The Waffle House Challenge

Chapter Two: The GAP

Oliver clapped his hands and looked around excitedly.  "So, what should we do first?"

Percy glanced at the parchment in his hand.  "Read what else the professor wants us to find, I suppose.  Let's see, 'a bag from Tesco' he already discussed, we just need to find this 'Tesco' place.  Number two is a ticket stub from the Muggle underground transportation system – that shouldn't be too hard.  Number three, 'a vegetable from a Muggle eating establishment.'  I guess he wants us to prove we could eat if we were stuck in the Muggle world for some reason."  Percy continued skimming the list, commenting when he found something unusual.  "Hmm…'A postcard from Buckingham Palace'; that should be interesting, I've always wanted to see what it looks like.  But I wonder what a 'postcard' is…"

Oliver was reading over his shoulder.  "'A Muggle self-help book'?  What's that?"

Percy shrugged.  "Probably a book that helps with the cleaning or something.  I'm sure we'll find out eventually.  Meantime, let's find this Tesco place."

"Good idea.  You finish reading the list; I'll go ask that Muggle."  Oliver walked over to a short man reading a paper and waiting to cross the road.

"Excuse me, sir.  Could you please tell me where the Tesco is?"

The man looked Oliver up and down, suspiciously.  "Why?"

"I'm just curious. My friend and I –" he gestured towards Percy, who was still reading the list and commenting to himself – "were just trying to find one.  We need a bag."

The man didn't look convinced, but grudgingly responded, "First, take the tube to Knightsbridge –"

Oliver interrupted him.  "'The tube'?  What's that?"

The man looked confused, and more than a little annoyed.  "It's the tube!  The Underground?"  When the puzzlement remained on Oliver's face he tried, "The subway?"  Still no recognition.  "The subterranean bus system?"

"Oh!  Is that like an 'underground transportation system'?"

The man now looked very annoyed.  "Yes, yes it is.  Now, you take the tube to Knightsbridge –"

"Wait, please.  How does one 'take' this tube?"

The man was getting more annoyed.  "You buy a bloody ticket, of course!"

Oliver nodded.  "I see.  And where does one buy these tickets?"

The man looked darkly at Oliver.  "At the ticket counter or from a vending machine."

"What's a 'vending machine'?"

The man had clearly had enough.  He threw up his hands and walked off, muttering to himself about "bloody hooligans."

Oliver was tempted to call after him and get the rest of the directions, but didn't want to risk getting hit.  Instead he shrugged and walked back to Percy, who had been oblivious to the entire exchange.

"Well, what did you find out?"

"Not much.  We need to find a tube station."

"A what?"

Oliver smiled smugly.  "Just trust me.  C'mon."

They walked down the street, coming to a white sign with a red circle on it.  There was a blue line through the middle, on which the word "UNDERGROUND" was written.

"This must be it," Oliver commented, descending the stairs beneath.  Percy followed uncertainly.

They emerged into a dimly lit but crowded waiting area.  Oliver looked around, trying to find a ticket counter; he still had no idea what a "vending machine" was, and was less than eager to annoy another Muggle with his questions.  He finally spotted a sign that read "TICKETS."  Beneath it, a woman was sitting behind a counter.  Oliver wouldn't have found this extremely unusual, but she was also enclosed in a glass booth.  He turned to Percy.  "I need money."

Percy raised an eyebrow.  "How much?"

Oliver blushed.  He had no idea how much things were worth in the Muggle world, so he took a wild guess.  "I'd say about £5."

It must have been close to what Percy himself was thinking, because he relinquished the money without a comment.  Oliver took the note and made his way to the counter. 

The woman smiled at him.  "Can I help you?"

Oliver tried to remember the name the man had said.  "Does this train go to Knightsbridge?"

"Yes, it does."

"Great.  I'd like two tickets, please."

"That'll be £3, please."

Oliver had to slide the note under the glass partition.  He waited while the woman made change.  She slid him back two tickets and two small round coins.  He picked them up and looked at them, curiously, them thanked the woman and made his way back to Percy.

"Here you are," he said triumphantly, handing Percy the coins and a ticket.

Percy looked impressed.  "Good job.  Now what?"

Oliver looked around.  The Muggles were making their way to a platform on the other side of the room, passing through silver turnstiles as they did so.  "Let's go this way."

Percy followed without comment.  He was glad Oliver was taking initiative on this exam; he had been afraid he would be stuck doing all the work, but Oliver seemed to enjoy proving himself right.

When they reached the turnstiles, Oliver glanced left and watched as a Muggle slid his ticket through a slot on the countertop to the right of his turnstile.  A green light came on, and the Muggle walked through.  Oliver tried to imitate him, but must have done something wrong because a red light came on instead.  He turned to Percy and whispered, "Something's wrong with my ticket."

Percy watched as another Muggle walked through without a problem.  "Try flipping your ticket and swiping it with the black line facing down."

Oliver did so, and was rewarded with a green light.  He flashed a grateful smile to Percy, then walked on.  Percy got through the turnstile without incident, and both walked to the edge of the platform.

They had been standing quietly, taking in the scenery around them, when a mechanical voice intoned, "The train is approaching.  Please mind the gap."

Oliver turned to Percy, clearly excited.  "The GAP!"

Percy looked confused.  "Huh?"

"The GAP!  You remember, Professor Epimetheus said that Muggles love it.  And it's on our list…"

Percy pulled the list out of the purse.  Sure enough, item number 10 read, "'something from the GAP.'"  He wasn't convinced, though.  "I don't know, Oliver; it doesn't seem like the kind of thing you'd find in the train station.  Remember that ad he was waving around?"

Oliver, however, was off and running.  Figuratively.  As soon as he had had his great epiphany, he had begun eagerly searching the station.  Finally, his eyes landed on the platform itself.  "Look!"  He pointed to the platform.  "There's the GAP!"

Sure enough, the words "MIND THE GAP" were carved into the platform's edge, but Percy was still apprehensive.  The Muggles waiting for the train were starting to give them funny looks, and a few had outright laughed at Oliver's enthusiasm.  He began looking around the station as well, and his eyes landed on a large poster on the other side of the train tracks.  It featured a girl, dressed in the same khaki skirt and white blouse outfit that Hannah had been dressed in, but without the scarf.  He tried to show this to Oliver, but the other wizard was busily trying to determine what, exactly, the professor wanted them to obtain from the tube station gap.

"Maybe he wants a rock?  There's a whole pile of them down there…"

"Oliver, wait.  See that poster over there?"

Oliver paused in his ramblings and looked where Percy was pointing.  "Yeah, so?"

Percy rolled his eyes.  "Well, what does it say?"

Oliver squinted.  "Fall into the GAP."

"What?!  No, not that part.  Underneath the picture."

Oliver's gaze traveled down.  "Just two blocks from Knightsbridge station… Wait, do you think it's a clothing store or something?"

Percy shook his head and smiled.  "Yeah, it's probably something like that."

The arrival of the train preventing any further discussion; Percy wasn't sure, but he thought the Muggles looked disappointed.  They probably weren't used to such entertaining tourists, he reflected.

The doors opened and he and Oliver entered, stumbling over the large space between the platform and the train.  One Muggle, departing the train, watched them carefully.

"Mind the gap," he cautioned.

Percy inwardly groaned, but Oliver just grinned.