WHO? (complete)

Part 2 - Remembering

Joy was soon back, complaining about the lack of signal. "I can't call anyone. I'll try the landline." Her eyes strayed across to the sofa where the man lay, his back to them, for all appearances, asleep. "I'll use the one you have in your bedroom, A-J."

Seeing Jane's nod, Joy crept up the stairs.

Jane busied herself in the kitchen. Collecting her cup and saucer and the teapot from the deck, she placed the dishes into the dishwasher drawer and decided to prepare a salad to go with the evening meal. She set fresh vegetables in a row on the bench.

Joy came back, hurrying to the downstairs phone. She tapped in the three numbers for emergency. As upstairs, the phone began beeping in her ear. Hanging up and trying the numbers again brought the same result. "I'll try and call Mom," she said before tapping in the correct range of numbers. "Nothing is working."

Jane stepped close to her and whispered, "Drive into our Lakewood village and go to the out-station there. Or, find a telephone that works."

"Right."

Jane heard the car engine winding over, and then, again over, and, over. It spluttered but didn't start. Fetching the keys to her car, she was at the door with them when Joy returned. "Take mine," she urged. 

Joy returned, having found the same result. "It's like he sabotaged it," she complained. She added, "If he sleeps more than an hour, he can't be the Doctor. Doctor Who, the one in the TV series, he never sleeps more than an hour."

That night Jane and Joy both slept intermittently, together, in the guest room upstairs. They locked the door and secured it by pushing a chest of drawers in front of it.

"Hopefully he'll be gone in the morning," Jane said.

Before sunrise, they showered and dressed then moving together, down the stairs, peeking in the lounge to look at the sofa and smiling at each other to see it empty. 

While Jane went to the kitchen to set the coffee machine going and made pancakes, Joy went to try the land-line again. Her mobile phone had no signal even though she had charged it during the night. The land-line downstairs was dead. So were the two cars' engines. 

Taking their time they savored the pancakes and sipped their coffees in silence. 

"Where do I put these?" the man asked, making them both jump. His hands were full of banana peelings entwined with green leaves.

"Oh, it's the doctor," Joy said in a humorous tone, "Where've you been?" 

"On the deck. Very nice view of the sunset above the trees."

"Did you eat all my bananas?" Jane asked, remembering she had selected and purchased eight large ones.

"Yes, very nice after such a long sleep. I've never slept so long, not in all my years. I found a bunch of celery too. I don't eat the leaves though."