Chapter Three: A Discussion over Tea

“The universe will sing you to sleep” ~Ood Sigma in “The End of Time"

              Rebecca got home that day to her father, whose name was Artur, sipping a cup of tea and reading the newspaper. As soon as the door shut behind her, he looked up and smiled a toothy grin. “There you are, sweetheart. How was your walk in the woods? Here, I even made you a cup. Might be a bit cold though, but a cold cup of tea is better than none at all, my mum always used to say.

                She sat down next to her dad and grabbed the cup of tea. Sipping it, she realized that is was cold, almost as if someone put an ice cube in it. She drank it anyway, if only to make her dad happy “My walk was fine, Dad. Sorry I took so long getting back. It’s just… I got lost. There were markers on the trees on the path, but I lost them and next thing I knew I was lost. You’re right; I should have taken a map with me or at least brought someone along. It won’t happen again.” Her Dad just looked at her with his gray eyes"the same gray eyes that she had.

                “I’m not mad at you, Rebecca,” Artur said calmly. “You always come back, safe and sound, so I’m not worried about you.”

                “But, still. I shouldn’t have stayed out so long.” Rebecca replied, upset at herself.

                “Honey, you’ve only been out for a few hours--”

                “I know that, Dad, but what if something happened--” She continued, standing up.

                “Nothing is going to happen to me in a few--”

                “But what if something did? What would happen if--”

                “You worry about me too much. I don’t want to--”

                “You don’t worry about yourself enough! What if--”

                “Oh, what if, what if! Is that all you ever say?”

                “So what if it is? I seem like I’m the only one that cares about what happens to you when I’m gone.”

                Artur was soon silent, looking directly at Rebecca. She instantly regretted saying those harsh words to her father, but she couldn’t take them back now. It was just that she was genuinely worried about her father, yet sometimes it seems like he didn’t care what happened to himself.

                “I’m sorry, Dad, I didn’t mean it like"”

                “It’s OK Rebecca,” He Dad said with a wave of her hand. His voice was back to normal and a smile came across his face. “I know you just care about me, and it’s really sweet. But you need to worry about more than me. What are you going to do with your life?”

                “Well, right now I’m applying for some jobs so I can support us"”

                He shook his head, cutting her off. “I mean after I’m gone. You can’t spend the rest of your life holed up in here.”

                “Dad, don’t talk like that.” Rebecca replied, her voice catching in her throat. “You’re not going anywhere any time soon.”

                “You know that’s not true.” Her dad stood up shakily, and Rebecca could hear the various cracks in the bones in doing even that simple task. She immediately went over to help him, but he shook his head again. He managed to stand up and, with the help of the table, made his way to her. “You see? I can barely stand up and walk a few steps without a lot of effort.”

                Rebecca looked at her Dad for a moment, so frail. She could tell that even standing up was a challenge for him. “But that’ll change. The doctor said that, with the right treatment, you would recover"”

                “She said that I might recover. And even that probably isn’t going to happen.” He looked into her eyes, looking for something that only he knew. “Honey, I’m dying, and you know it.”

                “You’re not dying,” Rebecca protested. He was only sick, but you could recover from being sick. Anyone could recover from being sick. “That’s why we moved here, so we can get the proper treatment for you. With the chemotherapy and the medicine that they have hear, you’ll recover in no time.”

                Even before she was done speaking he was shaking his head, tears in his eyes. “Sweetie, both you and I know that that isn’t going to happen. The doctor said that I have months to live. Maybe even less. It’s time for you to admit that.”

                But Rebecca couldn’t, wouldn’t, accept the fact that her father was going to die. He had been alive far too long to leave now, right when she needed him most. Not with her mother dead, with no one else she could really talk openly to. She hadn’t even got to tell him about the Doctor, or the truth behind the strange events in your life. “No, Dad, you’re not going to die. You can’t just die on me, not right now!”

                “I didn’t say that I was going to die right now,” He said calmly, his voice helping stable Rebecca’s unstable emotions. “But you need to stop worrying about me so much and get out and do something. I don’t want you caught up here taking care of your old dad.”

                “You’re not old, Dad,” Rebecca replied, mostly because there was really nothing else she could say. This conversation was moving too fast for her to keep up.

                “I’m old enough, Rebecca,” Her dad sighed. “I’ve had my time. It’s time for you to have yours.”

                “Please don’t talk like that,” Rebecca protested. “At least, not now. We’ve only just moved here; why darken it with such a depressing topic? Besides, you’re not leaving any time soon.” When her dad began to protest, she just shook your head. “You’re not going anywhere any time soon because I won’t let you, do you understand? You won’t be dying on my watch.” It was amazing what the mind could do when faced with a problem that it couldn’t handle; it just replaced it with a calmer, less threatening thought.

                Artur chuckled, also glad for a way to stop talking about such depressing things. “All right, ma’am. I fear for the safety of anyone who dares get in your way.” They both laughed away their misgivings, allowing the laughter to help ease the pain that they felt so sharply. This wasn’t the first time that they’d had a conversation like that, but somehow it always ended with laughter of some sort.

                “Now, if you’re done giving me ‘the talk,’” Rebecca said lightly. “I’m going to start dinner. I don’t know about you, but I’m famished.” As soon as she said that, she filled a pot with water and placed it on the stove.

                With great effort, her dad walked slowly back to the seat that he had previously occupied. He picked up the newspaper and looked at an article with great interest. “Hey, hun, look at this article. Seems like them scientists found dug up an old burial site, a big one this time.”

                Rebecca didn’t even look up from what she was doing to see what her dad was talking about. “That’s nice, Dad. Where did you put the sauce again?”

                “Top cupboard, all the way to the left"but they’ve found something real interesting. It says that this ancient native group are depicted as worshiping some sort of fruit"says that they considered it the fruit of the gods.”

                “That’s fascinating,” Rebecca said in a bored tone, preparing the sauce. “But I honestly don’t see what it’s got to do with us.”

                “Nothing, really,” Her dad continued staring at the article. “But it’s the name of the fruit that go my attention. According to them experts those natives called"and still call today, for that matter"it a ‘banana’.” As soon as he said that Rebecca froze on the spot. She hadn’t heard that word said in so long, since"well, since that day. But that didn’t count, because the Doctor said that. The last time she had heard that word by a normal person’s lips was fourteen years ago, before they didn’t exist anymore. She walked over to the newspaper as calmly as she could when in fact her heart was racing. “That name sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it? No idea why, though.” He trailed off, and continued staring at the article. After some time he pointed to one of the pictures, an ancient tablet. “That’s what they said they looked like, strange thing. Have you ever heard of a yellow fruit?”

                “No, never,” She replied absentmindedly, still staring at the article. “What does it say about the ‘banana’?”

                “Not much, I’m afraid.” He said, skimming through the words. “It basically says that it was the food that only the gods ate. It says that if any mortal was caught with one then they’d be sentenced to death immediately. And these gods aren’t your normal gods either; big beasts with green scales, they look an awful lot like lizards. But not ordinary lizards; they walk on two legs, like humans do. Like a lizard and a human hybrid.”

                “Sounds…weird.” Rebecca finished, having no other words that would fit in that sentence. “What happened to the banana? In the story I mean.”

                “Well, according to the tablets, it says that a great trickster stole them, one who was greater than the gods themselves. He took away the ‘bananas’ far away and they were never to be seen again. The gods were furious and blamed the mortals for it, even though it wasn’t their fault. In their wrath they destroyed every last member of the tribe to pay for the loss of the sacred fruit.” Her dad paused for a moment. “Makes you wonder who wrote down the story, if they all died. Anyway, it must’ve taken a lot of imagination to come up with a story like that.”

                Although he was trying to be funny, Rebecca was still caught up in the story. “Maybe they didn’t come up with that story. Maybe that’s what really happened.” She was going to say more when the buzzer went off, and she resumed cooking.

 

                It wasn’t until after she had dinner and was about ready to go to bed when she finally allowed herself to even think about the article that her dad has shown her earlier. At first she tried to convince herself that it was just a coincidence, that any ancient civilization could come up with a story with a story about a curvy yellow fruit called a banana that all disappeared without a trace. Yeah, like that’s possible, She thought. Face it, it’s another strange event in your life.

                It’s not like it’s never happened before.

                Although the statement above was absolutely correct, she had a hard time bringing herself to face that fact. First her dad going around saying that he was going to die, then the mention of the ‘banana’. Which didn’t exist, never existed at all. But then how did the Doctor know about it? Was he crazy, like everyone thought she was? These thoughts ran through her head at the speed of light and even showering didn’t clear her mind. What if the banana really did exist and everyone else just simultaneously forgot about it? A small voice in her mind whispered to her.

                Don’t be thick, The other part of her brain, which was considerably louder than the other. There is no way that everyone in the world to forget something at the same time. It was a silly, childish thing. I was ten. I do things like that.

                But the Doctor’s at least twice that, if not older, The small voice countered with maddening reason. And the chances of you both knowing what a banana was is slim to none.

                It’s about the same chance as everyone on the planet forgetting what a fruit was, and makes much more sense. He’s crazy, just like I am.

                You’re not crazy, you just know more things than everyone else. Crazy people are for insane asylums.

                Crazy people are people who have arguments with themselves. As soon as she thought this, her face turned red even though no one was in the room. Great. Now I’m arguing with myself. As if people didn’t think I was crazy enough already. If I wasn’t crazy before, now I’m finally off the rocker. Without further thought, for she did not want to get into another argument with herself, she threw her jimjams on and slipped into bed. When various images of her dad, the Doctor, and bananas (a very strange combination indeed) she reached over and turned on her I-Pod onto her favourite band, “My Chemical Romance”. She let the music drain away all of her thoughts.

                It soon became clear that not even “My Chemical Romance” would drown out all of her thoughts and she didn’t wish to disturb her dad with her music. So she turned it off and rolled over, and waited for sleep to come. It wasn’t until a mysterious lullaby started echoing through her head that her eyelids began to droop. Normally she would have stayed away pondering the source of the lullaby, but sleep was coming so fast that not even she could fight its clutches for long and fell into a restless sleep, dreaming of bananas and telephone boxes.

Author's Note

Here are a few questions for this particular chapter and the story as a whole.

1. Does the dialogue here sound realistic?
2. Do you like Rebecca? (be honest.)
3. Does the Doctor act anything like he does in the show?
4. Any tips for improvement?

If you can answer any of these questions it would be extremely helpful!

Reviews

[compositionc]

1. Yes
2. Yes! SHE REMEMBERS THE BANANANANANANANANANA
3. I can't tell. Onlt the Doctor can answer this question
4. zippers

[obvious pseudonym]

1. the dialect is good but her dad doesn't really talk like he's old and dying. like i didn't know at all until he got up. but it's still really beliavable
2. i do like rebecca a lot. shes different and i really want to find out what and who she is.
3. i don't know he kinda acts like the doctor like when explaining things or being all intrigued about what she is, but when she first met him if i didn't know who he was all ready i wouldn't have guessed who it was.
4. no your doing really good on it just keep writing i want to read more

ok lizard people sounds to me like homo reptilia am i right?

[DontBlink158]

1 yes it sound realistic, i should no cause i talk in some non-realistic dialogue
2 yeah i like Rebecca, she intrigues me
3 yes it sound something like how he would do things, but only the doctor would know for sure since well you know
4 im still confuzed about the age other then that nothing at all