"As I said before, it's a TARDIS: Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. It's a fancy title for a spaceship-time-machine. I can go anywhere, to any time. And you, my dear, seem like a someone who could use such a contraption," he explained, thinking this was a well-enough description.
"But..." I began timidly, "it says "Police Box" on the top." I looked from him to the Police- excuse me, TARDIS, pathetically laying on its side.
He looked behind him at the TARDIS as well, "Well, yes, it is a police box from the year 1963, but it is like that because of the chameleon circuit, which hasn't worked in 48 years, if you add those years in a continuous line, not all zig-zaggily as I usually live..." He looked down at his hands and then back up at me.
"So..." I began, "you're... a time-traveler?"
He smiled, pointing at me, "Now you're getting it," he walked quickly up next to me and put his arm around me, walking me toward the TARDIS, "I know what you're thinking, "Doctor, this is impossible!" and I am here to tell you that, yes, it is, in your time period, but," he let go of my shoulder and faced me, now one hand on each shoulder, as if to tell me something extremely important, "in a few thousand years, the human race will invent time travel, thanks to a certain Time Lord giving a certain failing scientist the means to," he let go of my shoulders, putting his hands on his hips, continuing talking, "sure, I didn't exactly mean to give it to him, but it's not like the contraption he invented could go very far in time. And it can't even go into space!" He raised his hands above his head to get his point across.
I studied the man, trying to decide if I should trust this guy. Yes, everything he was saying was completely mad, but something about him was likable. It might've been the hair or the bowtie, the crazy outfit or his beautiful eyes, probably his smile and his voice, the light he had in him when he explained things, but I believed every word he said.
"So, Doctor, how did you come across this... TARDIS?" I asked him, smiling. His face grew brighter, knowing he had won me over. "Well, I kinda... borrowed it, from my home planet-"
"Woah, wait," I said, stopping him, "home planet?"
"Oh, yes, had I not mentioned that earlier?" he said, spinning around to the TARDIS. "I'm a Time Lord, from the planet of Gallifrey, at your service!" He saluted me as he stood behind the top of the TARDIS. "You mind helping?" he asked, pointing to it.
In a shocked trance, I hurried to him, trying as we might to put the TARDIS upright, it was far too heavy for our combined strength.
"Shouldn't aliens have some sort of advantage over humans? Like super strength or telepathy or something?" I asked him, giving up on trying to put the TARDIS right. He looked at me, "I would ask the same to you, as you are the alien to me."
He gave up as well, walking around it. "Wait, if you're an alien, why do you look human?" I pestered.
"If you're human, why do you look Time Lord?" he asked me in response. I stood still, thinking about this remark. It made sense.
"Well, there is only one way to fix it," he said, after waving his light up pen around a bit, "I will just have to go in and re-park it. Wait here."
He opened the door and crawled in. "Wait, Doctor!" I yelled to him. "Yes?" his voice echoed, which was a bit strange.
"You'll come back, right?" I asked him in a worried tone. I couldn't just be given this information for him to just disappear. "Of course I'll come back, I always come back." He crawled back to me to look at me, his smiling face and bright eyes seemed to be reading my thoughts.
"That's what my dad said too. He never came back," I said to him, a serious look on my face. His smile was lost immediately, looking from one eye to the other. "Here," he handed me his light up pen, "Julia Johnston, you are in charge of the sonic screwdriver, one of my most prized possessions. You hold on to that, I have a time machine, I will be back."
I took the sonic screwdriver and looked down at it. It looked nothing like a screwdriver.
He gave me one last smile, then pulled the door closed. I didn't know if I would see that face again, I didn't know why I was waiting for him, or where he could possibly go. The longer I stood there, the more I started doubting the Doctor. But of what he promised me, a trip in a time machine? I knew what I wanted, my reason for believing.
I looked up in time to see the sideways police box disappear, much like the Cheshire cat in Wonderland. If I hadn't heard it or seen it for myself, I wouldn't have believed it.
And there I stood, in the dirt ditch across the street from the movie theatre in Morbidton, U.S.A, in a pitch-black October night, alone, waiting for the Doctor to return.
