Chapter Three: A Wardrobe, a Planet, and Food that Tastes like Flowers
Amy sat on the bed with me for a painfully long time. I remembered that I was still in my bra and underwear, and quickly wrapped the top blanket around my upper body. This gave me a chance to first look around the room. It was painted a lovely shade of light pink, with a pink lamp off to the corner, standing next to a pink bureau. In fact, everything was light pink. There were some things that didn't quite seem like human items either.
All I could think about was how much I hated pink. Amy was still sitting at the foot of the bed, putting as much distance between her and I as she possibly could. I guess she was worried that I would freak out if someone, even a woman, got too close to me. She was probably right, too.
"What do you mean 'everywhere'," I demanded to know.
She swallowed again and her pretty green eyes smiled. But her mouth didn't. "I guess that it was not really explained to you. The TARDIS stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space," she said.
"I know that," I snapped, cutting her off. The emotions surging through me were too much to handle.
She continued anyway, being the strong-willed type that I figured her to be. "That means that the TARDIS can pretty much go anywhere. Anywhere in time. Anywhere in space. Anywhere that you could possibly wish to go."
At that moment, I heard Rory walking down the hall with footsteps much louder than his wife's. He was calling for her. Right when the footsteps were outside the door, I wrapped the blanket around my entire body and buried my face in the warmth.
Nothing moved. I willed for them to leave through the power of my mind, which obviously did absolutely nothing. Finally, after what seemed like a million years, Amy stood up from the bed, and I heard four feet gradually become softer until I couldn't hear them at all.
Anywhere in time and space?
Impossible.
I didn't want to get up, but I knew that I had to figure out what was going on. Wrapping the top blanket tightly around myself and tucking in the tail, I felt like I was wearing a gown for the second time today. I shuffled out the door and somehow stumbled my way back to the room with the giant control stand.
The Doctor was working on something there. He looked up from a lever and smiled at me. "Evelyn!" he said cheerfully as though we were long lost friends. "The wardrobe is up there, to the left, take the second right, third on the left, straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, and then it's the fifth door on your left. Get dressed in whatever suits you. Then we're going to have a little chat." With that, he returned to his work with the lever. Right as I was exiting, I heard a sharp "ding" and the Doctor let out a proud, "Aha! I'm brilliant!"
I followed his directions and entered a room as big as my downstairs, entirely packed with clothing. Unable to comprehend what I was seeing, my hands flew to my eyes and rubbed them. Yep, everything was still there.
On my left was a long row of men's clothing. On my right was an equally long row of clothes for women. A lot of the garments were dresses, which did not really please me. I had had enough of gown-like-things for a lifetime.
More than half of the items were exactly were for someone my age, but unfortunately for someone bigger. I shed the blanket and stared at the ribcage that looked about ready to burst through my skin.
We never had enough food at home for me to have substantial meals, but I actually used this to my advantage. I had Anorexia Nervosa, and I could never bring myself to eat, anyway.
Eventually, I selected a dress (Yes, a dress) with a pretty scarf that wrapped around my waist and made me appear even thinner than I already was. Realizing I was still barefoot, I slipped on a pair of flip-flops.
Without warning, I felt a jolt and went crashing to the floor. The TARDIS made the same adventurous whirring noise that I heard when it had landed in my bedroom. As soon as the shaking was over, I pulled myself back up.
I tore down the hallways and rushed down the stairs. "Where are we going?" The Doctor looked up from his "work" and smiled.
"Well, I figured that if we were going to go somewhere to talk about this, we might as well go somewhere pleasant! Ah, perfect clothes for this particular place, too. Amy! Rory!"
Rory was wearing street clothes and looked rather uncomfortable with me in the room. Amy was wearing shorts so short that I would never be caught dead wearing them, a hot pink top, and ridiculously large sunglasses. She sat on the bannister by the stairs and swung her legs over them. My fingers curled slightly. Show off.
"So, Doctor, where are we going?" she flirtatiously asked.
"Gahr," he replied with his eyes shining. "Lovely planet, lovely people, lovely weather, lovely everything. Now!"
My bowtie man swung open the door and spread his arms wide, as though he desired the hung the entire planet. Amy and Rory stepped outside, impressed but unfazed.
I, on the other hand, stood in the doorway with my gob hanging open like a dog. The sky was an elegant shade of light orange and seemed to stretch on forever. I stumbled out of the TARDIS and realized that my feet were stepping on a foam-like substance of every color I could imagine. The colors swirled together even more amazingly than the most beautiful sunset one could ever see. Instead of trees, there were boulders of a dazzling white rock. The people actually looked a little bit like humans, except they looked a bit round, and they were missing knees and…a second eye. In fact, the longer I looked, the more inhuman they seemed. The one eye they possessed was always a dazzling color, ranging from bright purple to scarlet reds. And where was their hair?
Other than these extraordinary differences, everything else was very much Earth-like. There was a building right by us that looked like a restaurant, a lake far off in the distance, and tiny birds that sang. Just like on Earth.
My thoughts were interrupted. "You two have fun!" the Doctor waved off to Rory and Amy, who were heading off to what looked like some sort of party.
I noticed something and smiled. "Nice try!" I said knowingly. Those people over there are talking in English!
He laughed. "No, they're not. You just think they are. I'll…explain it to you later." The Doctor sauntered over to a machine and pushed some buttons. It looked like an ATM.
"You must have a lot of money to be able to have all those clothes and go to all of these places."
"Haven't got a penny."
He took out from his pocket that thing I had helped him fix on the school stage. When was that? A million years ago? The Doctor began buzzing it by the machine. It made a noise, and he pushed some more buttons.
"Is that an ATM?" I asked, not believing that he doesn't have any money.
"Nope, we're just checking in."
"To where?"
"The restaurant. I think you'll like the food."
"Where are we?"
"I told you, Gahr."
"Is Gahr on Earth?"
"Does this look like Earth to you?" he replied with a hint of humor.
"The people look a little bit like humans. If this is another planet, I would expect people to look completely inhuman. Maybe they would have tentacles or…" I trailed off and examined a couple walking by with tentacles.
"Those two aren't natives. This place gets a lot of tourists." I couldn't blame them. This place was beautiful.
Disbelieving everything that I was seeing, I allowed myself to be whisked inside the building.
I guess Gahr really was a tourist attraction. More than half of the people there looked completely different than the natives. The restaurant looked sort of like a casual diner.
Sudden fear struck me. "If you don't have any money, how are you planning on paying for all of this? In fact, what kind of currency do they use?"
"You'll find out later," he replied as though that answered my question.
We sat down at a booth with plush green seats. "First question: Is the food here edible? I mean, can they eat the same stuff as us?"
"Stop worrying so much," he scolded. "If I thought everything through as much as you did, I wouldn't ever get anything done. If you must know, I ordered for us both at check-in."
Whatever he had ordered for me, I hoped with all my might that it was small and low calorie.
The fear of what I was going to eat brought upon anger also. "I'm going to ask you questions, and you are going to answer each and every one of them, got it?" The Doctor shrugged like he was just tired of fighting me. We went about the questions talking as fast as we could. My speed was fueled by anger and fear, and his was fueled by the simple fact that he was enjoying that.
"Are you human, and if not what are you?"
"I'm a Timelord from Gallifrey. Gallifrey is gone, lost in a war, and I am the last of my kind."
"Why are these people so like humans?"
"Lucky chance of evolution." He propped his elbows up on the table and plopped his head in his hands. I stared at him with razor eyes.
"Can the TARDIS really go anywhere in time and space?"
"Anywhere in this dimension and inside the universe."
"Why are we connected?"
"I don't know."
"Are you enjoying this?"
"Very much, yes."
My hands balled up into fists and the bones in my arms shot out, pressing up tightly against the skin. Was it getting warmer in here, or was I just getting angry?
Without warning, a large circle appeared in front of both of us. Completely confused, I hovered above mine and screamed when suddenly a drink and food were in its place.
The Doctor laughed. "So, I can take you to a foreign planet, tell you that we are traveling in a machine that can go anywhere through time and space, have the ability to make me disappear, and meet someone who you have only seen in your sleep…But the appearance of food scares you." He laughed like a child.
Yes, my dear, dear Bowtie Man. It did scare me. It suddenly appeared in front of me, and now I am more terrified than I have been yet today because I actually have to eat it.
"It's good stuff!" Try the drink. Cautiously and full of melancholy, I took a sip. "It tastes like…roses!" Wait, how did I know what roses taste like? I voiced my question and he shrugged.
"You just know. And yes, I bought you a drink that is modeled off of Earth food. The other stuff you've got there is also modeled off of flowers."
I laughed inwardly. Right now, I wasn't sure if I could eat handle a slice of bread without vomiting.
My plate held something that looked like beans, only they were a bright blue. Sort of like the blue that children always used to draw the sky in coloring books. Bluer than blue. I nibbled on one. "Violets!" I exclaimed.
"Don't be ridiculous. Violets are violet," he mumbled. I scowled.
I tried two more. How many calories are in a flower? Or whatever type of crazy thing this is…
A sudden wave of guilt swept over me. I didn't even know if this stuff was unhealthy or not. I could have already consumed five hundred calories just from five…beans…and a sip of the drink. This wasn't even human food! What if it made me sick? What if I got fatter?
"Is this stuff healthy or not?" I asked the Doctor. He looked like he wasn't sure whether it was inappropriate time to laugh or scowl.
"I've brought you to a foreign planet with foreign people, foreign places, a foreign sky and foreign ground, food that tastes like flowers…And you're wondering how many calories this contains?"
I swallowed, not sure if it was a rhetorical question or if he wanted me to confirm it.
My bowtie man studied my face as though he could see right through me. Uncomfortable, I tasted what appeared to be a squishy yellow brick. Tulips.
"You're even more broken than I thought."