9. Into the Closet

THROUGH THE GATES OF TIME - Part 9

May and Roger were woken by the voices of Apple and Frodo from the former’s bedroom. Of course they were! It was Christmas day morning after all.

“Look what I’ve got!” exclaimed Frodo.

Apple, being two years older, was also two years wiser. “But you knew you were getting one,” she said sardonically, “dad struggled for ages to find one that wasn’t black market and costing the Earth! I heard him telling mum.”

“But I’ve got one,” he told her, “and dad was right! Now I’ll be able to play all those games that the other kids are always talking about!”

“Games they talk about but probably haven’t got,” replied Apple, “I know how little kids can boast! After all, I’ve got a little brother!”

“Me,” agreed Frodo, “I’m your brother.”

“They’ll wake the shadow people,” yawned May.

The two adults had been discussing their problem with what they had hitherto only called the naked people, but decided the word naked was sleazy, so they became the shadow people. It sounded a lot more respectful even though it was certainly less accurate.

“They probably have already. I’ll go and see.” May’s yawn had been caught by Roger, and he added his version to the conversation as he made his way to the spare bedroom.

“Don’t be long,” murmured May, snuggling back down into her bed even though she knew that she’d be up and about very soon, it being Christmas day.

Seconds later Roger was back.

“They’re not there,” he said, a worried look on his face.

“They must be!” was May’s irrational response, and she climbed out of bed, looking as if she’d not had a wink of sleep all night.

The spare bedroom was deserted. The bed looked as if it had been slept in, maybe even fought in, the quilt being on the floor and the pillows the wrong end of the bed.

“Looks as though they had a party,” grunted Roger.

“Remember how they were when we showed them into the room last night,” replied May wearily, “they hadn’t a clue what a bed was for until you showed them by lying on it and pretending to go to sleep!”

“Come on: let’s find them before the kids get up,” groaned Roger.

They went down the stairs having checked the bathroom, which was empty and in which not even a tiny child could hide without being spotted straight away.

“Good grief!” Roger’s explosion was muted because he didn’t want to disturb the children upstairs, who had plenty of small parcels to unwrap to hopefully keep them busy for long enough for him and May to wake up properly.

His ejaculation was the result of the door to the closet because that door was open. It wasn’t just open, it had been forced open so that it was at a crazy angle to its doorpost.

“What’s been going on?” asked May unnecessarily because it was perfectly clear what had been going on. Someone had used a great deal of brute strength on an old Georgian door.

“The door’s been forced. That’s what’s been going on,” replied Roger.

“Can you fix it?” asked May, “I mean, can you shut it properly?”

“I doubt it very much,” growled Roger just as Apple came down the stairs to investigate what sounded like peculiar behaviour from parents, bearing in mind what day it was.

“The man opened it,” she said when she saw the door. “It was in the night. I heard them coming out of the spare rom, and I showed them where the light switch was.”

“You did?” spluttered Roger.

“It was very dark,” nodded Apple, “they couldn’t see their hands in front of their faces. But they had to go home and they knew this was the way.”

“What do you mean, darling, had to go home?” asked May.

“They said,” contributed Frodo, who had followed his sister down the chair. “I’ve got the latest PlayStation,” he added as if it was the most important thing in the world for him to tell them.

“What do you mean, they said?” asked Roger, confused.

“They said they had kids at home and they were worried about them, so they had to go to their home. They live in the olden times when mammoths roamed the Earth and nobody wore clothes, which was probably very rude.” explained Apple.

“They talked?” asked May.

“Sort of. They didn’t use words, exactly, but they did tell us what they wanted,” nodded Apple. “They used signs and stuff.”

“The man pointed at me and then at the lady and then at the closet door, which was shut,” said Frodo.

“And what did that mean, darling?” asked May, her confusion almost complete.

“It meant they had a boy like me at their home, which was through the closet door, silly,” explained Frodo, “and they had a girl like Apple too. They said so.”

“In signs?” asked May.

“Of course. They didn’t know our words but they did have words of their own,” said Apple airily as if she was discussing something that her parents really ought to know about without having to be told.

“They did?” asked May, confused.

“Of course they did,” replied Apple, “for instance, that door, which the man had to break a bit to get it open, is call a grrrr!”

The sound she made when she enunciated grrrr was harsh, throat wrenching and sounded more like an old dog growling ata mischievous kitten than a small girl talking.

“If I say that too many times I’ll get a sore throat,” grinned the girl. “Anyway, the woman told me about her little girl and that she wanted to get back to her.”

“There’s a hillside where they went to sleep,” nodded Frodo, “on grass, under the sun.”

“They explained quite a lot to you,” grunted Roger, “and you say they went into the closet through the broken door?”

“Yes,” nodded Apple, “and when they’d gone through the doorway they sort of vanished. We decided not to follow them because we didn’t want to vanish too seeing as it’s Christmas, so we went back to bed and waited for morning.”

“And out presents. I’ve got a PlayStation!” crowed Frodo.

“And I’ve got a pram,” smiled Apple, “to push Teddy around in.”

Teddy was her stuffed woollen bear that she’d had for her first ever Christmas, and she’d loved that bear with a wonderful intensity since. It went everywhere with her, even sometimes to school.

“Let me see what’s in this closet, then,” muttered Roger, “it looks just like a cupboard to me, It’s a shame we never had a key for it.”

“Be careful,” warned May, “in fact let me hold your hand. And you, children, you hold hands too, and I’ll hold Apple’s. Just to make sure. It’s always best to be safe when the alternative is being sorry.”

“Come on! Or it’ll be Easter before we get anything done,” growled Roger, and he led the chain of them, with May followed by Apple followed by Frodo, through the door and into the closet.

“My,” he said, “the sun’s hot!”

“And … the grass, the grass is green,” gasped Apple.

“Mummy, it’s better than a PlayStation out here!” whispered Frodo.

And the sun shone down on a primeval world.

© Peter Rogerson, 28.11.20