The Idiot's Lantern, Part One
"Clara, hurry up!" Clara thought she heard something like a motor revving, but she wasn't sure. Shrugging it off, she finished pulling her brown locks into a tight ponytail. Slipping a white headband in place, she buttoned her white cardigan. She smoothed her pink poodle dress, bounced a little in her heels, and smiled at herself in the wardrobe mirror. She definitely looked like something out of the fifties.
"I'm coming!" She called. "So, why are we in the fifties, again?" She wasn't sure where the Doctor was, but he could hear her. She heard him scoff jokingly.
"You are kidding, aren't you?" He asked, his voice echoing down the hall. Clara made her way to the console room, heels clicking as she walked. "You want to see Elvis, you go for the late fifties. The time before burgers. When they called him the Pelvis and he still had a waist. What's more, you see him in style." The Doctor wasn't in the console room, so she let herself outside. She closed the door behind her, only for it to open back up with a flourish as the Doctor rode a scooter out.
Clara giggled a little at his hair, all down up in a quiff. He smiled at her. Maybe he winked, but she couldn't tell through the shades he wore. "You going my way, doll?" He asked in a, Elvis like voice. Clara laughed out loud. She pulled a pair of oval shaped, pink tinted sunglasses and slipped them on.
"Is there any other way to go, daddy-o? Straight from the fridge, man." She climbed carefully on the scooter, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.
"Hey, you speak the lingo," the Doctor noticed. Clara shook her head.
"My mum used to love fifties movies," she admitted. "I used to watch them while I played with my dolls." The Doctor nodded, careful not to carry on a conversation about Ellie. He zoomed off down the street, Clara's skirt flapping as they drove.
Clara rested her chin on his shoulder, watching as the scenery passed them by. After a moment, she spoke up.
"Where we off to?" She asked, lips grazing his ear slightly. He shivered before replying, tilting his head to the side so that she could hear him.
"Ed Sullivan TV Studios. Elvis did Hound Dog on one of the shows. There were loads of complaints. Bit of luck, we'll just catch it." Clara eyed a red London bus on the other side of the street.
"And that'll be TV studios in, what, New York?" She asked lightly, aware that he hadn't taken them where he meant to.
"That's the one."
Right then, he pulled to the side of the road and saw what she was seeing, Union Flags everywhere, red post boxes, and London buses.
"Oh, yea," she said, patting his shoulders. "Really looks like America."
"Well, this could still be New York. I mean, this looks very New York to me. Sort of Londony New York, mind." He rambled, mirroring her smile as they laughed at his mistake.
"What are all the flags for?" She asked after a second. They looked around, trying to figure that out. The Doctor pointed out a delivery van with the name Magpie written on the side that was delivering television sets.
"Check that out," he said. He slid off the scooter and helped Clara off it. They made their way over to the van.
"There you go, sir, all wired up for the great occasion," Mr. Magpie, Clara assumed, said to the man holding the TV.
"The great occasion? What do you mean?" The Doctor butted in, holding Clara's hand as they walked up to them.
"Where've you been living, out in the Colonies? Coronation, of course." Magpie said snidely.
"What Coronation's that then?" The Doctor asked, scratching his ear. Magpie looked at him like he was mad.
"What do you mean? The Coronation." He repeated unhelpfully. Clara elbowed the Doctor
"It's the Queen's," she supplied. "Queen Elizabeth." The Doctor raised his eyebrows.
"Oh! Is this 1953?" Clara shook her head. He didn't even try to hide his strangeness, did he? Magpie barked out a laugh.
"Last time I looked. Time for a lovely bit of pomp and circumstance, what we do best." Clara looked around, noticing televisions in just about everyone's windows.
"Look at all the TV aerials. Looks like everyone's got one," Clara commented. "That's weird. My nan said tellies were so rare they all had to pile into one house." Magpie shook his head.
"Not around here, love. Magpie's Marvellous Tellies, only five quid a pop." The Doctor began pacing lazily, pulling Clara with him.
"Oh, but this is a brilliant year. Classic! Technicolour, Everest climbed, everything off the ration. The nation throwing off the shadows of war and looking forward to a happier, brighter future." He went on. He was about to say more, but a woman cried out, capturing everyone's attention.
"Someone help me, please! Ted!" The woman yelled, running after two burly men dragged a person wrapped in blanket. They shoved the covered person into the back of a car. Clara's eyes widened. "Leave him alone! He's my husband! Please." The woman sobbed. The Doctor and Clara ran over to them.
"What's going on?" Clara asked. A young boy ran out of the next house over.
"Oi, what are you doing?" He demanded. One of the men looked down at him, a sneer on his face.
"Police business. Now, get out of the way, sir." He shoved the boy out of the way and climbed into the car. Clara walked over to the boy.
"Who did they take?" She asked, looking back at the car as it drove away. "Do you know him?"
The boy shrugged. "Must be Mister Gallagher."
"Oh my..." Clara whispered, stomach twisting. What was going on?
"It's happening all over the place. They're turning into monsters." The boy continued. A man standing outside the boy's house, clearly the boy's father, starting yelling.
"Tommy! Not one word! Get inside now!" Tommy looked scared of his father, which worried Clara immensely.
"Sorry. I'd better do as he says," he explained, running home. Watching them go, the Doctor took Clara's hand and led her back to the scooter. They climbed on swiftly.
"All aboard!" The Doctor hollered. He revved the engine and off they went, chasing the car.
After a few minutes, the Doctor finally admitted that they were gone.
"Lost them. How'd they get away from us?" The Doctor asked, parking the scooter and using a leg to hold it up.
" Surprised they didn't turn back and arrest you for reckless driving," Clara said, ignoring the rhetorical question. She poked his shoulder. "Have you actually passed your test?" The Doctor turned to look at her, raising a single eyebrow.
"Men in black? Vanishing police cars? This is Churchill's England, not Stalin's Russia." He continued. Clara bit her lip, thinking.
"Monsters, Tommy said. Maybe we should go and ask the neighbors." Clara suggested brightly, trying to up the mood a bit. The Doctor smiled at her, eyes bordering on adoring.
"That's what I like about you. The domestic approach." He balanced the bike back up again. Clara nodded, pleased.
"Thank you!" She paused, processing exactly what he said. "Hold on, was that an insult?" Without an answer, the Doctor sped off in the direction they had come from.
A/N: Sorry it took a while, but here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it (leave me a review telling me if you did!)
So, I'm gonna be skipping a few episodes. The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit will be skipped, along with Love and Monsters. I hope that's okay with everyone.
Until next time, lovelies!