Page 89 of Right Place, Right Time
‘If you feel up to it,’ I say. ‘We don’t want to tire you out too much.’
Ben smiles. ‘That’s kind of you, Eve. But I’ll be just fine. Now, after Dotty disappeared and then Archie was hospitalised, nothing happened in Clockmaker Court for a good while. No one visited the office, of course, and life after the war went on. Everyone was too busy trying to get their own lives back on track to worry too much about a room underneath a bricked-up shop, and not many people even knew it was there. Eventually, Violet passed away, and Amelia, and then it was only myself, George, Sarah and Gerald who knew. Sarah had taken over the shop from Amelia, and Gerald had taken over from his father, Ozzie. The doors that led down to the office and the portal from the shops weren’t sealed exactly, they were simply disguised behind furniture. To be honest, we rarely talked about it. George began his career at the bank and the others continued with their own businesses. That was, until it began to happen again …’
‘What do you mean?’ Barney asks, open-mouthed. ‘It happened again?’
‘People began to appear behind the doors that led up from the office,’ Ben says. ‘It was random at first. Gerald or Sarah would hear knocking from behind one the doors, they’d move the furniture out of the way, and when they opened the door, there would be a very confused person on the other side. We had no way of getting them back again, we didn’t know how to control the portal, so they simply had to stay.’
‘You mean there’smorepeople like you?’ I ask, aghast. ‘People from a different time, living here as if nothing is strange or unusual.’
Ben nods. ‘There seemed to be no reason for it at first, but then we noticed a pattern. They would all appear in leap years, just like I had in 1944, and, not only that, they were always leap days too – the twenty-ninth of February, to be exact. It kept happening until George decided to pay to seal up not only the office, but the tunnel too. He removed the two doors with the tree carvings from the portal in the office, boarded up the doors at the other end of the tunnel that led outside, and finally the doors that led down from each shop – he used the sort of secure door they used in his bank’s vaults for that. He didn’t want to take the risk that if we weren’t here one day in the future to protect the gateway, someone might accidentally discover the office and then the portal. We all knew that if someone unscrupulous discovered what we knew was there, it could unleash a whole world of trouble. So the secret had to be kept with us until …’ He pauses, as if he’s choosing his words carefully. ‘Well, until the day when Venus and Mars would appear as predicted on the doors and the tree, and then the secret could be revealed once more.’
‘When you say Venus and Mars, you actually mean Eve and Adam, of course,’ Adam says defensively.
Ben nods.
‘And for argument’s sake, just what are we …’ Adam gestures between the two of us with his hand. ‘What are Eve and I supposed to do now we are here?’
‘Firstly, protect the portal, and, secondly, help those who wish to return go back again,’ Ben says, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. ‘Everyone that’s come through that portal did so because they were in trouble in some way.’
‘How do you mean, Ben?’ I ask.
‘They were all fleeing from something – persecution, violence, injustice, discrimination.’
‘Why would they want to go back if that’s the case?’ Adam asks. ‘They’d be better staying where they are, wouldn’t they?’
‘Some – perhaps. But some, like myself, would like to go back and find their loved ones again. To check on them. To see if they are all right.’
‘Even if we could find a way to get you back,’ I say, ‘would you go back like you are now? Or would you revert to your previous age again?’
Ben shrugs. ‘No one knows. But a few of us might like to try.’
‘When you say a few of us,’ Adam asks. ‘Are you still in contact with all these others?’
Ben smiles. ‘Many still live close by.’
‘How close?’
‘Right here in Clockmaker Court.’
‘What?’ I say. ‘How can they possibly? Do you mean people that live here now?’
‘Yes,’ Ben says calmly.
‘Who? Harriet? Rocky?’
‘Harriet is from 1952 originally,’ Ben says. ‘Not Rocky – he doesn’t know anything of Harriet’s past. Harriet is …’ He chooses his words carefully. ‘A little touchy about the subject when it’s mentioned.’
‘She said she thought the oak tree should be cut down,’ I say, remembering. ‘I thought that was odd at the time. Is it because she doesn’t want the portal to ever open up again?’
Orla nods. ‘She doesn’t want to go back and leave Rocky.’
‘That’s totally understandable. But why did she come through the …’ I hesitate. It seems odd saying the word. ‘The portal in the first place.’
‘She was in a violent and abusive marriage in the fifties, when it was very difficult to leave your husband,’ Orla says. ‘She escaped and arrived here in Clockmaker Court in 1980. She eventually met Rocky, who is nothing like her previous husband was.’
‘Rockyislovely,’ I say. ‘No wonder she doesn’t want to return. I still can’t believe she’s from the fifties, though that does explain their old-fashioned tea shop and the type of baking she specialises in, I suppose.’ I consider this for a moment. ‘Who else is there that I would know? It can’t be Luca, surely?’
‘Luca escaped from France during the Second World War to avoid being persecuted by the Nazis,’ Ben says. ‘Originally from Italy, he was a well-known costume designer in French theatres during the thirties. He arrived in Clockmaker Court in 1972.’
