was that her mom would want me to be happy too.” I smiled at her. “And I think I would very much like to try and be happy with you.”
Rachel wiped her eyes.
“I think I’d like to try too.”
“Goody. Now kiss each other.” Alison called out from the kitchen door.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in your room young lady?” I said.
“Tell me off later. Just kiss her you idiot.”
“Who..?” I started to say when Rachel smothered my mouth with a kiss. I relaxed and kissed her back. Eventually she pulled away. “How come you could never keep a boy if you can kiss like that?” I asked jokingly.
“Because I never kissed anyone like that before.” She smiled. “Care to try again?”
“I think so.” The second kiss saw us wrap our arms around each other, holding each other close. I saw Alison grinning like a maniac out of the corner of my eye. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten you, Miss.” I said, making my way towards her. She squealed and ran back inside.
“Can I have a word with her first?” Rachel asked.
“Sure. But don’t go easy on her, just because she’s right.” I grinned. Rachel skipped inside after her. I watched her go. She was truly a beauty. I lifted my head skywards and muttered. “I can’t help feeling you had a hand in this Jenny. Thank you.” I followed the girls into the house.

Where You Need To Be

A follow up story from the extended 'View From A Bridge'. As I was writing that i had some ideas for Kelly. This is the result. Certain historical liberties have been taken, but I'm sure most people will recognise the shipwreck I based this on. I mean no offence to any victims or survivors of that tragedy.



Kelly sat at her desk staring at the wall. Time had dragged since Dave and Susan had left to go back. She had been at her happiest for a long time while they were here, but no-one at the radio station had that same spirit now. Maybe it was her. She sighed; maybe she was the boring one and they were all too polite to tell her. Whatever it was, it was making her feel restless. She didn’t feel she was contributing enough anymore. She let out another big sigh.
There was a knock on her office door.
“Come in.” She called.
“Thank you Miss Kelly.” The guide said, entering and sitting across the desk from her.
“Guide, what are you doing here? The station is still doing its job isn’t it?”
“Yes it is Miss Kelly, quite the best idea you have ever had in your thirty or so years working for me. But you feel there is something wrong. I heard your sigh.”
Kelly smiled to herself, even after all this time she still forgot how extensive the guide’s powers were.
“So you came to see me and find out what my problem was this time. And after all the time I’ve spent here, isn’t time you started calling me ‘Kelly’ like everyone else?”
“As you wish. I suspect, Kelly, that I know what your problem is. It’s the same one you’ve always had; ever since I threw you in at the deep end as a junior guide, when I should have accompanied you on your first multiple collection.”
Kelly reddened and dropped her head.
“I suppose you’re right sir. But it was my mistake more than yours. It was a busy time, that was why you needed juniors, and it was me who lost those souls, not you.”
“Dear Kelly, I suppose it’s pointless for me to tell you that you have more than made up for that mistake.”
“It doesn’t affect the fact that there are a thousand souls lost out in the wilderness of time because of me.”
“Would it surprise you to learn that less than half of those souls are still lost?”
“Yes it would.” Kelly leant forward, her interest piqued. “How?”
“I keep lists of those who are lost. And recently a number of those on your list have been turning up here.”
“Again, how?” Kelly was stunned at this revelation.
“They made their way into the city from the wastelands beyond.” The guide shrugged. “This has caused me to suppose that the rest may also be out there somewhere.”
“Why are you telling me this? It doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“I would like you to complete your mission Kelly. I know you miss your friends Miss Susan and the inestimable Dave, and I think this undertaking will fill the void their departure has left.”
“I don’t know sir.” Kelly answered dubiously. “It has been a long time since I did any guide work.”
“I know my dear.” The guide was patient with her. “That is why I propose to send someone with you, someone who is a little more attuned to this kind of work.”
“Who? Dave and Sue?” She asked hopefully
“No. I have no wish to disrupt their lives further. I have been trying to train a particular junior for quite some time. His name is Brad and he is proving a little…troublesome. I wish you to go with him beyond the city and find those missing souls out there. Will you do it?”
“Well, the station doesn’t really need me any more. Practically anyone can make the decisions I have too these days.” She paused. “Give me a couple of days to find a replacement and I’ll accept.”
“I hoped you would agree, so I have brought you one or two possible temporary replacements.”
“Only temporary?”
“Of course. This is your project and I would never dream of taking it away from you. I will bring Brad here tomorrow and we can sort out what you’ll need and where you’re going.” The guide stood and offered his hand. Kelly shook it, once again astounded by his prescience.
“I have to ask sir. Why me?”
“Mainly because I think you still feel responsible dear Kelly. You still torture yourself over your error. Hopefully this is what you need.” He turned and walked out.

Kelly looked out from the edge of the city and could see nothing but the vast wilderness. Sure, it was filled with vegetation, water, possibly even animals, but no-one knew for certain. The sketchy reports from those who had arrived at the city through it described a landscape full of forests, scrubland and the occasional range of hills with a few mountains thrown in. She sighed, adjusted the pack on her back and then started to walk, calling to her young companion.
“Come on then Brad, let’s go.”
“Okay Miss Kelly. The guide thought we should head for that mountain away in the distance.”
“I doubt we’ll do that in one day. It looks a week away at least.”
“About two and a half days I reckon. It’s about fifty miles away.”
“You really think we can do twenty miles a day?”
“Sure. Unless you’re not as fit as you look.” The youngster grinned cheekily.
Kelly had been a little surprised when the guide had turned up at her flat with Brad. He looked like a fifteen year old boy, which in a way he was. People’s bodies didn’t age from the moment they arrived here. He had been in the city for five years though, and the guide had been training him for the past eighteen months as a junior guide, but was having problems with the lad. Brad for his part didn’t seem put out by his apparent failure, but he was extremely keen to prove himself one way or another. They had planned what they thought they needed for a long journey. They didn’t carry much food, the guide was certain that they would be able to find more as they progressed. Kelly hadn’t been sure about this, but Brad and the guide had convinced her. The guide had never been wrong before, but there was still a niggling worry that there was a first time for everything. The other thing she wasn’t sure about, despite assurances from the guide, was Brad. He seemed a little, well, full of himself. Probably the ignorance of youth she thought.
They had been walking for two hours now, and making good progress. Kelly turned and called over her shoulder.
“Why don’t you take the lead for a while?”
“And miss the opportunity to stare at your bum?” He smiled.
“You can’t say that!” Kelly exclaimed.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not polite. The era I came from was much more…”
“Repressed?” Brad answered. “Miss Kelly, I know you’re from the Edwardian period, and I’m from nearly a hundred years later, but things change, you’ve changed since then.”
“Nevertheless, no-one from my time would come out with a statement like that.”
“What would they say then? ‘ Madam, may I comment on the exquisiteness of your posterior’ or ‘the juxtaposition of your facial features renders you utterly beauteous’?” He asked somewhat facetiously.
“Possibly, but it sounds better than ‘you’ve got a luvverly bum missus.’”
“I never said that!”
“You thought it though.”
“Well, yes, I did. Mainly because you have got a lovely bum.”
“Brad! Can we stop talking about my bottom?” Kelly snapped exasperatedly.
“All right, all right.” Brad grinned evilly. “There’s no need to be so anal about it.”
“Do you really think you should be talking to me like that? I could be your great grand mother or something.”
“As an unmarried Edwardian girl, I doubt it.”
“That’s enough! I can see why the guide was having such a difficult time training you, you are very annoying.”
“That wasn’t the problem.” He smiled that infuriating smile. “All right, let me go in front for a while.”
They trudged on, Brad taking the lead, not as reluctantly as he made out. Kelly had been silent for quite a while, lost in her own thoughts. For some reason she liked Brad, and his words, though a little shocking to her, had seemed complimentary.
“Do you really think I have a nice bottom?” She asked out of the silence.
“Sure. Even in those combat trousers, it looks quite pert and well-rounded.” He said over his shoulder.
Kelly blushed despite herself.
“Then I thank you, but could you please keep your comments on my body to yourself in future, I’m not really used to talking so freely about it.”
“I’ll try Miss Kelly.” He turned and grinned at her. “You know, you didn’t sound so uptight when you were on the radio, especially with Dave.”
“That was different. That was just for the show.” Kelly went an even deeper shade of red. “And I knew Dave didn’t mean it, I knew he was in love with Sue. I can’t be sure if you’re for real or not.”
“So, you don’t know if I mean it or not?” Brad was grinning again.
“No, I don’t.” Kelly shook herself. This boy was so annoying! “In any case, I’m a lot older than you. Even if you do mean it, it isn’t right.”
“Oh come on, you’re only a few years older than me.”
“Only on the outside. I’ve been here over thirty years. And in the real world, there’s an even bigger difference, something like a hundred years between our births.”
“So?” Brad took her arms. “You’re over-thinking things Kelly. Like I said, things change and so have you. You are not the same as when you arrived here, you’ve evolved, adapted. Try to take things at face value, as they are, not as they ‘should’ be.” He seemed very earnest.
Kelly stared into his eyes. He meant it. Maybe that was why the guide sent him with her. She looked down.
“Okay. I’ll try.” She said quietly.
“That’s all I ask.” He turned back around and began to walk forward again. “Come slow coach, we’re falling behind schedule.”
“I told you I thought twenty miles a day was too much.”
“Rubbish. Get those sexy legs moving!”
“BRAD! I warned you…”

The two of them sat around a small campfire, drinking coffee and nibbling the hard biscuits they carried, each lost in their own thoughts. To Kelly’s surprise they had made more than the twenty miles on this first day. Brad was wondering how he could get Kelly to open up a little more to him. The guide had suggested he try, saying there was more to her than just a dowdy administrator, but not elaborating. He had been quite pleased when she had responded so forcefully to his teasing about her bottom, and she had let slip more than she realised. He hoped this was the right way to help her, she was a nice person and this was his first assignment.
Kelly suddenly broke the silence.
“Brad, I’m sorry if I sounded snooty or prissy this morning, but I’m not really used to people talking to me as a person. Everyone just sees me as a manager, or some authority figure. It was a bit different with Sue, Sara and Dave, but even they held back slightly.”
Brad sighed.
“I’m sorry too Miss Kelly. I think arriving here so young, so full of myself, made me realise what I’d missed out on. It made me impatient. I just want things to happen straightaway, so I jump in with both feet. It doesn’t always work, and makes me a bit unpopular. So I’m sorry if I offended you, I didn’t mean too.”
“Thank you for that. I know you mean well, but there is a huge gulf between our ways of thinking. I know I need to be more flexible and I am trying, but it is slow progress I’m afraid.”
“I think if you can put up with me it will be a step in the right direction.”
“You might be right.” She smiled sweetly for the first time in a while. “I’m going to turn in now.” She said, opening her sleeping bag.
“You’re not going to sleep in your clothes are you?” Brad asked.
“No. I was going to take off my boots and then undress inside the sleeping bag.”
“That is trickier than you think. I’ll tell you what, seeing as its you, I’ll look away.”
“You promise not to peek?”
“I promise.” He said, turning his back on her and staring into the darkness. There was the rustle of clothing being removed and then the sound of the sleeping bag zipper closing.
“You can turn around now Brad, and thank you.” Kelly called.
“I think that may have been worse than watching.” Brad said turning back around. Kelly’s face was peering out from the tightly zipped sleeping bag.
“How do you mean?”
“I mean my imagination ran riot listening to the rustles and zips.” He grinned once more, seeing the look of discomfort on her face. “By the way, you might want to turn your boots upside down. That way there’s less chance of them being invaded by creepy crawlies.” Kelly shuddered and quickly leaned across to turn her boots over. Brad began to undo his own boots.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m getting undressed as well.”
“Then I’m going to look away.”
“That’s up to you.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me as much as you.” As Kelly hurriedly looked away, Brad could see that she was blushing again. He smiled to himself. She looked really cute when she reddened. He climbed into his bag. “All right, I’m done.”
“You’re not teasing me are you?” She asked with a hint of worry.
“Not this time I swear.”
Kelly sat up and looked at him.
“You’re right about the imagination.” She said, still flushed about the cheeks.
“What! Even you Miss Edwardian Girl.” He said in a mocking voice.
“Yes. It’s your fault for mentioning it.” She rested her head on her knees.
“I’m sorry Miss Kelly. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Kelly isn’t my real name you know, it’s just what I’m known as here.”
“What is your name then?” He asked, genuinely interested.
“Katherine. Katherine Elizabeth Louisa Isobel Chambers.”
“Or ‘Keli’ for short. I get it. Neat.”
“Sort of neat. See you in the morning Brad.”
“Goodnight Kelly.” Brad lay awake for a while, thinking. The guide had been right. Kelly was worth trying to get to know. She wasn’t really the stuffy stuck-up manager she appeared to be in an office. Out here she was less sure of herself, more vulnerable. He liked that about her. He smiled to himself, turned over and went to sleep.

Kelly awoke with a start, the sun already on her face. She groaned softly at her aching leg muscles, massaging them a little to ease the twinges. She sat up and looked around the camp. Brad wasn’t around, but he had re-lit the fire and there was a tantalising smell of fresh coffee wafting over her. She stood and stretched, letting the bag fall down. She bent over to pick up her trousers, and then pulled them on.
“Good morning lazy bones.” Brad’s voice came from behind her. She whirled round. “I found us some fruit for breakfast.” He smiled.
“Brad! How long have you been there?” Kelly asked worriedly.
“Long enough to tell I was right about your bottom.”
“You’re evil!” She snapped.
“No I’m not, I’m honest. Evil would have been having my wicked way with you while you slept. This is merely being mischievous.” He grinned cheekily.
Kelly went bright red, with anger this time. She strode up to him, her eyes flashing, and slapped him hard across the cheek.
“That was for even thinking of me like that.” She said angrily. Brad’s head dropped down. Kelly saw the movement. “And if you’re thinking about saying something about my bosom then forget it right now!”
Brad was genuinely upset about her reaction to his remarks; it wasn’t what he’d intended.
“I’m truly sorry Miss Kelly. I just thought that after our talk last night… No, it doesn’t matter. I have no excuse for what I just said. All I can do is ask for your forgiveness and promise never to speak like that to you again.”
His head was bowed but Kelly could see the distress in his eyes. She calmed down.
“I forgive you, and I’ll hold you to your promise, but I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have slapped you. A mixture of anger and embarrassment I’m afraid. Please accept my apologies.”
“Anything for you Miss Kelly, I mean it.”
“Good. Now, what fruit have you found? I’m surprisingly hungry.”

It took them a little less than the two and a half days to reach the foothills around the mountain, but most of that third day to climb one of them. Now they stood on the top of quite a lofty hill. Beyond they could see the wilderness stretching before them. Kelly turned around and looked back towards the city. She was amazed at exactly how far they had walked in such a relatively short time.
“Any idea which way we should head next Brad? Did the guide say anything?”
“Other than suggesting we head this way to start with, no. All he said was that I should be able to sense where to go next.”
“He got that far with your training?”
“Yes. There was only one thing I couldn’t do, and that was the transporting.”
“Which is why we’re walking?”
“I suppose.” He stared out over the vista before them, concentrating. Finally he pointed. “That way I think. If we follow that river, I think I sense souls in need.” He turned to her. “What about you Miss Kelly? You were a guide once, do you feel anything?”
“I haven’t been a guide for a long time Brad.”
“But you did the training; you should still be able to do it.” He looked worried, in need of a bit of reassurance that he was right.
“I’ll try.” She said. Kelly closed her eyes and let her mind go blank. It had been a long time since she’d done this. She concentrated hard. There was a glimmer of something she hadn’t felt for a long time. She raised her finger and pointed while her eyes were still closed. She opened them and looked where she was indicating. It was roughly the same direction Brad had said they should go. “Well, I think that makes it unanimous Brad.” She smiled, pleased that she hadn’t completely forgotten the guides training.
Brad smiled back, glad that she had corroborated his previously unused skill.
“Good. It seems we’re on the right track then. We’d better start down and find somewhere to camp for the night.”
“I agree. My turn to lead?”
“After you.” He paused. “Junior Guide Kelly.” He smiled at her to show he meant it as a compliment.
“Thank you.” Kelly smiled back. “Junior Guide Brad.” They both laughed and then began their descent.

They hadn’t talked much since the second morning, each of dealing with the anger and embarrassment in their own way. For Brad it seemed the best way to keep his promise, to keep his exuberance in check. And Kelly was upset with herself for the way she had reacted, and she thought that her words had unintentionally encouraged Brad to speak the way he had. If that was the case it was better to say nothing so as not to provoke the boy into an unwanted response. What words they had exchanged was banal stuff about their route or how they were doing.
The discussion on the hilltop earlier had caused the mood between them to lighten and to cause them both to rethink a little. It looked like being a long journey and neither of them was particularly happy walking in silence. With this in mind, when they were making camp part of the way down the hill, Brad spoke.
“Miss Kelly, I’ve been wondering, can you tell me about your time here with the guide?” He thought this should be a safe subject for conversation, but he added. “You don’t have too if you don’t want too.”
“I don’t mind.” She smiled, glad that they seemed to be talking again. The smile made Brad thankful that he had asked the question.
“So, what was it like when you arrived here?”
“Well, the city was fairly new at that point. Up until then people had been arriving in dribs and drabs, easily dealt with on a one to one basis. Their problems were simpler to resolve as well, but the guide could see that all that was going to change quite soon, that a lot of unhappy people would be arriving in large groups within a short while. The city was founded so that there was somewhere for them to stay until their problems could be solved. He also realised that he would need help, so he selected a few new arrivals to train as junior guides.”
“And you were one of them?”
“Yes. He’s always been able to select people who can help him, although I think I am the only one to fail him as a guide.” She looked downcast for a moment.
“I don’t think you failed him. From what I’ve learnt he just had to use you before you were properly ready.” He gave her a sincere look. “Anyway, look at me. I’m not exactly a rip-roaring success. Perhaps he saw something else in both of us?”
“Maybe, I suppose.” Kelly sighed. “Anyway, after I messed up, I found I couldn’t do it any more. So the guide asked if I could help set up some administration to ease the processing, to speed up getting new arrivals to where they needed to be. For some reason I found it incredibly easy. Perhaps that’s what he intended all along.”
“What happened next?”
“Well for a very long time I just ran the administration for him, making the occasional suggestion that I thought would help things.”
“Such as?”
“The children’s home for example. I’d noticed that there were an increasing number of unattached children arriving with problems and nowhere to go. I suggested that it might be good for them to all be together, where there could be someone specifically to help them. Generally they’re not here long, their problems being easier to solve.”
“What about the radio station?”
“Well, I had been thinking for a long time about the restorative qualities of music…”
“I know what you mean! The way a song can make you feel better when you hear it, even if you’ve heard it loads of times before.”
“That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but I did notice it happening quite often after we’d started broadcasting. The thing that had actually tipped it for me was the increasing number of new arrivals who asked what sort of music we had here. At that point we had none, so I worked out a proposal for the guide. He could see the benefits at once, so he asked me to set up the station.”
“Why give up the admin job though?”
“To be honest I thought that radio controller would be a more fulfilling job, plus my assistant was champing at the bit to take over, so it wasn’t that hard a decision.”
“How did you settle on the sort of music? There is such a variety.”
“Well, we just played the music that the DJ’s liked really. I didn’t impose any restrictions on them. To be honest, I would have liked some music from my era, but most of the people in the city are from much more recent times than me, so it was better to play tunes that they enjoyed.”
“Why not play some stuff YOU like when you get back? You’re the controller; you could slip in an hour of music you like once a week quite easily.”
“I could I suppose.” Kelly mused. “I’ll think about it, thanks Brad.”
By now they had set up the camp and got a fire going. Coffee was brewing once again and they settled down to drink it.
“Why are you so interested in me Brad?” Kelly asked, sipping from her cup.
“The guide.” He answered, knowing that honesty was best in this case. “He said it would be worth my while getting to know you. He was right, I’m glad I’ve tried.”
“The guide eh?” Kelly mused. “What is he up too now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean he told me not to take you at face value, that you weren’t the delinquent you appeared to be, that I should get to know you before I made any snap judgements.”
“I think he sees more in us than we do ourselves.”
“You may be right. We’ll see how it goes then shall we?”
“Well, it’s been interesting so far, why not?” The cheeky grin spread over his face again.
“Indeed. Time for me to turn in anyway.”
Brad dutifully turned his back to let her remove her outer clothes and get into her sleeping bag.
“I’m glad we’re coming up to a river.” He said, looking down at the state his own garments were getting in. “Maybe I can wash these clothes.”

Twelve hours later he was regretting those words. It had begun to rain for the first time not long after they had struck camp. That had been a gentle rain. Now as they followed the river it had become an incessant driving rain, soaking through their jackets and trousers, and beating into their faces. It made it difficult to keep their eyes open and watch where they were going. Out of the corner of his eye Brad spotted a protected spot where they could pitch the shelter he had been carrying but hadn’t used yet. The side of the hill and a pair of large trees would keep much of the rain off. Although she hadn’t complained, he could tell Kelly was starting to feel cold, he could hear her teeth chattering, and he thought the sooner they could get undercover the better. With that in mind Brad began to move away from the rivers edge towards the sheltered spot, taking his back pack off to get the small tent out.
What exactly happened next neither of them was sure. Kelly was protecting her face by looking down and didn’t see that Brad wasn’t leading her. Brad thought that Kelly was following him away from the river. As he put down his pack he heard a splash. He span around and couldn’t see Kelly anywhere. Panicking a little he ran back to the riverbank and saw her thrashing about in the muddied waters below the spot where she had slipped off the bank. Without hesitation he jumped into the water and grabbed her unceremoniously under the arms, keeping her head up out of the overflowing river water. He pulled her to the muddy bank and out of the raging torrent. She spluttered and splashed her way soggily to where he had dropped his pack while he fished hers out of the water. Kelly was shivering uncontrollably as Brad came up to her.
“Miss Kelly, you’ve got to keep warm.” He fished a dry blanket out of his pack. “Wrap this around yourself.” She took it and sat down. Brad massaged her arms to get some warmth back into them. She looked at him blankly, but got the hint and continued to rub her hands up and down her arms as Brad erected the tent as quickly as he could. As soon as it was up, he bundled Kelly inside, telling her to get out of her wet things, find something dry in his pack and then get into a sleeping bag. He put his pack into the tent after her, as it contained the only dry sleeping bag and dry clothes they had. As she struggled to do as he ordered, Brad was creating a windbreak with the wet blankets so he could try and light a fire, but it was raining too much for that. His thoughts turned again to Kelly. “Kelly, are you all right?” He asked at the entrance to the tent. When he got no reply he stuck his head in. She had managed to take off her wet clothing and even replace them with his spare underthings, but crawling into the sleeping bag had exhausted her. She was curled up and shivering even worse than before. Brad realised what he was going to have to do to get her body temperature back up, and she was going to hate him for it. Sighing he kicked off his boots and got undercover. Inside he took off his wet outer clothing and then, hoping she would understand that this was the only way, slipped into the sleeping bag with her, wrapping his arms around her, to use his body heat to raise hers.
“W…What are you d…doing?” Kelly asked, through her chattering teeth.
“I have to get you warm Miss Kelly. This is the only way. The blankets are soaked, so are your clothes, I can’t get a fire lit outside and I can’t light one in here.”
“O…okay. I g…get it.” She was still shivering. Brad held her tightly to him, careful where he put his hands. “T…talk t…to me.”
“What should I say?”
“A…anything. H…how d…did you g…get here?”
“I was young and stupid. I thought I could impress some friends by arriving at their party on my brother’s motorbike, but I crashed into a tree going too fast around a bend.”
“W…why d…did you end up h…here th…though?”
“I guess I had some unresolved issues.”
“L…like w…what?”
“I’m not sure, that’s probably why I’m still here.” He could feel Kelly getting warmer. Her shivering was lessening and her teeth no longer chattered. “Are you feeling better?”
“A little.”
“Then I’d better get back outside and try the fire again.”
“No. Hold me, at least until the rain eases.”
“Are you sure Miss Kelly?”
“I’m sure Brad. At least for now.”
“You had me worried for a while, I thought you might die or something.”
“We can’t die, we’re already dead Brad.”
“We can’t die in the city, but out here? Who knows?”
“You’re right.” Kelly smiled. “I’m happy to have proved your worries needless.”
“So am I. Just rest for now.”

Kelly awoke with a start. The sound of the horrendous rain of the day before had gone. The only noise was that of the tent flapping in the breeze. She caught the smell of wood smoke and fresh coffee drifting on the air. She slid out of the sleeping bag and looked around for her clothes. The only things inside the tent were Brad’s pack and his spare set of clothes with a note on them. She picked up the note to read it. It said; Wear these. She shrugged and pulled on the shirt and shorts, noting as she did that she was wearing his spare underwear. Memories of the previous day came rushing back. The sudden terrifying drop into the river. The shock of entering the ice cold water. Brad hauling her out of the swollen torrent. Him bundling her into the hastily erected tent with the command to put on his dry things and get into the sleeping bag. And the careful tender way he had held her close to him to warm her frozen body. Kelly smiled to herself as she opened the tent flap. He wasn’t really the delinquent he tried to be after all.
She popped her head through the tent opening into glorious sunshine. It wasn’t the sun that caused her to gasp though; it was the scene before her. Brad had managed to hang up every wet piece of clothing and equipment to dry out. It was all fluttering merrily in the sun-kissed breeze. With a start she realised that included all her underthings. She quickly scrambled out to see if they at least were dry. To her relief they were, so she hurriedly took them down, away from prying eyes.
“Good morning Miss Kelly.” Brad called out brightly as he came back into the camp carrying some more wood for the drying fire. “Feeling better now?”
“Yes…Yes thank you.” She said, attempting to hide the recently dry undergarments from his view.
“Why are you trying to hide those from me? It was me who hung them up.”
“I…I realise that.” Kelly felt foolish now. “It’s just that I’m embarrassed that you’ve seen them.” That sounded even sillier she thought.
“It’s not like you’re wearing them Miss Kelly.” He smiled as he knelt by the fire with the wood he had collected.
“It’s just…embarrassing.” She tailed off. “Can we just leave it at that?”
“Sure. I won’t mention it again.”
“What about my other clothes?”
“Your spare set should be dry soon.”
“What about the ones I was wearing?”
“I had to wash them properly earlier; they were caked with mud.”
“How long until everything is dry then?”
“I think we’re going to have to stay here today and start afresh in the morning. That way we should have got it all dry. That’s if you agree?” He looked up at her questioningly.
“I don’t mind. I could do with a bit of a rest anyway; I’m afraid I’m not as fit as you.”
“Of course you are. You just don’t realise it.”
“Have it your way Brad. But can we get some of my clothes dry so that I can change?”
“If you like. Any reason for the rush?”
“I just feel strange wearing your clothes.” Kelly shrugged.
“You look okay in them. But you’d rather have your own on?”
“Please Brad. It makes me feel like I’m imposing on you.”
“I’d do anything for you Miss Kelly, even give up my clothes.” He grinned. “But if you want your own back, your wish is my command.” He began to arrange her clothes around the fire so that they dried more quickly. He turned to face her. “I’ll only mention this now, never again, but you do know why I had to get into the bag with you last night don’t you? I wouldn’t want you to think I had any other intent than to keep you warm.” He looked really worried. So worried that Kelly almost laughed.
“Yes, I know why. And it’s sweet of you to worry about me.” She took his hand. “You were right before, I have changed. In fact I think I’m still changing, hopefully for the better.” She smiled to show she meant it. “Now, what is there to eat?”

They broke camp early the next morning, both eager to be on the move again. So eager that all they had to do was pack up the tent, everything else having been stowed the previous evening. As they took down the canvas shelter Kelly spoke.
“Brad, why did we never use the tent before?”
“I didn’t think we needed too Miss Kelly. And you never mentioned it; it was in plain sight on my back pack all the time.” His worried look returned.
“I’m not accusing you of anything Brad, I just thought that things might have been less embarrassing all round if I’d had the tent to change in.” She smiled to show that she genuinely wasn’t upset.
“A good point. I’m deeply sorry that I didn’t think of it. We can put it up every night from now on if you want.”
“I suspect that we’re a bit past that point now Brad. We’ll just use it on cold or wet nights.”
“We? You’re saying I can use the tent with you?”
“Of course, you silly. You’re the one carrying it. Besides, like I said, I think that we, or rather, I, are beyond the embarrassment now.” Her grin broadened to show she meant it.
“If you’re sure Miss Kelly.”
“I am.” She nodded. “And you can leave off the ‘Miss’ now Brad. You’ve had your arms around me while I was nearly undressed.” She reddened shyly.
But not as much as Brad.
“Thank you.” He said. “But please don’t keep reminding me.”
“Brad! You’re not embarrassed are you?”
“To be honest, more than a little.”
“After all that talk about my bottom?”
“I’m all talk Miss Kelly.” He hung his head. “That was the first time I’ve ever been so close to a girl.”
“It was that horrible for you was it?”
“NO! No, it was incredibly nice, but it left me with feelings I don’t know how to handle. Could…could you help me try?”
“Well, I’ll give it a go Brad, but I’m not that experienced myself you know?” She paused, pursing her lips. “It’s a pity Dave and Sue have gone. I’m sure they could have helped both of us.” She sighed.
“We’ll just have to work it out ourselves then.” Brad said as he finished strapping the tent to his backpack. “Are we ready?” They both glanced around the little hollow, making sure they had picked everything up. “Let’s get going then.”

They spent the next day or so talking about their lives as they followed the meandering river. Sometime around the middle of the second day since the long stop Brad, who was leading, halted suddenly Kelly walking into him.
“What’s the matter?” She asked.
He was staring ahead.
“I think.” He said. “That I can see smoke from a campfire beyond that forest.” He pointed.
Kelly looked in the direction he was indicating, and then she saw it too, a thin wisp of smoke rising above the tree tops.
“Brad! We were right!! We’ve found someone!” She said excitedly. “Come on, let’s find out who.” Her eyes were shining with joy.
“It’s at least a day away Kelly.” Brad sounded dubious. “They might be mobile like us.”
“But we should be able to sense them. Come on, concentrate.”
They both closed their eyes and felt for the souls.
“There are only two or three of them.” Brad said slowly.
“That’s what I feel too, but it’s a start.”
They quickened their pace; Brad keeping a fix on their target, Kelly guiding them through the landscape. By that evening both of them felt that they were really close, but elected to halt and approach the camp in the morning. They spent a good deal of that night talking about what they were going to say when they met those lost souls, deciding eventually that the best thing to do was treat it like a normal collection as they had been trained.

The next morning they broke camp early and went to find the other encampment. It only took them ten or so minutes. With a look at each other for reassurance they strode in. By common agreement it was Kelly who spoke.
“Hello! Anybody here? We’ve been looking for you. Hello?”
Three men came out of a hastily erected shelter, looking at Brad and Kelly in a curious way.
“Why would base send a woman and a child to look for us? We were due back in two days.” The tallest one said. He was dressed as an Edwardian sailor.
“We never said we came from your base. You know where the others are? How many?”
“There are about two hundred of us.” The man frowned. “Look, who are you then?”
“We are your guides on this plane of existence.”
“What sort of talk is that?”
“You are dead.” Kelly said matter of factly. “We are to guide you to where you are supposed to be.”
“A boy and a young woman? I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true.” Brad spoke, for the first time.
“Be quiet! Children should be seen and not heard.” The man snapped.
“Yeah, well things have changed since you died.” Brad snapped back.
“Even if I accept that we are dead, I seriously doubt much has altered in three months.”
“Sorry, but your ship sank over one hundred years ago.” Kelly said sadly.
“A hundred years? I don’t believe you. We’ve only been here for three months!”
“It’s the truth, and it’s my fault you were not picked up then. I was supposed to collect you that night, but I made a mess of it. By the time I arrived you had all become lost in the wastes of time.” She hung her head.
“Collected? Like an angel?” One of the other men asked.
“I suppose. We have been given many names throughout time. Valkyries for example as well as angels. But the premise is the same; we guide the souls of the dead to a safe haven.”
“Surely that is not a job for a woman and a child?” The big man asked, beginning to believe them.
“Don’t keep calling me a child.” Brad sounded a little exasperated.
“Everyone is equal in death.” Kelly said, ignoring his outburst.
“You mean..?”
“Yes, both of us have already left the mortal plane. I before you, my young companion more recently.”
For all his apparent bluster, the leader now sagged in despair.
“I knew deep down that we were dead, we all did, but we hoped otherwise.” He straightened up. “What..? What happens next?”
“Well, if you take us to the others, we will guide you to where you are supposed to be, where I should have brought you a long time ago.”
“All right. Base camp is about two days away. We follow the river.” Kelly and Brad smiled at each other: They had been right about the direction then.

They found out that their three new companions were one of a number of foraging parties sent out to collect as much food as they could locate. Kelly wondered why there was such a large group of people together. The guide had said that the others had been arriving in much smaller bands, the largest being about twenty-five. From the sailor she found out that they were all those who were still on the ship when she sank which seemed to make some kind of sense. They had become lost in time in packets and this had been the largest one.
As they walked Brad and Kelly discussed how they were going to get such a large group to the city. Trekking back through the wilderness might be difficult with some many.
“Can’t you transport them Kelly?” Brad asked.
“I don’t think so. That was a worry for me back then too. How about you?”
“The numbers wouldn’t be a problem, but I have problems with materialising in the right place. My spatial awareness seems to be off.”
Kelly thought for a while.
“Maybe we could combine our skills.” She said slowly. “I may be able to show you how to get them to the right place.”
“And I can show you how to cope with more than one person. This could work Kelly.”
“It might. I think we’d better ask them if they are prepared to take the risk of us messing up though.”
“I suppose.”
“It is their future after all.”
“When you put it like that… All right. We’ll give them the choice.”

As they entered the encampment Kelly looked around, appalled at the conditions, even more appalled that it was her error that had led these people to this. Brad tried to reassure her but couldn’t, he himself feeling upset at the scene. It reminded him of the pictures he had seen from refugee camps. They made their way through the rough shelters until they found the ships captain, who had gone down with his ship. One look at his drawn and haggard face told Kelly that his would not be a quick journey to self-redemption. He had the same look in his eyes that she still got when she was feeling bad. He shook their hands.
“Welcome. My seaman tells me you have come to take us to our reward. I suspect mine may be somewhat fiery.”
“Don’t do yourself down sir.” Kelly replied. “If that was the place where you were destined to go, that is where you would be.”
“Thank you for that. However I still feel responsible for these peoples plight.”
“No more than I, I assure you. But it will pass, I assure you of that too, it WILL pass.” She gave a sad smile. “Now, my young associate and I have two ideas for getting you all to our city. Both have risks. The least risky but definitely slower option is simple; we walk. You can see the problems there straight away. It took the two of us ten days to get here. I suspect it would take at least twice as long to get over two hundred people over the same distance.”
“The second option?” The captain asked.
“The second option is instantaneous transport but that involves using skills we have been taught but are not confidant in using. We are happy to try either. We leave the final decision to you and your people.”
“Which option do you recommend?”
“We think the quicker the better.” Brad said. “There is no reason to prolong your waiting. But as Kelly has said, we are not fully confidant of our abilities.”
The captain gave a wane smile.
“I think you would not have been sent if someone did not trust your skills, fully developed or not.” He swept his hand over the camp. “I will speak to those here and give you our decision.”

Brad and Kelly stood before the assembled crowd.
“You are all sure you wish to try this?” Kelly asked.
“We are.” The captain replied.
“Okay then.” Kelly sighed. She turned to Brad. “Ready?”
“Not really.”
“Me neither.” She turned back to the assembly. “If you could all hold hands please. That will help to keep us all together.” She clasped Brad’s hand tightly.
“Where are we aiming for?” He asked.
“The park. It’s big and it’s open.”
“Good choice. Let’s do this.” The two of them concentrated, each feeling the other helping them. The encampment vanished from view.

They materialised closer to the children’s home than Kelly intended, but still in the park, near the playground in fact. She took a quick look around to make sure everyone was safe; they were. She whooped with joy.
“Brad! Brad! We did it!! We did it!!!” She threw her arms around the unsuspecting boy and hugged him, kissing his face repeatedly with joy. A little surprised, Brad let her enthusiasm wash over him until she calmed down. As she pulled away he looked into her flushed and excited face.
“Kelly, you’ve done it. You succeeded.”
“WE succeeded Brad. It was you as well.”
The Captain and the first sailor they had met came over.
“We would all like to thank you for getting us here.” The captain said.
“Yes, thank you.” The sailor added.
“I should have got you here a long time ago.” Kelly said.
“But you did get us here eventually.” The captain held out his hand to each of them in turn. They shook his hand and that of the sailor. The two men went back to the milling crowd as people from the city began to arrive and sort out the new arrivals. As they left Brad turned to look at Kelly once more.
“Kelly, your eyes have gone green.” He said, with a hint of trepidation.
“They have? I don’t feel any different.”
As Brad nodded in confirmation the guide appeared in his usual unobtrusive manner. Kelly was never sure if he materialised out of thin air or just wandered up when no-one was looking.
“Guide, what does this mean?” She asked.
“You know what it means Miss Kelly. It means that the next time you wake up, you will be where you need to be.”
“But I don’t want to go.” It was almost a wail.
“Nevertheless, when next you wake, you will be where you need to be.” The guide gave her a secret smile.
Brad moved to stand in front of Kelly.
“Kelly, I’m really glad for you. You deserve it after all this time.”
“Thank you Brad. You’ve helped me so much, is there anything I can do for you?”
“C…could I have one proper kiss?” He asked tentatively. In answer she took his head in her hands and kissed him hard. Brad was a little shocked at first but soon responded in kind until Kelly broke away.
“That was nice.” She said. “Can I ask something of you now Brad?”
“You know I’ll do anything for you.”
“Then you kiss me now.” Brad gulped hesitantly. “Please Brad.”
Screwing up his nerve he put his arms around her back and pulled her towards him. As she moved forward Kelly reached behind her and moved one of Brad’s hands down onto her bottom. He took the hint and dropped the other hand to the same place. The kiss lasted for a long time. As Brad pulled back he could see devilment in Kelly’s still green eyes.
“Phew! That was worth waiting for.” She smiled a happy smile. “I think I’m going to miss you Brad.”
“I know I’m going to miss you Kelly.”
The guide cleared his throat.
“Brad, could you help get these people to the induction centre?” He asked, indicating the rescued souls now being assisted by several of the junior guides. “And then take the rest of the day off. Meet me here at eight in the morning.” He handed him a card. “I just want a few words with Kelly alone.”
“Of course sir.” Brad bustled off, but not before Kelly caught the hint of tears in his eyes.
“He will be all right won’t he?” Kelly said, reddening for no apparent reason.
“Yes, I hope he will be as right as rain fairly soon.”
“What did you want to talk to me about?” Kelly asked.
“I just want to thank you. You have helped Brad achieve his potential, and you have finally managed to complete your assignment. A good job as ever Miss Kelly. I may really miss your help.”
“Thank you sir. You and Brad have helped me too.” She shook his hand. “What should I do now?”
“That’s entirely up to you my dear. You have the rest of the day to do as you wish. Say farewells, have a party, whatever you want.”
“There are one or two people I’d like to see, but I’m actually quite tired. I might have an early night.”
The guide smiled.
“And get it over with?”
“And get it over with.”

Kelly found the friends she wanted to see and then made her way back to the flat she had occupied for so long. She found her mind was full of thoughts about how improvements could be made to the collections, the admin and the radio station. She sat at her desk and began to write out a few suggestions for the guide to find. The first thing that she wrote down was the idea that Brad should take her place at the station. It had made her happy and she thought it might do the same for him. Without realising it Kelly worked on the list until late into the night when it was quite long. She read through it one last time and then with a sigh began to get ready for bed. As she slipped beneath the covers she started to think again. She was going to miss working for the guide. She was going to miss working at the station even more than she thought possible. And to her own enormous surprise she was really going to miss Brad. Kelly finally drifted off to sleep with thoughts of Brad running through her head.

She awoke slowly, wondering where she was. Only one way to find out, she thought, and snapped her eyes open. To her utter shock she was still in her bedroom! Something must have gone wrong. She looked at the clock and saw that it was after seven in the morning. Whatever had happened, that was the time to get up. She slid out from beneath the sheets and walked over to the window. As she looked out she could see that it was a lovely day out there. There was a whistle from someone passing below. She suddenly realised she was only in her underclothes. She realised that the past few weeks had changed her. Sleeping in just her skimpies had become a habit during the quest, before she would never have even thought about such a shocking thing. And as for letting anyone see her with so few clothes on… Pulling on a dressing gown she found her mind returning to their arrival in the park. She now began to remember little things the guide had said. Or more importantly, how he had said them. She would wake ‘where she needed to be’. He hoped Brad would be all right ‘fairly soon’. He ‘may’ miss her help. And that knowing smile. It seemed that he was hinting that she wasn’t destined to leave here after all! There was a knock at her door. Before she opened it Kelly knew that it would be the guide.
“Hello guide. Come in. You don’t seem to be surprised to see me?” She asked as she opened the door.
“Not surprised, glad actually. I had to leave the choice to you. There was a faint possibility that you wanted to leave.” The guide smiled, following her into the flat. “I believe you may have some suggestions for me?” She pointed to the list on her desk. He picked it up and gave it a quick read. “Sorry about the first one. Brad will have to make do with being your assistant.” He grinned.
“I can accept that.” She grinned back. A thought struck her. “Actually it might be even better. Between us Brad and I can assume the responsibility of selecting candidates for the jobs at the station. It will be one less thing for you to do.”
“You know Kelly.” The guide smiled benignly. “I think one day you might actually be able to take over from me.”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that sir!”
“I think you could, but not for a while yet eh?” He said with a twinkle in his eye. There was another knock at the door. “That should be Brad.”
“How do you know?”
“This was where I asked him to meet me yesterday on that card.” He shrugged. “But I can sense it’s him anyway. Are you going to let him in, or shall I?”
“I think you had better. I should probably put some clothes on.”
“For your sake or his?”
“I’m not too sure. Just let him in please.” She said over her shoulder as she went into her bedroom.

Brad was a little surprised when he realised that the guide wanted to meet him at Kelly’s flat. What had been Kelly’s flat, he corrected himself. He had been here just that once, before they had set out into the wilderness. Perhaps the guide wanted some help to clear it out, but it seemed a bit menial for the chief to be doing that. The guide opened the door to him.
“Ah, Brad. I asked you here to meet your new boss.”
“Someone else has moved in already?” Brad asked a little shocked.
“No! I’m still here.” Kelly said as she came out of the bedroom, zipping up her skirt.
“Kelly! But I thought you got ‘green-eye’?” He stared open-mouthed
“I did. But apparently this is where I’m supposed to be.” She grinned at him. “Close your mouth Brad, it looks silly.”
“Sorry.” He shook himself. “Did you say she was going to be my boss?” He asked the guide. “Doing what?”
“Knowing Kelly, you’ll have some title like ‘personnel procurement officer’, but basically it seems she wants you to help her run the radio station.”
“You do?” He turned back to Kelly, who was now brushing her hair.
“Don’t you want to work with me?” She asked, tugging at a knot.
“More than anything. I… I think I love you Kelly.”
“I think I knew that. Just as well, because I love you too.”
“You do? That makes me really happy.”
“I can tell. Your eyes have just gone green.” Kelly looked across at the guide. “He’s not going to go away now is he?”
“Well, as with you, it is up to him. But I doubt it somehow.” For the first time that Kelly could ever remember, the guide had a cheeky grin on his face. “Kiss him again to make sure.”
“Why not?” She said, walking up to the astonished Brad. They wrapped their arms around each other and kissed. They kissed for so long that the guide had gone by the time they finished.

The guide walked away, smiling to himself. This was what the city was really about; a place where people could find themselves. That was why he called himself ‘The Guide’, not because he guided people to here, but because he guided them to find themselves when they got here. He walked on.

View From A Bridge (Extended Version)

It was suggested to me that the original could be made longer. As I had an idea for a sequel (Surpise) I set that up as well. Also added a Discography of the songs mentioned in the story as well. There are other albums that the songs are on as well.

Immediately I could tell she was thinking of jumping, you don’t stand on the outside of the bridge rail to look at the view. I thought it would be a waste if she did, she looked very pretty: A natural redhead with nice long legs.
“You’re not thinking of letting go are you?” I asked. “It’ll make a terrible mess for someone to clear up.”
“What’s it to you?” Her head jerked around, revealing flashing green eyes.
“I’m one of those who has to clean it up.” I shrugged.
“Oh! I’m soooo sorry for the inconvenience.” She snapped back.
“Plus it would be a terrible shame for such a pretty girl to throw away her life.” I smiled to show her I meant it.
“Yeah? Well my boyfriend, my ex-boyfriend, wouldn’t agree with you.”
“Just because he’s an idiot doesn’t mean the rest of us should be denied your beauty.”
She smiled weakly for the first time.
“Do you make a habit of this?”
“What?”
“Charming girls stood on the edge of a bridge.”
“Actually, you’re my first.” I grinned.
“Did you mean that?”
“That you’re the first? Yes.”
“No, that I’m pretty.”
“Of course.”
“It’s not just some ploy?”
“Well, it is a ploy, but that doesn’t make it any less true.” I gently laid my hand on hers. “Come back this side of the rail and tell me your name.”
She hesitated for a moment and looked me in the eyes.
“All right. Seeing as you asked nicely.” She said quietly. As she turned her foot slipped. I quickly grabbed her flailing arm, steadying her. I pulled her towards me and wrapped my arms around her. I could see the sudden fear in her eyes, her green eyes. She realised that she didn’t want to die like this.
“Hi! I’m Dave. And you are?” I said, hoping to calm her down. It worked.
“Sue. Susan.” She said, the terror receding from her face.
“Well Susan, let me help you back onto the safe side of the railing and then you can tell me your problems.” She nodded her assent and with a bit of help, clambered back over the barrier.
Susan leant back against the rail and sank down onto her haunches. She couldn’t look me in the eye.
“I’m so sorry and so ashamed.” She sobbed.
“What on earth is so bad that it could make you think that jumping off a bridge was the answer?” I asked as tenderly as I could.
“It just seemed that no-one cared and that the world would be better off without me.” She was crying now, partly from shock, partly from shame.
“But that’s just silly.” I crouched in front of her and took her hand. “You are enough to brighten anyone’s day.”
“You’re very kind.” She giggled through her tears. “And very smooth.”
“I try to be.” I lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “So lets not have any more talk about jumping shall we?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I promise.”
Then things got a little weird.

The guide in the blue uniform just appeared out of nowhere beside us, a clipboard in his hand.
“Interesting.” He said.
“What the..?” I said in surprise. “Who the hell are you? And where did you come from?”
Susan just stared in shock, as if she recognised him.
“You!” She said. “I thought you were a dream.”
“In a way, I was.”
“But who are you?” I asked again.
“I was supposed to be Miss Susan’s guide onto her next plane of existence, but you appear to have forestalled that. How?”
“What do you mean ‘How’. All I did was talk her out of jumping.”
“Just by talking eh? Interesting” He looked at something on the clipboard. “Miss Susan, are you still interested in my proposal?”
Sue nodded slowly.
“There’s got to be something better than this life.” She said sadly. “I’ve nothing here to look forward too, so, yes, I am still interested in your proposition.”
“Susan! What are you saying? You’d prefer to be dead?”
“Not really, but there has to be something more fulfilling than this miserable life I’m leading.” She looked away shamefacedly.
“She doesn’t have to be dead to accept this offer.” The uniformed guy said. “In fact, if you’re worried, you can come as well. With your power you could be useful to us.”
“What power? I’m a bin man for heavens sake!”
“But you seem to be a persuasive talker, which is something we need at the moment. Are you interested?”
I looked from one to the other of them. Susan seemed to be depressed about the way her life was going and she was too pretty to just let go. The man with the clipboard didn’t seem to pose any threat, he was just waiting, humming, looking at me in an expectant way, as if he knew how I was thinking.
“All right.” I sighed. “What do I have to do?”
“If you’ll both just like to sign here.” He proffered the clipboard. “It’s a one year contact.”
“Won’t people miss us?” I asked.
“No. You’ll still be here. That is, when you have fulfilled your contracts, you’ll be returned to this place and time.”
“And where are we going?”
“A sort of halfway house where people wait while it’s decided whether they reincarnate or carry on to a higher plane of existence. We employ people such as yourselves to help them in their decision; some are waiting themselves, others we bring in on these short term contracts.” He gave Sue a pen. She signed the contract. He turned to me, offering me the clipboard.
“Against my better judgement.” I sighed and took the pen. “Anyway I want to keep an eye on Susan.”
“And you’ve only just met her.” The guy smiled. “Ready? Then hold hands.” There was a sound like a wave breaking on a beach and the bridge vanished from view.

We appeared in an apartment room with some nice furnishings. I looked around at it, wondering if I was to stay here or Susan was. Sue was doing the same thing. Finally I spoke.
“Is this to be mine or hers?”
“Actually, you’ll have to share.” The guide looked embarrassed. “We were only expecting Susan.”
“Then it’s hers: find me a cubby-hole or something. We can’t share; I’ve only just met her!”
Sue put her hand on my shoulder.
“Dave, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” She said smiling. “What can happen? Look on it as an adventure.”
“An adventure? What sort of adventure?”
“The sort where you discover what it’s like living with someone.” Sue smiled.
“All right, I’ll try.” I said, somewhat mollified. “What is this job then?” I asked, turning to our guide.
“Well, we’re setting up a radio station. We have three DJ’s and two engineer’s, Susan is an engineer too.”
“I only do hospital radio you know.” She said, slightly worried that he may think she was some big-shot.
“Yes, I know. But this will be similar to that.”
“So where do I fit in? Unless you need some rubbish taken away that is.”
“No, we have people for that. I was thinking with your persuasive talking ability you could become a fourth DJ.”
“Won’t that leave you an engineer short again?”
“I think we can work around it. I suggest you go and meet the others at the station over the road and talk it over with them. You go on air tomorrow.”
With that he turned and left. I looked at Sue, a bemused look upon my face matching the one she was wearing.
“Well, I suppose we’d better go and find the others and see what they say.” I said.
Sue nodded in agreement, but an anxious look came back onto her face. “Why are you worried? At least you’ve an idea about what to expect, I haven’t got a clue!”
“I just don’t want to let anybody down again, and I suspect that you’ll be just fine.”
“And what makes you say that? I’ve never even been inside a radio studio, I could be terrible, or freeze up, or anything.”
Now she laughed.
“You haven’t stopped talking since I met you! You’ll be perfect.”
I laughed too.
“All right, you’ve convinced me. Let’s go and see the others.” I held out my hand and she took it. I led her out of the door to meet our new workmates.

They were a friendly bunch, looking forward to starting a new venture. The three DJ’s were willing to help me with a few hints and tips, the main one being not to think of talking to a lot of people, just to imagine one person and talk to them. The engineers did the same for Sue as she confessed her relative inexperience. There was also a programme controller and a secretary. Kelly the controller was amiable to my proposal that I take the late night shift so that I could see how the others worked. She wasn’t so sure about the suggestion that Sue be my engineer until I explained I had an idea I’d like to try out. The other two engineers, Rick and Adrian, agreed to do six-hour shifts to cover the first three four-hour shows, leaving Sue with just my four-hour stint which fitted in perfectly with my plan. Kelly said she’d be around for my show too, ‘just to keep an eye’ on us. They were all a little curious about my scheme, but I didn’t want to say too much, I wanted it to be a surprise, especially for Sue.
We looked around the studios and the other station offices. I was poking around in one of the cupboards when I found a camp bed that could be used by the station staff if an emergency meant they had to stay overnight at the studio. I asked if I could borrow it. Kelly said it shouldn’t be a problem so I picked it up. After spending a while familiarising ourselves with the studio Sue and I returned to our apartment to sort out the sleeping arrangements and a few other things.

“Why the bed?” Sue asked as I put it up in the corner of the main room of the apartment.
“There’s only the one otherwise.” I said.
“We could share it you know.”
“I couldn’t sleep in the same bed as you Susan; I don’t know that I could control myself.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You’re too pretty for one thing.”
She blushed slightly.
“I’d be willing to take the chance.” She replied, almost hopefully.
“Well I wouldn’t. You don’t know me well enough.”
“It would be a chance to learn?”
“No. My mind is made up. I’ll sleep out here.” I stood up after putting the bed together. “The only other thing is that I suggest we both make sure we lock the bathroom door when we’re using it. No chance of bursting in on one another.”
“You seem to have thought of everything.” She said disappointedly.
“Just trying to keep things honest.” I smiled. “To give you time to find out about all my nasty habits.”
“You’re determined to take all the fun out of this aren’t you?”
I nodded.
“At least for a while, until we get to know each other better. We only just met a few hours ago remember?”
“Am I that repulsive to you?” She looked like she was going to cry.
“Sue, you are practically everything I want in a girl. A pretty, green-eyed redhead with long legs and a sense of humour too, but I have to build up to things. And you may find that I’m not the Good Samaritan you think I am. You might actually dislike me you know.”
“Somehow I doubt that. All right, we’ll do it your way.” She grinned. “At least for now.”
We decided to look around the apartment and see what was there. Susan went into the bedroom and I wandered into the kitchen. It was well equipped, better than mine anyway, and the fridge was stocked with food and drink. I opened a can of coke and took a slug. Sue called me eagerly from the bedroom.
“Hey! Come and look at this.”
I strolled in with my coke to see what had got her excited. She was looking at the inside of the wardrobe. The bed was covered with a range of clothing pulled out of a chest of drawers. I stood beside her.
“What’s got you so full of beans?” I asked.
“Look at all these beautiful clothes.” She pulled out a dress on a hanger and held it to her, to see what it looked like on.
“Very nice. At least you’ve got a change of clothes then.”
“Well they were expecting me. I’m sure you can get something else to wear too.”
“I won’t need much. A couple of shirts, some jeans, maybe some shorts, a few pairs of underpants and I’ll be sorted.”
“You’re easily pleased then.” She smiled. “You can probably get all sorts of wonderful clothes and all you want is a pair of shorts and some underwear.”
“Yep! That’ll suit me fine.” I paused. “Assuming I can actually get a change of clothes, that is.” There was a ring of the doorbell. I strolled out to see who it was, wondering who actually knew we were here. It was a delivery guy with a suitcase. He handed it over and asked me to sign for it. I did, and then took it inside, speculating about what might be inside.
“Open it.” Sue said enthusiastically. I clicked the catches and flipped open the lid. Inside were some clothes obviously meant for me. T-shirts, jeans, underwear, a pair of shorts, and some trainers. Sue just laughed. “You should have asked for a Tux as well!”
“That would have been silly. Anyway, this stuff is more me. I wonder how they knew.”
“I should think they know all about us. Don’t worry; you’ve got your change of clothes now.”
“Now I just need somewhere to put them”
“There’s probably a cupboard somewhere you can use.”
“Probably.”
I must have sounded upset because Sue giggled.
“I’m kidding idiot. I’ll clear out a couple of the drawers in the bedroom.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, if you think about it.”
“Oh, you and your puritanical ideas.” She frowned a little, and the smiled again. “All right, we’ll keep everything separate.” She gave a wicked grin. “For now!”

I went into the station a couple of hours after Will had started his ‘Breakfast Bar’ show at seven to watch him at work. He was trailing Sara’s following show as ‘The Main Event’, an interesting name I thought. Her show was followed by ‘Nicky’s Rush Hour’. I couldn’t see that lasting as there seemed to be no such thing here. Kelly suddenly realised that they needed a name for my show, so they could trail it. Sue had arrived by now, so after a quick discussion we came up with ‘Crazy Nights’.
“No name check?” Kelly asked after I told her as Sue was watching Adrian at work.
“Maybe tomorrow.”
Kelly looked at me sideways.
“What are you up too?”
“If I tell you, will you keep it quiet until we go on at seven?”
“Of course.” She sighed.
“Sue is going to be my co-presenter.”
“She hasn’t said anything to me.” Kelly was puzzled.
“She doesn’t know yet.” I grinned.

At ten to seven I was sat in the studio waiting for Nicky to hand over to me on the hour, but Sue had only just come in from the other studio. I still had to persuade her to engineer the show from where I was sat AND wear a mike and participate in a little banter. To my surprise she just came straight in and sat opposite me, tugging on the headphones and mike without a word. I looked up and saw Kelly outside; she smiled and waved her fingers.
“Ready?” Sue asked.
Somewhat shocked, I nodded.
“As I’ll ever be. Why are you sat there?”
“That’s what you wanted isn’t it?” She gave me a huge grin. Kelly waved again and I knew I’d been had. Sue began to count down with her fingers and then cued me in as Nicky handed over.
“Good evening, all you mad creatures. Welcome to ‘Crazy Nights’ with me, Dave…”
“…And me, Sue.”
“First up is the greatest song ever, ever, ever. No argument will be accepted. Here is Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’.”
And that was how we started our show. The second song I, or we, played was ‘Freebird’. As it ended I back announced it and then carried on.
“I’d like to play a few of your requests, so if any of you want to get in touch, we’ll see what we can do.”
Nicky broke in from the other studio where he was tidying up.
“I’ve got a request.”
“I’m not swapping knob-twiddlers mate!”
“No, there’s a song I’d like you to play.”
“Well, that’ll be a start. Go on then.”
“Can you play Alice Cooper’s ‘Poison’?”
Sue nodded that she could find it.
“It seems we can Nicky, mainly because you already primed the computer. ‘Poison’, that’s the song that all the pole-dancers use isn’t it? Hey Sue, how about it?”
She reddened with embarrassment.
“No pole dummy.” She snapped back.
“I think that was a ‘NO’ listeners. I may be back after ‘Poison’ by Alice Cooper. If I’m not, you’ll know Sue has taken action.” I cued in the song. I could see that Sue wasn’t overly happy. “Don’t take it seriously Sue, it’s just mindless banter to get some atmosphere.”
“Just be careful Dave.” She frowned at me. “Remember where I was standing when you met me.”
“I just wanted to sound like I was teasing you.”
“You were teasing me.” She smiled at my discomfort. “How far are you thinking of going?”
“Only mild innuendo and risqué flirting I promise.” I crossed my heart.
Sue grinned at my action.
“See that it is, or I’m going back to the other side of the glass. How do you want me to react? Straight-laced or flirty back?”
“What do you feel would be better?”
“Flirty I think.” She grinned an evil grin.
“It is the night show I suppose.” I mused. “Flirty back it is then.”
“And you don’t realise what you’ve just unleashed sunshine.”
“Ooo! That sounds promising.” I grinned back at the huge smile Sue was now wearing. “Anyway, I believe it’s your turn to pick a song.”
“Anything I want?”
“Well, no rap, disco or country. But otherwise…” She smiled to herself and began to search the database. ‘Poison’ finished. “What a great song. Pity I missed out on the dancing, but Sue wouldn’t try without a pole.” I smirked at her wickedly. “What’s next then, knob-twiddler of mine?”
“I’ve decided that we need to get everyone involved, so here’s Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’. Everybody join in, you know you want to. You too, button-pusher.”
I smiled. This was going to work! As long as the management and the listeners thought so too. I glanced outside of the studio where Kelly was still watching. She seemed to sense my question and put her thumbs up.
Our first four-hour show was almost over.
“Just time for one more.” I said. Sue nodded that I was right. “Okay then. This one is for my knob-twiddler and partner-in-crime Susan. Bad Company’s ‘Feel Like Making Love’.” I smirked as the tune began. Sue just put on her ‘serene’ face for the duration.
As the song finished she spoke.
“Sorry, I’ve got a headache. Goodnight everybody.” And she switched everything off. We both just collapsed with laughter.
Kelly came in beaming.
“You two have a great rapport. It comes through the speakers and gives the show something different.”
“So you think it’ll work?” I asked.
“I think so. We’ll see what reaction you asking for requests gets shall we?”
“That was okay wasn’t it?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem.” Kelly seemed amused by my late concern. “Though I think I might need to employ someone to deal with it.”
“Sorry.” I said, shamefaced.
“Don’t be; it’s the sort of thing we wanted.” She smiled at me. “Although you might have asked first.”
“Sorry again. It was a spur of the moment thing.”
“Are you okay with everything Sue?” Kelly asked. “The banter wasn’t a bit risqué for you?”
“No, it was fine. With a bit of practice I’ll be able to respond in a similar way to Dave.”
“I dunno Sue, that last put down was pretty good anyway.” I grinned. “If you get too good, I may have to rethink my strategy.” She just laughed.

Kelly was right. Sue and I were popular with the listeners. This led to some changes in the schedule after the first week on air. They brought in an extra engineer enabling Will to do an extra hour starting earlier. There was an hour of requests added in, initially put together by Kelly and then by some other people she wanted to try out. Her ‘reserves’ she called them. This slotted in between Sara and Nicky, who now called his show ‘Twilight Time’. Sue and I got an extra hour as well. The schedule now ran: Will from six until eleven then Sara from eleven till three. Then the requests until four, when Nicky took over until eight. Finally Sue and I were on until one in the morning. The remaining five hours were filled with random songs from the computer. We were a twenty four hour station now!
It was also decided that the engineers and DJ’s would get one day in every thirty off, to stop them getting jaded. It gave Kelly another chance to try out her ‘reserves’ as well. About ten weeks into this new regime I came in to find a new face presenting ‘Twilight Time’. I was surprised because it was Sue’s night off not Nicky’s. Kelly was replacing Sue for the night as she felt that I needed a female presenter who wasn’t going to be offended by the way I bounced stuff off her.
“What happened to Nicky?” I asked, sitting down opposite her.
“He got ‘green-eye’.” She said simply. “Whatever issues were holding him here, he resolved. When that happens people temporarily get green flecks in their eyes. Hence ‘green-eye’.” She explained to my puzzled look.
“And that’s a good thing, right?”
“It’s the reason most people are placed here.” She nodded.
“Who’s the new guy?”
“Matt. He was the most promising of the try-outs.”
I nodded and then began to look for the song that I suddenly wanted to start the show with. Kelly cued me in.
“Thanks Matt. Nice show to start off with by the way. This first song is for your predecessor, Nicky, who has gone on to greater things. Led Zeppelin. ‘Celebration Day’.”
Kelly smiled as the song began.
“That was nice.” She said.
“Sorry I forgot to introduce you boss.”
“It’s okay; you can do it in your own smutty style before the next track.”
I smiled back. Kelly was an easy boss to get along with.
Unfortunately the show didn’t have the same spark without Sue. I’d noticed it before. Kelly felt it too. Towards the end of the show she apologised.
“It’s not your fault boss-lady. It’s just that you’re not Susan.”
“So it is my fault.”
“No. It’s me. I feel different with Sue over there. Naughtier I suppose.”
“Then I think in future I’ll give you the same day off. That way we won’t have to try and do the same sort of show with different people.”
“Thanks Kelly. You are the best boss ever.”
“Come on, time for the last song.” She seemed amused by my sincerity. An idea that had been rattling around in my head suddenly became the right thing to do. Kelly cued me again.
“Regular listeners will know that around now I usually play something to try and embarrass my usual partner-in-crime. Well I’m not going to go down that road with the boss, so this is for Sue as usual. It’s not something we’d normally play. Hope you’re listening sweetie.”
Cliff’s ‘Miss You Nights’ started. Kelly looked at me.
“You love her don’t you?”
“Yes I think I do.”
“So why are you keeping her at arms length?”
“Because she came here with problems that I don’t want to add too.”
“You might just be the solution you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“I think you know.”
The song played out.
“That was for you, girl of mine. Say goodnight Kelly.”
“Goodnight Kelly.” With a grin she switched over to the computer. “And that was what I meant lover boy. ‘Girl of mine’ indeed. See you tomorrow.” With that she got up and left. I sat on my own for a while, wondering if Sue had been listening. Shaking myself, I stood up. Better go and find out.

I entered our apartment. Although dimmed, the lights were still on.
“Sue? You still up?” I called out.
“In here.” She called from the kitchen. “Coffee?”
“Please.” I replied. “Listen to the show?” I asked tentatively.
“Yes, great news about Nicky.”
“Isn’t it?” I paused. “Kelly and I were talking about the show tonight. Although it wasn’t bad she reckons it would be better if you and me had the same day off in the future.”
“That’ll be nice.” She still hadn’t come out of the kitchen.
“Susan, are you hiding from me in there?” I started to walk towards the open door.
“Well, something happened when you played that last song for me.”
“What?” I was suddenly worried. It had seemed like a good idea at the time.
“This.” She turned to face me as I entered the room, her face glowing and her eyes greener than ever.
“WOW!” Was all I could say.
“I just needed to be wanted apparently. You do want me don’t you?”
“More than I thought possible Sue.”
“Good. Now come to bed.”
“That’s a bit sudden isn’t it?”
“Sudden? I’ve been waiting for weeks for the right moment.” She wrapped her arms around me and kissed me. Our first proper kiss. Immediately I couldn’t believe that I had been trying to resist this. Still kissing, we stumbled our way to the bedroom.

There was a staff meeting a couple of weeks later, during the requests show. Sue and I had been spending a lot of the time at our apartment just being together. While we were at the station we tried to disguise what we felt for each other, but at the apartment we could give full rein to those feelings. More of the other staff had gone, getting their ‘green-eye’, until only Sara and Kelly of the originals were left, along with the two of us. Kelly was bringing us all up to date with one or two minor organisational details, telling us how the ‘reserves’ were shaping up, and asking if we thought that it was worth replacing the computer with a DJ for the Late, Late Show. She finished the meeting with a question.
“Does anybody know of a spare bed? One of my new reserves has a room, but the bed is broken.”
Sue piped up without thinking.
“You can have Dave’s back. He hasn’t been using it.”
“SUSAN!!” I exclaimed. We both went red and everyone else smirked.
“I’m glad that’s out in the open at last.” Kelly smiled. “Do you know how hard it was for the rest of us not to notice? Tracks like ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ and ‘In These Arms Tonight’ as your last songs of the night were a bit of a giveaway, so was the giggling.”
Sue and I both looked around shamefaced.
“Sorry everyone.” Sue said.
“Yes, sorry. We just thought it best if we kept it quiet.”
“No harm, no foul.” Sara said, a big grin on her face.
“To make it up to all of you we’ll have a party at our place tomorrow, it’s our day off. Everyone’s invited.” Sue gushed. She was happy and wanted to share it with everyone else.
“Good idea.” Kelly said. “I’ll be late though, I have to keep an eye on your replacements.” She shuffled her notes. “Right, that’s it. Meeting over. Buzz off.” She paused. “Dave can I have a word?” She waited until all the others had left. “Dave, there are a couple of things I think you should know. Did the guide explain about what happens when you go back?”
“No, I don’t think he did.”
“The thing is, when you return, you’re not supposed to remember this place.” I stood and looked at her stunned, mouth agape. “It’ll seem like snatches of a dream for you, both of you.”
“Sue as well? She went ‘green-eye’. Will her problems come back?”
“I know about her ‘green-eye’, and no, her problems won’t come back. She’ll be happy, but won’t know why. The thing is, we don’t know exactly what will happen this time. We rarely recruit a pair and they’ve never fallen in love before.”
“Shouldn’t you be telling Sue this as well?”
“I don’t want to risk her having a relapse.”
“So why tell me?”
“Because you deserve the truth as we know it.”
“As we know it?”
“I told you, we don’t know what will happen in your case. Just before you leave, the guide will be back to see you. He may know more by then.”
I sighed.
“Thank you for the truth Kelly.” I set my shoulders. “I’ll make our last few months here happy and hopefully memorable ones. The show won’t suffer.”
“Thank you. I’m really sorry Dave. If we find out anything for certain, I’ll let you know, I promise.”
I left the station feeling down and went for a walk to clear my head. One thing was clear to me: Sue was never going to find out; at least one of us should remain happy and contented. To do this I was going to have to put this knowledge from my mind and carry on as normal. I turned my thoughts to the show. A couple of ideas I’d been toying with were going in tonight I decided. One idea was to play three or four songs from the same artist back-to-back, something I’d heard done on another station at home. The other was that Sue and I would pick two somehow related songs and invite the listeners to pick a third and then play our pair and the most popular choice for the third on the following night. I was confidant that it would work. I checked the time. Better get back I thought.

The two new features did indeed work well, although once again I’d forgotten to warn Kelly of the increased correspondence. I was managing to keep my dismay from Susan; at least she never mentioned it. For most of the time I was able to keep happy and in truth, I was happy. Being with Sue did that. By now we were nearly six months into our contract and things were fairly settled for us, but no-one else seemed to stay too long except Kelly and Sara. Then one morning Sue burst into the apartment excitedly.
“Did you hear about Sara? She finally went ‘green-eye!” She almost shouted. I was barely awake, whereas she had been up for at least a couple of hours. Our sleeping patterns just wouldn’t mesh. Sue could fall asleep almost as soon as we returned from work, but I was usually still buzzing and couldn’t drop off to sleep for a couple of hours or more. She always awoke before mid-morning whereas I generally slept until late morning at the earliest. Sometimes she was just too damn perky when I woke up, such as now.
“No I hadn’t.” I replied somewhat grumpily. “But I’m happy for her.” I sipped at my first coffee of the day, feeling its restorative powers reviving me. I sighed. “So when did this happen?”
“Just after she started her show, about fifteen minutes ago.”
“Then I’m hardly likely to have heard am I?”
“Right. Sorry.”
“So am I. You know I’m grouchy first thing. What happened then?”
“Well, I was having a chat with Kelly in her office when Sam, Sara’s knob-twiddler, called her. He said she had to come and see this.”
“So, being nosey, you went along too.”
She looked hurt.
“I just wanted to see what the fuss was.”
“Of course you did.” She frowned at me. I had to laugh. “I’m only pulling your leg. Carry on.”
Placated, Sue resumed her tale.
“Well, Sam said that Sara was just listening to the first song she’d put on. And then when she looked up her eyes were green. Oh Dave, with that lovely blonde hair and those emerald eyes she looked beautiful. And I’ve never seen anyone look so serene.”
“I have. You.” Sue smiled. “What song was it? Maybe we can play it for her tonight.”
“It was one we played a night or so ago. ‘Just Good Friends’ by that Scottish bloke.”
“Good. We can work that in again easily enough.” I paused. “Did she disappear or something?”
“No, silly. Kelly said that you carry on as normal until you go to bed and then when you wake up you’re where ever you’re supposed to be.”
“Sounds nice, means you’ve got time to say goodbye.” I mused.
“I wish you could get ‘green-eye’ Dave. It’s a wonderful feeling.”
I hugged her.
“Thank you, but it’s a bit unlikely, with me being on a specific contract.”
“But I got it, and I’m on the same contract.”
“You were destined to be here anyway. I don’t have the sort of anxieties that cause people to come here.” I was lying, I’d developed them here, but I’d sworn to myself that Sue would never find out what was going to happen when we left. She kissed me.
“I suppose. Come on anyway lazybones, finish getting dressed. We’re having a party for Sara when her show is over.”
“Just remember.” I wagged my finger. “We’re working tonight. I don’t want you getting all giggly.” I smiled to show I was teasing.
“And I don’t want you getting all raunchy. Now come on, hurry up.”
Sighing, I went to find a clean shirt.
Sara came up to me at the party and gave me a hug. She, Kelly, Sue and I had become good friends over the past six months. Although I was glad that she had found the peace that she deserved, I was going to miss her sharp wit and infectious smile.
“Thank you.” She said.
“For what?”
“Sue told me that you were the one who programmed the song I caught the end of and liked.”
“Glad to help, it is what we’re here for. How did it help anyway?”
“I liked the part I heard on your show, and when you back announced it, I thought it was a nice title and decided to play it myself this morning.”
“You’d never heard it before? Its not the first time we’ve played it.”
“I don’t get to hear all your show, only the first couple of hours, so I’d never heard it before. As I sat and listened to it, things just slotted into place in my mind.”
“One song did all that?” I was surprised.
“I suspect it was a cumulative effect.” She smiled again. “Everything in my past suddenly seemed clearer and I felt happy with myself. The ‘green-eye’ I think.”
“Sara, I’m really glad for you, but I am going to miss you.”
“And I suspect that whatever happens to me next, I’m really going to miss my three best friends.” She kissed me softly. “Just promise me that you’ll take care of Sue.”
“No problem there. I promise that I’ll do my very best.”
“I know you will. Good luck.” With that she left to say some more goodbyes elsewhere. I never saw her again, but who knows, I may still meet her again on some plane or other.

Sue had obviously been getting bored waiting for me to wake every morning and had decided to do something with this time. For eight months I had become used to her usually being there when I came round. When she wasn’t there for three days in a row, I began to wonder what she was doing. However she didn’t say anything and I didn’t want to ask directly. A week of non-communication on this issue caused me pangs of suspicion. Sue had always told me everything, even things I didn’t want to know. A horrible, horrible idea had begun to insinuate its way into my mind. Had her need to be wanted caused her to find someone else? I couldn’t shake the notion, no matter how much I disbelieved it. I obviously needed to know.
I managed to wake before Sue went out. I threw on some clothes and went into the living room.
“You’re up early.” Sue said, smiling brightly.
“Got something I need to do this morning.” I mumbled.
“Well have fun. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” She left, giving me a wave and another smile. I gave her a minute or so head start and then began to follow her.
I tailed her to a largish building overlooking the park. At first I thought that it was a hotel and my worst fears had been realised. Then I saw the sign naming the building as the children’s home. Confused now, I stood around outside, wondering what to do. I decided that I’d wait and see what Sue did next. I crossed to the park and found a bench from where I could see the entrance to the home.
After some ten minutes or so Sue came out, but she wasn’t alone. There were some twelve children with her, the oldest about eight, the youngest only four or five. The kids all carried a different sort of toy, either a ball, a Frisbee or just a doll like the littlest one. In utter bemusement I followed at a distance while Sue led them to the playground. The children began to play, watched over by Sue. At first the young girl was shy of joining in, holding on to Sue’s hand. With a little encouragement, she too began to frolic with the others. And to my complete surprise, so did Sue! I watched her playing with the kids, enjoying herself, and was deeply ashamed of my earlier dark thoughts.
All of a sudden the Frisbee landed at my feet.
“Throw it back Dave.” Sue called out, obviously knowing I was there watching.
I span it back amongst the happy group of kids and then, blushing deeply, I walked over to Sue.
“When did you spot me?” I asked shamefacedly.
“Oh, I knew you were up to something when you got up so early. And then I saw you reflected in a shop window.” She grinned a huge grin. “You’d make a terrible spy Dave.”
“I know.” I hung my head. “Why didn’t you tell me you were doing this? Playing den mother to these kids I mean. I thought some horrible things about you, things I didn’t want to believe but couldn’t disprove, things I’m deeply embarrassed to have thought.”
“I’m sorry, I should have said something, but I was worried you’d think I was getting broody, that I wanted to become a mom.”
“I’m sure I wouldn’t have. For one thing, how could you go back and suddenly be six months pregnant?” ‘And not remember how’ I thought to myself.
“Are you always so analytical?”
“You tell me, we’ve lived together for eight months now.”
“In that case, yes you have a tendency to over-think things.”
“Where are these kids from anyway?” I asked, sweeping my arm around.
“The same as everyone else here. They can have worries too you know.” She took my arm. “Although theirs are usually quicker to go away. So I volunteered to help with some of those with more deep-rooted problems. I had a couple of hours spare each morning.” She smirked at me.
“So all this is my fault?” I asked jokingly.
“Oh yes mister.” She walked us towards where there was a game of football breaking out amongst her charges. “Want to join in?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, it’s been a while, but… Yes I do.” I trotted over and collected a pass.
“If you can manage to wake up early enough tomorrow, you can come back again as well.” Sue called after me.

The morning volunteer work with the children was very satisfying. It enabled Sue and I to help in a more ‘hands on’ way. We were able to see results close up when the youngsters found what they needed and got ‘green eye’. The outing to the station we organised for them was an instant success, three of them, including the little one, going ‘green eye’ before the visit was over. That brought us to the attention of the papers, although we had tried to keep it quiet. Kelly said that it might help others too if we talked about it to them, so we agreed to be interviewed as long as they didn’t make out we were the only ones to do this sort of thing.
I got one heck of a surprise when we met the reporter though, it was someone I knew!
“Mena! What are you doing here?” A stupid thing to say on reflection. Sue and Mena both gave me an extraordinary look. “I mean are you on a contract like us or..?” I tailed off before digging a deeper hole for myself.
“No. I’m… Waiting.” The girl replied. We had worked together for a short while some years before at home. Mena was a likeable welsh girl who had worked in our office. I had never thought that I would meet someone I knew here. After all, I had been here for ten months now and it hadn’t happened before.
“So, you two know each other?” Sue asked, a hint of suspicion in her tone. I explained that Mena and I had worked at the same place, that we knew each other to talk to, but that was all. Sue seemed satisfied with that, but kept looking at me as if to reassure herself.
Mena asked us about our extra curricular activities with the youngsters, making copious notes, and then she asked us about the radio show, how we planned it, things like that. Sue sniggered at the use of the word ‘planned’, and then told the welsh girl that I did pretty much everything off the bat, making stuff up as I went along. I tried to protest, but I knew that it was the truth, I did just do what I thought would work.
“Have you been here long?” I asked Mena.
“About two months.” She replied. “I often caught some of your show, but I didn’t realise that it was you. Not the sort of thing I’d have associated with you.”
“I was asked specifically.” I shrugged. “I wouldn’t have thought of you as a reporter either.”
Now it was her turn to shrug.
“I thought it might give me what I needed.” She looked down. “But I don’t think its working.”
“Why not come with us to the children’s home tomorrow and see if that helps.” Sue said kindly, touched by something in the other girls sorrow.
“Won’t they mind?”
“I doubt it. The kids always like someone new to play with. And to tease.” I smiled, remembering how easy that had been before.
“I…I think I’d like to try that.”
“Meet us here at eight in the morning then.” Sue said.
“Eight!” I exclaimed. “You know I’m barely awake by then.”
Sue smirked evilly.
“You’re barely awake most of the time.” Mena cracked a grin for the first time. She looked more like the girl I had known before.
“I don’t know why I put up with you Susan.”
“I think you do.” She smiled that evil smile again.
Mena had been nervous about meeting the children, she thought they might not accept her as they had us, but she was wrong. They took to her straight off, welcoming a new playmate. Our meeting had set me thinking though, causing me to wonder if there were other people here that I knew. I approached Kelly, who seemed to know the rules of this place rather well.
“You can’t go looking for people you might know I’m afraid.” Kelly frowned.
“Why not?”
“They might get jealous that you’re going back and they’re not.”
“But what about Mena?”
“She actually needed to see you. You don’t think that it was a coincidence do you? Mena needed some help to show her the way forward. You and Sue gave her a nudge in the right direction.”
“Couldn’t the guide have done that?”
“Maybe.” Kelly sighed. “But you know how resistant she is to being forced to do something.”
I nodded, remembering how Mena always had to do things her way.
“She will be all right though.”
“Yes Dave, she will. Somehow, you and Sue have set her on the right track and she’ll be fine now. It might take another month or so, but I think she’ll find what she needs now. You’ve helped another lost soul find its way.” She smiled a sad smile. “How we’re going to cope without you I shudder to think.”
“Well, I’m only doing what I was asked to do. I’m sure you can replace me when the time comes.” I was a little embarrassed by this sudden praise, until I saw the twinkle in her eye. She was pulling my leg!
“Almost certainly. The guide is good at finding people to work for him.” Kelly grinned. “Now buzz off, I’ve some possible replacements to interview.”

Now we were coming towards the end of our contracts and I couldn’t help but remember our time together was probably finishing. Sue put this down to the fact of our impending departure. On the morning before our last show the guide visited as promised. He didn’t mention the memory loss to Sue, presumably having been forewarned by Kelly. He just told us to go to sleep as normal, and when we awoke, we would be back on the bridge where he’d found us. As he went to leave I asked if I could speak to him outside, out of Sue’s earshot.
“About the other issue, anything new?”
He sadly shook his head.
“No. I’ve been looking for loopholes, but can find none.”
I sighed.
“That’s going to make me pretty unique then. The only person to leave here sadder than when they arrived.”
“Maybe, maybe not. You are supposed to lose your memories of this place, but love is the strongest force in the universe, so who knows?”
“But YOU are supposed to know. It’s you that runs this place.” I was angry now. Time was short and I wanted proper answers, not wishy-washy maybes.
“You are very perceptive, but I have to obey my own rules. Why else would I have them?”
“And I’ve got more problems than when I arrived. What have you done to my life?” My anger exploded in a crescendo. The guide just let it wash over him.
“The answer to your biggest problem lies within you. I can do no more.” He turned and left. I threw up my hands in exasperation and then managed to calm down before going back inside.
“What was that about?” Sue asked cheerily.
“Just something I wanted to say to him.” I shrugged, avoiding an outright lie. I put my arms around her. “We’ve got one more show to do. Let’s plan a great finish.”
“You? Plan? That’ll be a first.” She laughed.
“You cheeky mare!”

We were approaching the end of our last show. It had been our best one ever. We’d played Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’, U2’s ‘One’, and Joe Bonamassa’s ‘India/Mountain Time’ for the umpteenth time. ‘Kashmir’ had got yet another outing, as had ‘When The Levee Breaks’ and ‘Fear Of The Dark’. ‘Freebird’ had caused a mass outbreak of air guitar once more. All our co-workers had popped in to say their goodbyes and Kelly had watched the whole show for the first time since our initial week. There was just time for a couple more tracks.
“Okay knob-twiddler, this will be your last pick. What’s it going to be?”
“This is for you button-pusher. Me as well, I suppose. Remember when you played that soppy Cliff song for me?” I nodded. “Well, this is what it gave me. ‘Moment Of Clarity’ from Roger Waters.” She cued it in.
“This is a nice little piece.” I said to her as the track played.
“I know you like it, and I think it has some meaning for me.”
“Me too.” I smiled at her and reached over to hold her hand for a moment. “I wish we could go on like this forever.”
“Our time here is up.” She shrugged. “Can’t be helped.” The song finished. Sue cued me one last time.
“So, what will be our last song I hear you all ask? Well, I’m not going to break with tradition and not dedicate it to my wonderful girl Susan, but I am going to dedicate it to all of you out there listening as well. Our last track ever is Thin Lizzy’s ‘Still In Love With You’. Goodbye, and don’t forget us.”
“Yes, goodbye. We’ve loved doing this show for you. And thank you for your support.”
“So. Thin Lizzy. ‘Still In Love With You’.” I started the track and went around to Sue and kissed her.
Kelly came in and hugged us both. There was something I had to ask her.
“Kelly, why have you never got ‘green-eye’? Are you on a contract like us?” I had been wondering about this for the last month or so now. Kelly and the two of us were the only ones left from the starting team now.
“I’m not on the same sort of contract as you, and I doubt I’ll ever get ‘green eye’.”
“But why? You seem happy enough.”
“At first I was employed as a junior guide.” She sighed. “And I screwed up. I failed to save over a thousand souls from a big shipwreck.”
“How did that happen?”
“I mistimed my arrival and they had all become lost in the wastes of time. I can never make up for that.” She looked sadder than I’d ever seen anyone, even Sue on the bridge. “But doing this, with your help, I’ve assisted a lot. Over the past year many people have found their peace thanks to us.” She smiled weakly. “I’m going to miss you two. You made this project happen. I couldn’t have done it without you. I hope you find what you need back home. I mean it.” The last part was obviously directed to me. I knew she was hoping for a miracle for us, but it was one I couldn’t believe in.

We all hugged again, Sue and Kelly on the verge of tears. I took Sue’s hand and led her out into the night.
“Where are we going?” She asked.
“I thought we could have one last walk around together.”
“But it’s dark.”
“So? Please Sue.”
“All right, a short walk won’t hurt.” We wandered around for a while, just holding hands, not talking. I wanted this to go on and on. It was nearly time and I was sure I was going to lose her back in the real world but eventually we turned for our home for the past year.

Sue and I entered our apartment for the last time, still buzzing from that wonderful last show. We knew that when we awoke we would be back on the bridge where we had met. Sue still didn’t know that our memories of our time here would probably be gone. That was what was supposed to happen; I knew that from talking with the guide. She would retain the piece of mind that she had found here, and some other measure of her feelings. What I would retain the guide didn’t know, so this may be the last night of happiness for me. As we snuggled down in the bed, I kissed Sue for what I thought would be one last time.
“That was nice.” She smiled, yawning. “See you in the morning; back on the bridge I suppose?” And then she rolled over and closed her eyes.
“In the morning.” I whispered without conviction. Sue was soon asleep, I could tell from her breathing as I lay with my arms around her, but I couldn’t or wouldn’t drop off. I didn’t want to fall asleep and wake up not being in love with her. I held on to consciousness for as long as I could, nearly two hours, but I succumbed eventually.

That had been a waste of time, as Susan and I re-entered our world at the same time. She was leaning against the bridge rail on her haunches, and I was crouching in front of her, holding her hand. And then I realised that I could remember those hours trying to stay awake, and the last song we’d played, and the first, and everything else! I looked into her pretty face and lovely green eyes. She was looking at me strangely, her hand moving up to my face.
“Sue! Susan! Can you remember too?” I asked excitedly.
“What?” She answered distractedly.
“Can you remember the year we just spent together?”
“That? Of course I can Dave, its just…your eyes. You’ve got ‘green eye’. How can you have ‘green eye’ here and now?”
“I’ve got ‘green-eye’?”
She nodded, reaching into her bag and pulling out a small mirror. She passed it to me and I looked at my eyes. She was right; I did have the same sort of green flecks in my eyes that I had seen so often in those who had found peace or happiness. I suddenly recognized why. The guide had said there was a problem with me, that only Sue and I could solve. I realised that as soon as it was obvious that Sue and I both had our memories of the radio station, that we still had our love, my problem was solved, hence the ‘green eye’. The guide had been wrong and right at the same time. He was wrong when he thought we wouldn’t remember our time in the other place, but he was right that love was a powerful emotion. Mine and Sue’s love had been so strong that it had held all our memories in place, every little thing we loved about each other. Instead of trying to explain to a puzzled Sue, I just held her close, hugging her to me.
“It doesn’t matter, I still have you, so nothing else matters.”
“So what happens next?” Sue said from the depths of my hug. I sat back.
“I suppose we have to find…” I stopped as I saw a letter in Sue’s pocket that hadn’t been there the first time we were on this bridge. “What’s this?” I asked, pulling out the envelope. Strangely, although it had been in Sue’s jacket, it was addressed to both of us. I squatted beside Sue so that we could both read what was inside. It was a contract for a radio show for the local station! As I passed it to Sue to read properly, a note fell out of the envelope. I picked it up. On it was a three word message: For services rendered. It was signed: Your Guide. I turned my eyes skywards and whispered my thanks. I put my arm around my beautiful redhead and kissed her.




The songs mentioned in the above story are:

Kashmir by Led Zeppelin. From the album Physical Graffiti.
Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd. From the album Gold And Platinum.
Poison by Alice Cooper. From the album Poison.
We Will Rock You by Queen. From the album Greatest Hits.
Feel Like Making Love by Bad Company. From the album 10 from 6.
Celebration Day by Led Zeppelin. From the album Remasters.
Miss You Nights by Cliff Richard.
You Shook Me All Night Long by AC\DC. From the album Back In Black.
In These Arms Tonight by Bon Jovi. From the album Keep The Faith.
Just Good Friends by Fish. From the album Suits.
Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. From the album The Wall.
One by U2. From the album Achtung Baby.
India/Mountain Time by Joe Bonamassa. From the album Live From Nowhere In Particular.
When The Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin. From the album Led Zeppelin 4.
Fear Of The Dark by Iron Maiden. From the album Best Of The Beast.
Moment Of Clarity by Roger Waters. From the album The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking.
Still In Love With You by Thin Lizzy. From the album Live And Dangerous.