Chapter One

Amy Pond looked at the plastic bowler hat with

a Union Jack pattern. 'You're not really going to

wear that, are you?' she asked the Doctor.

The Doctor smiled and raised the hat

politely. 'Yes. It's cool. So is my T-shirt.'

He was wearing a white T-shirt with the

slogan My companion went to London and

all I got was this lousy T-shirt.

Amy rolled her eyes. 'I can't believe you got

them to print that for you!'

'At least he didn't buy the T-shirt that said I'm

with stupid!,' said Amy's husband, Rory. 'I

know he would have made me walk next to him

while he was wearing it.'

'Of course I wouldn't,' said the Doctor. 'I

don't think you're stupid at all. Now, come

on, stupid, we're missing the tour!'

The three friends were on the upper deck of

an open-top red London bus. The sun was

beating down, but the Doctor still wore a

tweed jacket over his T-shirt. He was sitting

at the front next to the tour guide. Amy and

Rory sat on the seat behind them.

The tour guide, whose name was Janet, was

trying to talk about London landmarks. The

Doctor was joining in, but his efforts just

seemed to get on Janet's nerves.

'On your left you can see the Tower of

London,' Janet began. 'Building started in the

year 1066.'

'I've been locked up in there five or six

times,' said the Doctor. He pointed towards the

castle. 'If you squint, you can see my room. It's

that window there.'

Janet's microphone picked up the Doctor's

words. The other tourists laughed, but Janet

ignored him.

'There's also a top secret base below the

tower,' said the Doctor.

Amy tapped him on the shoulder before he

could say any more. 'If it's top secret, perhaps

you shouldn't mention it,' she said.

The Doctor nodded. 'Good point.' He mimed

pulling a zip across his mouth.

He kept quiet until they'd crossed the river

and were passing the Globe theatre. 'That's

where I fought some witch monsters,' he said.

'In the old theatre, I mean, not this new one.

The old one was just a little bit to the left. Of

course, Shakespeare helped me fight the

witches. Good old Shakespeare, he was a lovely

man. His breath smelt a bit, but that's not his

fault. There was no toothpaste back then.'

Everyone on the bus apart from Janet began

to giggle. Amy put on large sunglasses and held

her hand over her mouth. It didn't hide the fact

that she was laughing.

'The London Eye was opened in the year

2000,' Janet tried a bit later. The bus was going

along the South Bank.

'Oh yes,' said the Doctor. 'And then the

Nestenes used it as part of their plan to conquer

Earth. You must remember that. There were

shop-window dummies coming to life.'

It was when the Doctor told the tourists about

a pig flying a spaceship into Big Ben that Janet

snapped.

The bus stopped. The other tourists booed as

the Doctor was led off by the driver. Amy and

Rory followed. Amy was laughing, but Rory

was holding up a hand to hide his face. 'I've

never been thrown off a bus before,' he said.

The Doctor looked puzzled. 'I was only

trying to make things a bit more fun.'

Amy tucked her hand through the Doctor's

arm and led him towards an ice-cream van.

'Never mind. We can still do the tourist thing

like you wanted. We'll just have to walk

instead.'

They sat on the bank of the river eating icecream

cones. Boats sailed along the water in

front of them. Children laughed and couples

held hands. 'Mmm,' said Amy, licking a blob of

melting ice cream off the side of her cornet.

'This is perfect.'

'Better than fighting monsters,' Rory added as

he ate the last bite of ice cream. Then he

frowned as he spotted a poster on a wall nearby.

'But it's not quite perfect.'

The Doctor and Amy turned round to see

what he was looking at.

'MISSING since May the sixth. Katie

Henley.'

The photo showed a pretty blonde girl. She

didn't seem much younger than Amy.

It wasn't the first 'MISSING' poster they'd

seen that day. Most of them also showed young

men or women, boys or girls.

The Doctor walked over and put up a hand to

touch the face in the picture. 'So much sadness,'

he said softly. 'The sadness that made her leave

home. The sadness of those left behind.'

Amy joined him. She reached out her hand to

touch his. 'We can't solve every problem,' she

said gently.

'We should be able to!' The Doctor sounded

fierce. 'What's the point of doing what we do if

we can't help everyone?'

'I used to think that too, sometimes,' said

Rory. 'I used to wonder why I became a nurse.

There were so many people I just couldn't help.

In the end I had to accept that helping some

people was better than helping no one.'

'Wise old Rory,' said Amy, smiling. She

linked an arm through his. 'My boys. My boys

who help people.' She linked her other arm

through the Doctor's. 'Come on. We're on

holiday, remember.' The three of them walked

off arm in arm. 'What do you want to do now?'

she asked the Doctor. 'We've been to St Paul's...'

'And we got thrown out of the Whispering

Gallery for shouting,' said Rory.

'They wouldn't let us in to Buckingham

Palace to have tea with the Queen,' said Amy.

The Doctor frowned and pulled a crumpled

paper bag out of his jacket pocket. 'I'd even

brought doughnuts!' he said. 'Her Majesty loves

doughnuts.'

'We were thrown out of Madame Tussaud's

when the Doctor drew on the waxwork of Guy

Fawkes,' said Rory.

'Well, they'd got his moustache wrong,' said

the Doctor. 'Guy was very proud of his

moustache.'

'Now we've been chucked off the open-top

bus tour,' said Amy. 'There can't be many more

things to be thrown out of.'

They were walking along the river as they

talked. The Doctor absent-mindedly took a

doughnut out of the paper bag and bit into it.

Jam squirted all down his chin.

Rory spotted another poster. This one did not

show a missing girl. It was an advert for a

show. 'We've not got thrown out of a theatre

yet,' he pointed out.

'Great idea!' cried the Doctor. 'I love a show.'

He looked at the poster too. 'Sammy Star,

Master of Magic. Lovely!'

'Sammy Star? He sounds like he should be

doing children's parties, not West End shows,'

Amy said.

'Nonsense, it'll be great,' the Doctor told her.

'I love a good magic trick.' He wiped his chin

with a hankie, looking puzzled. 'In fact, I seem

to have made jam magically appear on my

face.'

Rory and Amy looked at each other and

laughed. Still with a puzzled frown on his face,

the Doctor took another doughnut out of the

bag and started to eat it. Rory and Amy laughed

even more.

They crossed the river and wandered through

the streets. Rory and Amy both spotted several

more 'MISSING' notices. Neither of them

pointed out the posters to the Doctor.

They came to Trafalgar Square, and stopped

to look at Nelson's Column. The Doctor patted

the head of one of the huge bronze lions

guarding the base. He pointed out the statues

that stood on plinths at three corners of the

square. The fourth corner also had a plinth, but

it was empty. 'They didn't have enough money

for the last statue,' he told Amy and Rory.

'I'd heard they were showing works of art on

it instead,' said Amy. 'Something new every

year or two.'

The Doctor nodded. 'That's right. I think

they're now looking for something that can stay

on it for good.' He bit into his third doughnut.

'Right. Let's see about getting tickets for the

Sammy Star show!'