The most exciting thing that ever happened to me was meeting him. Before that, painting my nails on the back porch, eating pizza, and staying up late on a school night was exciting. Now, that's nothing. Compared to what I have experienced. I was walking the streets near my bus stop one morning, when I heard the strangest sound. It sounded like grinding. But it was also rather soothing and I wanted to hear more. I walked towards the noise. Then I saw it. A big blue box. Not like the kind of box you get your birthday present in, but like a telephone booth. It had a sign on the front. Something about free for the use of the public. Then I looked up. Written in all caps was POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX. I heard a clatter. I knocked on the door. I heard another clatter. Then the door creaked open. A very beat up, rather good looking man stepped out. I cleared my throat. He jerked his head in my direction. Then he smiled. "Oh, 'ello," he said in a British accent that caught me off guard. "Might I ask, what year is it?" I laughed. "Where have you been living? In your telephone booth? Have you gone a little heavy on the punch? Have you partied too hard? You look like it," I commented, giving him the up and down. He straightened his bow tie and cleared his throat. "I have not partied too hard and I have not gone heavy on the punch and I do not live in this box. But really what year is it?" he said. He sounded almost done with me. "2012. October 27th, 2012," I said, lowering my head. "Ah! I love 2012 and I love October 27th. You want to know why?" he said, lowering to my height level. I nodded slightly. "Because, today is the day before..." he trailed off and looked straight into my eyes. I looked straight back at him. "Your eyes..." he said, cocking his head. "What about 'em?" I asked defiantly. His mouth gaped and he squinted. I stared at him head on. "Why so sad? Why do you anger so easily? How is life?" he asked. I took a step back. Then I turned and ran. I ran as fast as I could. Far far away. All the way back to the orphanage. I ran in the door, slammed it, and stopped for breath. Then I kept running all the way up to my room. I looked out the window. How did he know? How did he know I was sad? I wasn't acting sad. Was I? I heard a knock on my bedroom door. Figuring it was someone coming to check on me, I opened it. The mistress was standing there. Trying to look sad, she said, "Someone is here to adopt you." Once I shut the door, I heard a whoop of glee. I was offended. I was excited. Then my excitement turned to worry. What if... no that wasn't possible. He couldn't know where I was. Not likely. I packed my very few belongings and headed downstairs. I opened the door to the mistress's office and she stood there, trying not to smile. Then she took a step to the left. And behind her stood the man from the box. Grinning ear to ear. I dropped my suitcase in surprise. On my foot. I jumped and hopped on my good foot, holding my bad foot. Then, he walked over and looked at me in concern. I dropped my foot, picked up my suitcase, and became serious again. He wagged his head and smiled. Like I was playing some sort of joke. Which I wasn't. He went over to talk with the mistress and signed a few things, then turned back to me. And smiled yet again. He kept smiling at me like I was a car he was about to purchase. And that bothered me. "'Ello, I am John Smith, and I am going to be your guardian from now on," he said, still smiling, as if he was permanently stuck like that. What kind of name was John Smith? A common one, that was for sure. A suspicious one. "Isn't that cool, Charlotte? Your new guardian is British! How exciting! Well, off you go. Bye you two. Have fun!" she said sarcastically. She was a terrible liar. But I was glad to be leaving the sadness. I walked out of the orphanage and then looked up at John Smith. "Your name isn't really John Smith, is it?" I asked. "No, no it's not. It's the Doctor. But I will be your guardian. For as long as you live. And you are safe. Always. Got that?" he asked pointing a finger at me. I nodded. "Are we going to end up living in that box? Don't you think a growing girl needs a bit more space than that?" I asked, looking him straight in the eye. Then I remembered and turned away. "It's bigger on the inside," he commented. "And you don't have to look away. I'm done looking at your eyes. I'm just going to do one more thing," he said as he pulled out a silver stick thing with a green bulb on the end. I looked over at him just in time for him to press the button on the stick. The bulb lit up and it made a really annoying buzzing sound like and alarm clock except consistent. I widened my eyes. "Please, do me a favor and don't blink. I am just scanning, nothing is going to happen," he said, as if he scanned little girls' eyes all the time. I kept staring at the bulb with wide eyes. He let go of the button and held the side of the stick up to his face so he could see a little measure thing. "WHOAHOHOHO! You...wow...your eyes!" he exclaimed, starting to laugh. "What!? What about my eyes?" I asked, standing on my tiptoes to try to get a look at the bubble measure. The bubble was at the very top. "What does that mean? When the bubble is at the top?" I asked trying to get a good look at his face. He just sat there looking at the bubble. Every once in a while he would mumble something science-y. Then he looked at me and grinned a goofy grin that wrinkled his entire face. "Your eyes are just...wow... amazing...wow...wow..." he said, mumbling on, stopping every once in a while to look at me, as if I held the key. Of course, I did. They were my eyes. "YOUR EYES!" he exclaimed, smacking himself in the forehead. "To the TARDIS!" he said, pointing in the direction of where the box was. Then he started running. I looked after him, confused. Then he circled back, picked up my suitcase and started running again. But he didn't run like I did. I ran with strides. He ran with high knees, still pointing, looking like a doofus. But still going faster than me. We eventually came to his box. He put my suitcase down and pulled a key out of the inner pocket of his jacket. He slid the key into the lock and pushed open the door. I picked up my suitcase and walked in. Outside, it was a small box that looked like it could fit one person comfortably. Inside, it was like a mansion. There was a small staircase leading to what looked like a control panel. There where columns, bent columns, winding up to the ceiling. The whole room looked like it was decorated for some special occasion. It had streamers everywhere and there was a big banner strung between two pillars that said, "WELCOME HOME, CHARLOTTE!" I covered my mouth. I felt tears spring at the back of my eyes. No one had ever done anything like this for me before. He stood in front of the banner and held up his arms. "So, what do you think?" he said, grinning more than ever. I nodded, hand still over my mouth. His expression changed to concern and he walked over to me. He rubbed my shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong? Too much? Do you want me to take it down?" he asked, rubbing my shoulder a bit more firmly. I shook my head. "I...I love it. It's just that nothing like this has ever been done for me before, thank you," I said. I thought it might be a little muffled because my hand was still on my mouth, but he was smiling again, so I let go of my worry. Something I had never done before. I let my hand drop and used it to pick up my suitcase. I walked up the small staircase and put my suitcase in a chair rooted to the ground. I looked around. At the back of the room there were a few hallways leading into other rooms. I was having trouble comprehending how one tiny phone booth could hold all of this. The Doctor spoke up. "Back there, in those hallways, is the library, pool, closet, bathroom, kitchen, oh, and your bedroom. Go ahead, take a look around," he said, pushing me off gently. "I'll go ahead and take your suitcase to your room." I walked down a hallway that seemed to go on forever. I turned and I was in a spa. He forgot to mention that. I exited and turned into the room he just exited. In the room was zebra heaven. Everything but the walls were zebra print. There were zebra models and paintings. It was perfect. Everything was just how I would have decorated it myself. And that was what got me. How did the Doctor know exactly what I would have wanted, and my name to put on the banner? This man kept getting more and more suspicious. I walked back out to the 'control room'. "So... where do you sleep?" I asked as I sidled up to him. He was typing something into a computer looking thing. He looked completely zoned out. "I don't really sleep very often, so on that chair over there," he said, jerking his head in the direction of the chair my suitcase had been sitting in before. He continued typing. "Whatcha typing?" I asked, standing on my toes to get a better look. A bunch of coordinates. "I am typing in our destination..." he said under his breath. "Destination?" I asked. "Yes, destination. We are going to... go on an adventure," he said, grinning at me. Back to normal. This man was mad. Absolutely mad. And I was loving it. He hit the ENTER key and ran off to pull a couple of switches and push a couple buttons. A large, clear tube with bubble things inside was at the center of the circle he was going around to get to all the switches and buttons. Then the bubbles started moving up and down. The grinding noise started again. Then the box shook. I tumbled and fell into the chair. I managed to hit my head on something. "What was that, an earthquake?" I said, rubbing my head. "Why don't you step outside and see?" he said, grinning. As usual. I went down the staircase and opened the creaky blue door. Outside, it was no longer 2012 wooded Georgia. I didn't know where I was, but in front of me was the Statue of Liberty, still in progress. I gasped. "Is this some kind of joke?" I asked him. He stepped out of the TARDIS behind me. Then he took a deep breath through his nose. Then he sighed. "Smell that 1886 air," he said. He closed his eyes and smiled, letting the wind blow through his hair. He seemed to be perfectly happy. Then why did he adopt me? Why did he need me? Why did he want me? No one else did. So why did he?