Page 88 of Right Place, Right Time
‘Ah, yes. Sorry, the details. My old brain forgets to fill in the gaps sometimes. Dotty blamed herself for what happened to me. I don’t think she could ever forgive herself for bringing me back here – she’d separated a child from his mother. Dotty was a young mother herself; she had a baby with one of the American GIs who was stationed here in Cambridge during the war. His name was Harry, I believe?’
‘That’s right – he was my great-grandfather,’ I say.
‘Dotty, unusually for the time, had continued to work with Archie through her pregnancy. She considered her work too important to stop, although Archie wouldn’t let her time travel during her pregnancy, of course – that was his one rule. Even when her baby – your grandmother – was born, she continued to work part-time. Amelia looked after baby Sarah the rest of the time, when she wasn’t in her shop. But Dotty just couldn’t accept that she’d separated a mother from her child and would get very upset about it on occasions. I tried to tell her not to worry and that I was having a grand old time living in 1944, but she wouldn’t have it – she was determined to reunite me with my mother. Unfortunately, this determination is what led to her disappearance.’
Ben pauses again, and I get the feeling he’s beginning to tire with all this talking. He has said more tonight than I think I’ve ever heard him say in the entire time I’ve known him. But I can also sense how much thisunburdening, of all these secrets he’s carried with him for so long, is helping him to heal.
‘What happened to her?’ Adam asks now.
‘No one knows exactly,’ Ben says. ‘And of course what I do know is only what George and I gleaned at the time of her disappearance. Once Archie had gone too, no one was left who knew exactly what happened. All we knew was she tried to travel back to 1904 and got stuck there.’
‘How do you know she got stuck in 1904?’ Adam says. ‘Maybe she just upped and left – it happens, you know.’
I know Adam is referring to his father now.
‘Because I was there,’ Ben says. ‘We both went down the tunnel together that night. Archie and Dotty would mostly do their experiments in the day, but on this particular evening it was just Dotty and me. Dotty placed four envelopes on one of the office desks. We found out afterwards one letter was addressed to Archie, telling him what she was attempting to do. One was to Harry, telling him how much she loved him and to look after their daughter should anything happen to Dotty. One was to Amelia, instructing her what she wanted to happen to baby Sarah in the event Dotty didn’t return, and the last was to Sarah herself to be read when she was older.’
I gasp. ‘I think we’ve seen that letter, haven’t we, Adam? It was in the box disguised in theDalmatiansbook.’
Adam nods. ‘It must be the same one.’
‘I don’t know what happened to the other letters,’ Ben says. ‘But Archie told us that Dotty had worded them all so no one would understand what she was really saying, just in case they got into the wrong hands.’
‘So what happened next, Ben?’ Barney asks. ‘To you and Dotty?’
‘After we’d both gone through the doors and down the tunnel together, Dotty told me to wait inside this time. She stepped through the doors as she always did to check what year we were in. This often involved finding someone with a newspaper if the period looked like it might be correct, which usually didn’t take too long back in those days. Dotty returned quite quickly this time; I was used to her saying at this point we were in the wrong year or the wrong place. But that night she said we were finally back in Cambridge in 1904. The right placeandthe right time. She looked ecstatic … so happy.’ Ben smiles as he remembers. ‘She told me to wait on the other side of the doors while she checked if my mother was in the lodgings I’d told her she lived in, and she’d be right back. So I waited and I waited, but Dotty didn’t return. I think eventually I must have nodded off in the tunnel, because the next thing I knew, Archie was kneeling down next to me calling my name. He asked me what happened and where Dotty was. When I told him, he opened the doors, but there was nothing there. Only a brick wall. He took me back into the office and then he tried again to go back down the tunnel himself, but when he returned he said the same thing was happening. Eventually, after several attempts, he took me back to the house, and it was the last time any of us ever saw Dotty.’
There’s silence in the room.
‘You mean she never came back?’ Barney asks quietly.
Ben shakes his head. ‘No. Archie tried to get her back. He worked day and night in that office trying to find a way. But nothing worked. I think it was that that drove him off the rails in the end. He’d always been a healthy, robust sort of chap before, but, after Dotty disappeared, he lost weight and he didn’t sleep. He had great darkcircles under his eyes – I remember that very clearly. And he started to ramble about things, muttering under his breath. Eventually one day he disappeared too.’
‘Did he get stuck in time as well?’ Barney asks. ‘Like Dotty?’
‘No, he was found wandering the East Anglian fens by a farmer out tending his fields. But by that time, he really wasn’t well. He was immediately taken to hospital and he never came out again. Violet went to see him, but there was nothing she could do. He’d had a breakdown and unfortunately the things he was saying made him seem like he’d truly lost his mind. I’m sure after what you’ve been told tonight, you can imagine the type of subjects he was ranting about.’ Ben raises his bushy white eyebrows. ‘Archie never got over Dotty’s disappearance – they were great friends. In the end, the portal was his downfall as much as it was Dotty’s and it was all my fault.’
As Ben’s head drops once more, large tears begin to fall down his cheeks. ‘As much as Archie couldn’t forgive himself for what happened to her, neither could I.’
‘Ben,’ I say, immediately rushing to his side. ‘It wasn’t your fault. You mustn’t blame yourself.’ I put my arm around his old shoulders and he looks gratefully up at me.
‘Just like your great-grandmother Dotty and your grandmother Sarah,’ he says, his eyes misty from his tears. He reaches into the pocket of his jacket, pulls out a clean white handkerchief and dabs at his eyes. ‘They cared just like you do – too much sometimes. But now you’re here at last, Eve. You and Adam. We’ve waited a long time for this. Now you both know everything, you can help us to put right what once went wrong.’
29
After we’ve comforted Ben and he’s calmed down a little, Orla asks if we’d all like to continue.
‘There’s more?’ Adam asks. ‘How can there be?’
‘I’d like to hear more from you, Orla,’ I say. ‘We know Ben’s role in all this. What is yours? How do you know so much about all this?’
‘Oh, that’s quite simple, really,’ Orla says. ‘Ben confided in me when he was ill, didn’t you, Ben?’
Ben nods and looks gratefully at Orla. ‘I don’t think any of you realised quite how ill I was. Nasty, nasty virus, it was. I was worried I might not live to see you discover everything and be able to tell you my side of things. So I confided in Orla. I trusted her completely to keep a secret, and I knew with her background and her beliefs she’d be open to hearing the truth. You kept our secret beautifully.’ Ben pats Orla’s arm.
‘Thank you, Ben,’ Orla says, putting her hand over his. ‘I’m just glad you’re here to tell your story. I’m not sure they would have believed me if I’d had to tell it.’
‘Nonsense, you would have been fine. Now, if you’ll permit me to continue the story a little further?’ Ben asks the rest of us.
