Chapter Four
Author's Note: Many thanks to those of you who gave me great ideas about where Evie and Rick could go next! All of them were great, which was a bit of a problem, as I could only use one. I ended up using the first idea I got sent, because I'd already started working it in. (thanks nefertirioc!)
Thanks also to my faithful reviewers. . . all you other lazy people have them to thank for this chapter being up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Excuse me, miss,' Evelyn heard a voice say. She turned and saw a young waiter standing in the doorway of the café, a nervous but determined look on his face. He cleared his throat.
'The management of this establishment sends its compliments, but regretfully also states that you must leave the premises immediately.'
Rick, incredulous, burst out with 'But we're not ON the premises!'
The waiter shifted uncomfortably.
'Nevertheless, people huddling outside the café whose attire is . . . ah . . . somewhat bedraggled is bad for business.'
Rick snorted. 'Yeah, I'm sure a little sand and seawater will scare away all your customers. Hey, it would send ME packing.'
Evie laid a hand on Rick's arm. 'Rick, darling, it's not his fault.' she told him quietly. To the waiter, 'We'll go now. Please relay our apologies to your boss.'
Looking relieved, the waiter gave a curt nod and ducked back inside into the warmth and comfort of his workplace, leaving Rick and Evelyn standing outside at a loss for what to do next.
'I guess we'd better go.' Rick said dully. He stooped and collected the newspaper Evie had discarded earlier, and returned it to her. She shook it out before holding it above her head. Then they hurried down the street together, scanning their surroundings for a sympathetic observer with a few spare umbrellas. Unfortunately, there was no one to be seen at all, let alone anyone in a position to give the two luckless couple some assistance.
After wandering for quite some time, Evie and Rick chanced upon a small park across the street.
'Oh, look!' Evelyn said excitedly.
Rick did not share her enthusiasm.
'Sorry, hon, I didn't bring my pocket knife with me this time.' he said tiredly.
'I'm not suggesting we deface the trees, silly! We can stand beneath them!'
'Yeah! And get struck by lightening!'
'Oh, come one, Rick. If we stay out in this much longer we'll catch pneumonia and die anyway.' Evie said carelessly, not sounding as if she would find such a fate at all bad. She tugged at Rick's sleeve. Reluctantly, followed her across the road and into the park.
It was a very attractive place, and well maintained. The park was entirely surrounded by large oak trees that almost completely obscured its interior. All that could be seen from the street was these trees, and thin slices of promising colour between them.
The entrance was marked by a quaint little sign, and a pathway. It was along this pathway that Evie dragged Rick. They had to walk around a corner and through a large archway covered with masses of some sort of pretty vine.
Once inside, neither of the two were at all surprised to see that the park was completely deserted. However, they were surprised to see a large red telephone box standing in front of a cluster of elm trees to their right. It looked quite out place beside the abundance of dainty flowers and shrubbery. It was one of the only artificial contraptions in the park. Others included a raised platform right in the centre, surrounded by rose bushes, obviously used for speeches, band performances and the like.
'We can shelter in that!' Evie said, raising her voice slightly over the downpour, and pointing to the telephone box.
Rick nodded quickly and squeezed her hand. They ran blindly to the phone booth, almost delirious with joy. Upon reaching it at last, Evelyn fumbled with the latch.
'It's stuck!' she exclaimed, dismayed.
A moment later, after a good shove from both Rick and Evie, the door jolted open stiffly and they tumbled inside, sighing of relief from getting out of the rain at last.
The telephone booth was a bit too small to be comfortable, but the absence of stinging pellets of rain was a welcome change. It was also considerably warmer.
The phone box was empty, save for, of course, the telephone, as well as a small stool to sit upon whilst making calls. It was at this stool that Evelyn and Rick now stared. It would have been a tight squeeze for one person, let alone two, and they were both exhausted.
'Want the stool?' Rick asked, deciding he could stand a while longer. Evie, however, looked as though she was going to fall to the ground at any moment.
'You can have it, if you want it. I certainly don't.' she said airily, sounding as if she meant it. If she hadn't staggered as she'd said it, it might have been more believable.
'You're lying.' Rick said.
'I beg your pardon?' Evie huffed, getting angry.
'I said you're lying.' Rick repeated, insolently to Evie's mind.
'I know what you said!' she flared back.
They stood in uncomfortable silence for a while, glumly watching the rain hit the glass windows of the telephone booth and almost wishing they were back in it, instead of arguing about something as trivial as a tiny three- legged stool. Rick shifted where he stood, his legs feeling like lead. He knew he needed to sit down, but taking the stool in this crucial stage of their argument didn't seem advisable. He came up with an alternative.
'Why don't we both sit on the ground?'
Evelyn looked down at the dirty cement floor of the telephone booth, which was covered in mud, rubbish, and, thanks to Rick and herself, sand.
'All right.' she agreed, sliding to the floor and leaning her back against the wall of the booth. Like Rick, Evie had begun to feel the consequences of traipsing through the town all day long, and saw sore all over. She drew her knees under her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs.
Rick was quick to follow, taking a seat opposite Evelyn.
'So. What do we do now, Mr O'Connell?'
'Beats me.'
They smiled tiny smiles at each other. Then Rick saw Evelyn stifle a yawn.
'Hey. You all right?' he asked.
'I'm tired, that's all. It's been quite a day.'
Rick smiled. 'Yep. And YOU should be particularly exhausted- you were clumsier than usual.'
'I thought we had already established that I take that sort of coarse comment as an insult, Rick.' Evelyn said, trying to be angry but not quite succeeding.
'And I thought we'd decided to stop arguing.'
'Well, your memory is certainly exceeding its normal capacity today, isn't it?'
'Hey!'
Before she could reply, another yawn tried to force Evelyn's mouth open. This time, she hadn't the will nor the strength to stop it.
'You're completely buggered, aren't you?' Rick asked, again noticing.
'That's one way of putting it.'
Rick shuffled across the floor of the telephone booth and squeezed next to Evie, putting an arm around her slender shoulders. She instantly responded by nestling against him, resting her head on his arm. They both felt warmer instantly from the proximity of their bodies.
'Just try to relax.' Evelyn heard Rick whisper, before all her senses fogged over and she slipped into a deep sleep.
Rick, observing this speedy transition, couldn't help thinking that Evie must be genuinely tired. This had been further illustrated by the fact that she hadn't even reprimanded him for swearing.
For a while, Rick was content to sit awake, with Evelyn sleeping soundly against him, a pleasant weight on his shoulder. He just stared out of the opposite panel of glass at the picturesque park, or what he could see of it- the glass had become translucent from the raindrops that slid down it incessantly. Then Rick's eyes slid closed of their own accord, and no force exerted on his part would persuade them to open again. So he gave in to the urge to sleep, and dream.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three and a half hours later, Rick woke with a jolt. This disturbed Evelyn, who was still nestled into his side.
'What ever is the matter, Rick?' she asked sleepily, stretching, as he dug frantically around in his pockets.
Rick didn't answer except to swear violently. Evie was wide awake in a trice.
'Don't you dare use that language at me, Rick O'Connell!' she said stormily.
'But Evie, we've been asleep for almost four hours! Our train leaves in ten minutes!'
Evie yelped and struggled to get up, treading on her clothes and Rick's hand in the process.
'OW! That hurt!'
Evie looked over her shoulder at Rick, who was clutching his hand and moaning.
'How can you roll around in the dirt at a time like this, Rick? Honestly!'
'But Evelyn-' Rick whined.
'Do stop complaining and get up. You look a fool.'
Grumbling fiercely, Rick clumsily got to his feet, and promptly fell over the stool.
'OW!' he yelled, as his legs seemed to disappear in searing pain. 'Jesus, why the hell did they put that stool there, anyway? Anyone can see it's an accident waiting to happen!'
This time, however, Evie didn't answer. She was standing completely still in front of the door, with her back to Rick. Every part of her tense stance suggested that she was in shock.
'What is it?' Rick asked, panicking. Ignoring his injuries, he scrambled to his feet, scouring the park for mummified priests or grave robbers.
'Rick,' Evelyn said quietly, still not moving. 'The door won't open.'
Rick immediately relaxed, shaky relief washing over him. 'You scared the hell outa me just 'cos the door's stuck?'
He steered Evie to one side and grabbed the handle of the door, bracing himself. Then he pulled as hard as he could.
And the handle came off in his hand.
Evelyn came to herself once more at this.
'Rick, the door PUSHES open! You pulled it!' she cried. 'We'll never be able to open it without a handle!'
Only slightly unnerved -but VERY put out, as he clearly wasn't in shape at all- Rick prepared himself for another go. He'd had quite a bit of practice in breaking down doors, but usually they were of the cheap, flimsy variety. This one was quite different. It was solid wood, with many small panels of glass set in it. Nevertheless, he was quite confident he could do it.
Rick set his shoulder against the door, measuring up. The he leaned away from it and smashed his side into it with as much force as he could muster.
The door didn't budge.
'What's this damned thing made out of, anyway?' Rick asked, thoroughly unnerved now but not caring to show it to Evie. He couldn't understand why the door wouldn't break! It was beginning to make him downright angry, though with what he couldn't say.
'We could break the glass,' she suggested.
'Not easily. And we'd cut ourselves to bits. Bloody hell! This is bad, Evie.' Rick said, pulling his watch out of his pocket. 'We're going to miss the train!'
Evie frowned concernedly. 'There isn't another until this time tomorrow. Jonathan will get terribly anxious!'
'I'm not worried about Jonathan, I'm worried about us! What are we gonna do? We can't spend all night in a 'phone box!' Rick said angrily, punching the side of the loathed facility.
'It's looking as though we might have to, Rick. At least until the rain stops and people return to the park.' Evelyn said slowly, trying to smile. 'It won't be that bad.'
Rick grinned wryly at her, and glanced all around at their surroundings, as if to contradict her last remark. Then he saw something that he would have found hilariously funny in other circumstances.
Such as, if Jonathan were stuck in here instead of him and Evie.
'Well, at least we won't die of thirst,' he said, gesturing upwards.
Evie directed her gaze towards the ceiling and saw a drop of water fall from a slight crack, followed by another almost immediately. She looked down to the floor and saw that a large puddle was forming.
This, no doubt, was what Rick had been referring to.
'Oh dear.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please review!
Author's Note: Many thanks to those of you who gave me great ideas about where Evie and Rick could go next! All of them were great, which was a bit of a problem, as I could only use one. I ended up using the first idea I got sent, because I'd already started working it in. (thanks nefertirioc!)
Thanks also to my faithful reviewers. . . all you other lazy people have them to thank for this chapter being up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Excuse me, miss,' Evelyn heard a voice say. She turned and saw a young waiter standing in the doorway of the café, a nervous but determined look on his face. He cleared his throat.
'The management of this establishment sends its compliments, but regretfully also states that you must leave the premises immediately.'
Rick, incredulous, burst out with 'But we're not ON the premises!'
The waiter shifted uncomfortably.
'Nevertheless, people huddling outside the café whose attire is . . . ah . . . somewhat bedraggled is bad for business.'
Rick snorted. 'Yeah, I'm sure a little sand and seawater will scare away all your customers. Hey, it would send ME packing.'
Evie laid a hand on Rick's arm. 'Rick, darling, it's not his fault.' she told him quietly. To the waiter, 'We'll go now. Please relay our apologies to your boss.'
Looking relieved, the waiter gave a curt nod and ducked back inside into the warmth and comfort of his workplace, leaving Rick and Evelyn standing outside at a loss for what to do next.
'I guess we'd better go.' Rick said dully. He stooped and collected the newspaper Evie had discarded earlier, and returned it to her. She shook it out before holding it above her head. Then they hurried down the street together, scanning their surroundings for a sympathetic observer with a few spare umbrellas. Unfortunately, there was no one to be seen at all, let alone anyone in a position to give the two luckless couple some assistance.
After wandering for quite some time, Evie and Rick chanced upon a small park across the street.
'Oh, look!' Evelyn said excitedly.
Rick did not share her enthusiasm.
'Sorry, hon, I didn't bring my pocket knife with me this time.' he said tiredly.
'I'm not suggesting we deface the trees, silly! We can stand beneath them!'
'Yeah! And get struck by lightening!'
'Oh, come one, Rick. If we stay out in this much longer we'll catch pneumonia and die anyway.' Evie said carelessly, not sounding as if she would find such a fate at all bad. She tugged at Rick's sleeve. Reluctantly, followed her across the road and into the park.
It was a very attractive place, and well maintained. The park was entirely surrounded by large oak trees that almost completely obscured its interior. All that could be seen from the street was these trees, and thin slices of promising colour between them.
The entrance was marked by a quaint little sign, and a pathway. It was along this pathway that Evie dragged Rick. They had to walk around a corner and through a large archway covered with masses of some sort of pretty vine.
Once inside, neither of the two were at all surprised to see that the park was completely deserted. However, they were surprised to see a large red telephone box standing in front of a cluster of elm trees to their right. It looked quite out place beside the abundance of dainty flowers and shrubbery. It was one of the only artificial contraptions in the park. Others included a raised platform right in the centre, surrounded by rose bushes, obviously used for speeches, band performances and the like.
'We can shelter in that!' Evie said, raising her voice slightly over the downpour, and pointing to the telephone box.
Rick nodded quickly and squeezed her hand. They ran blindly to the phone booth, almost delirious with joy. Upon reaching it at last, Evelyn fumbled with the latch.
'It's stuck!' she exclaimed, dismayed.
A moment later, after a good shove from both Rick and Evie, the door jolted open stiffly and they tumbled inside, sighing of relief from getting out of the rain at last.
The telephone booth was a bit too small to be comfortable, but the absence of stinging pellets of rain was a welcome change. It was also considerably warmer.
The phone box was empty, save for, of course, the telephone, as well as a small stool to sit upon whilst making calls. It was at this stool that Evelyn and Rick now stared. It would have been a tight squeeze for one person, let alone two, and they were both exhausted.
'Want the stool?' Rick asked, deciding he could stand a while longer. Evie, however, looked as though she was going to fall to the ground at any moment.
'You can have it, if you want it. I certainly don't.' she said airily, sounding as if she meant it. If she hadn't staggered as she'd said it, it might have been more believable.
'You're lying.' Rick said.
'I beg your pardon?' Evie huffed, getting angry.
'I said you're lying.' Rick repeated, insolently to Evie's mind.
'I know what you said!' she flared back.
They stood in uncomfortable silence for a while, glumly watching the rain hit the glass windows of the telephone booth and almost wishing they were back in it, instead of arguing about something as trivial as a tiny three- legged stool. Rick shifted where he stood, his legs feeling like lead. He knew he needed to sit down, but taking the stool in this crucial stage of their argument didn't seem advisable. He came up with an alternative.
'Why don't we both sit on the ground?'
Evelyn looked down at the dirty cement floor of the telephone booth, which was covered in mud, rubbish, and, thanks to Rick and herself, sand.
'All right.' she agreed, sliding to the floor and leaning her back against the wall of the booth. Like Rick, Evie had begun to feel the consequences of traipsing through the town all day long, and saw sore all over. She drew her knees under her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs.
Rick was quick to follow, taking a seat opposite Evelyn.
'So. What do we do now, Mr O'Connell?'
'Beats me.'
They smiled tiny smiles at each other. Then Rick saw Evelyn stifle a yawn.
'Hey. You all right?' he asked.
'I'm tired, that's all. It's been quite a day.'
Rick smiled. 'Yep. And YOU should be particularly exhausted- you were clumsier than usual.'
'I thought we had already established that I take that sort of coarse comment as an insult, Rick.' Evelyn said, trying to be angry but not quite succeeding.
'And I thought we'd decided to stop arguing.'
'Well, your memory is certainly exceeding its normal capacity today, isn't it?'
'Hey!'
Before she could reply, another yawn tried to force Evelyn's mouth open. This time, she hadn't the will nor the strength to stop it.
'You're completely buggered, aren't you?' Rick asked, again noticing.
'That's one way of putting it.'
Rick shuffled across the floor of the telephone booth and squeezed next to Evie, putting an arm around her slender shoulders. She instantly responded by nestling against him, resting her head on his arm. They both felt warmer instantly from the proximity of their bodies.
'Just try to relax.' Evelyn heard Rick whisper, before all her senses fogged over and she slipped into a deep sleep.
Rick, observing this speedy transition, couldn't help thinking that Evie must be genuinely tired. This had been further illustrated by the fact that she hadn't even reprimanded him for swearing.
For a while, Rick was content to sit awake, with Evelyn sleeping soundly against him, a pleasant weight on his shoulder. He just stared out of the opposite panel of glass at the picturesque park, or what he could see of it- the glass had become translucent from the raindrops that slid down it incessantly. Then Rick's eyes slid closed of their own accord, and no force exerted on his part would persuade them to open again. So he gave in to the urge to sleep, and dream.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three and a half hours later, Rick woke with a jolt. This disturbed Evelyn, who was still nestled into his side.
'What ever is the matter, Rick?' she asked sleepily, stretching, as he dug frantically around in his pockets.
Rick didn't answer except to swear violently. Evie was wide awake in a trice.
'Don't you dare use that language at me, Rick O'Connell!' she said stormily.
'But Evie, we've been asleep for almost four hours! Our train leaves in ten minutes!'
Evie yelped and struggled to get up, treading on her clothes and Rick's hand in the process.
'OW! That hurt!'
Evie looked over her shoulder at Rick, who was clutching his hand and moaning.
'How can you roll around in the dirt at a time like this, Rick? Honestly!'
'But Evelyn-' Rick whined.
'Do stop complaining and get up. You look a fool.'
Grumbling fiercely, Rick clumsily got to his feet, and promptly fell over the stool.
'OW!' he yelled, as his legs seemed to disappear in searing pain. 'Jesus, why the hell did they put that stool there, anyway? Anyone can see it's an accident waiting to happen!'
This time, however, Evie didn't answer. She was standing completely still in front of the door, with her back to Rick. Every part of her tense stance suggested that she was in shock.
'What is it?' Rick asked, panicking. Ignoring his injuries, he scrambled to his feet, scouring the park for mummified priests or grave robbers.
'Rick,' Evelyn said quietly, still not moving. 'The door won't open.'
Rick immediately relaxed, shaky relief washing over him. 'You scared the hell outa me just 'cos the door's stuck?'
He steered Evie to one side and grabbed the handle of the door, bracing himself. Then he pulled as hard as he could.
And the handle came off in his hand.
Evelyn came to herself once more at this.
'Rick, the door PUSHES open! You pulled it!' she cried. 'We'll never be able to open it without a handle!'
Only slightly unnerved -but VERY put out, as he clearly wasn't in shape at all- Rick prepared himself for another go. He'd had quite a bit of practice in breaking down doors, but usually they were of the cheap, flimsy variety. This one was quite different. It was solid wood, with many small panels of glass set in it. Nevertheless, he was quite confident he could do it.
Rick set his shoulder against the door, measuring up. The he leaned away from it and smashed his side into it with as much force as he could muster.
The door didn't budge.
'What's this damned thing made out of, anyway?' Rick asked, thoroughly unnerved now but not caring to show it to Evie. He couldn't understand why the door wouldn't break! It was beginning to make him downright angry, though with what he couldn't say.
'We could break the glass,' she suggested.
'Not easily. And we'd cut ourselves to bits. Bloody hell! This is bad, Evie.' Rick said, pulling his watch out of his pocket. 'We're going to miss the train!'
Evie frowned concernedly. 'There isn't another until this time tomorrow. Jonathan will get terribly anxious!'
'I'm not worried about Jonathan, I'm worried about us! What are we gonna do? We can't spend all night in a 'phone box!' Rick said angrily, punching the side of the loathed facility.
'It's looking as though we might have to, Rick. At least until the rain stops and people return to the park.' Evelyn said slowly, trying to smile. 'It won't be that bad.'
Rick grinned wryly at her, and glanced all around at their surroundings, as if to contradict her last remark. Then he saw something that he would have found hilariously funny in other circumstances.
Such as, if Jonathan were stuck in here instead of him and Evie.
'Well, at least we won't die of thirst,' he said, gesturing upwards.
Evie directed her gaze towards the ceiling and saw a drop of water fall from a slight crack, followed by another almost immediately. She looked down to the floor and saw that a large puddle was forming.
This, no doubt, was what Rick had been referring to.
'Oh dear.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please review!