Chapter Seven: The Next Entry
John Smith sat casually in the booth near the windows of Granny's Diner, drinking his morning cup of tea and reading an interesting book by Verity Newman titled "A Journal of Impossible Things." It was a book that Smith decided to use as a focus for his class, encouraging his students to do a report of it. With each chapter that he and his class studied through, he found himself highly engrossed in this life Verity Newman's great-grandmother, Joan Redfern, had lived in the early 20th century. There were images in the book that added to the wonder of Redfern's depiction of her fascinating encounter with this "strange visitor from beyond the stars," including one that vaguely resembled the police box across the street.
Whilst coming up on the part of the book that detailed Joan and the visitor's romantic connections, Smith checked his wristwatch to see what time it was to avoid being late for school. According to his watch, it was 7:15am. Plenty of time to enjoy just a couple of more pages, Smith happily thought before returning to the book. Just as he had done so, he heard the bell above the diner entrance ring and looked up briefly to see Mary Margaret enter and anxiously sit down in the table nearest the door.
Not taking his focus away from his book too much, Smith curiously glanced from the corner of his eye to see what Mary Margaret was doing in Granny's Diner as early as he was. She took a book out from her bag and set it in front of her. Okay, nothing wrong with a little reading before school; it's why I'm here. Mary Margaret then picked up the spoon from the table and checked her reflection, straightening out her hair after removing her hat. Alright, something is definitely up if she's checking her hair!
Smith tried not to look her way too much to avoid gaining her attention; she did not even know he was sitting a few feet from her, which was good enough for him. He noticed Mary Margaret sitting quietly for a short moment, glimpsing at the clock that hung above the counter to check the time, which was still 7:15am. Suddenly, the bell rang again, prompting her to pick up the book she brought in and pretend to read it. It was then when Smith realized why she was there so early: David Nolan was there. Smith knew that every morning at 7:15am David would come to the diner to pick up coffee for his wife and himself…and it seemed Mary Margaret knew as well.
Even Ruby had become familiar with this routine of David's, handing him two cups of different coffees without waiting him to ask. David paid for the cups and was ready to leave with them until he saw Mary Margaret sitting near him. The two of them had a brief exchange, which Smith found to be a little awkward, before David finally left the diner to meet with his wife outside in the car parked at the curb. Mary Margaret watched him leave to meet up with his wife, and the bright smile she had while talking with him slowly dissipated into a heavy frown. Smith knew a broken heart when he saw one, and Mary Margaret was indeed heartbroken.
"This is making a volcano?"
Smith (and Mary Margaret) heard the voice of Emma Swan come out of nowhere and turned to see her emerging from the back of the diner, walking up to Mary Margaret's table. Mary Margaret was evidently shocked to see her there and could barely say a word as Emma sat down in front of her. "I was…"
"I get it." Emma quickly told her.
Mary Margaret sighed. "He comes here every morning at 7:15am to pick up coffee…"
"…for him and his wife." Emma seemed to have added this part to remind Mary Margaret of the important fact that David indeed had a wife.
"I know." Mary Margaret said three times in frustration. "I just…come here to see him."
"So you're a stalker?" Emma presumed.
"No, not really." Mary Margaret insisted, but she quickly changed her response upon noticing a questionable look Emma gave her, reminded by the special "power" the young woman had to tell when someone was lying. "Maybe a little bit. I mean, it's not like I'm following him. I just know that he spends his mornings with Kathryn, gets coffee, then drives to the animal shelter to start work at 7:30, and then he's home around five."
Emma grinned. "Oh, is that all?"
Mary Margaret hesitated a little before giving one more detail: "Thursdays they pick up Chinese for dinner."
Smith choked a little on his tea just as he heard Mary Margaret give that last detail, inadvertently gaining the attention of the two ladies. "Mr. Smith," Emma said, "Didn't see you there."
"I'm sorry." Smith said, gently wiping his mouth with his napkin. "I don't mean to laugh. It's just…"
"No, it's okay." Mary Margaret said with one hand raised in protest. "I am pretty pathetic, aren't I?"
Smith shook his head with a grin. "Oh, no. I wouldn't say that. You're just a young woman who's in deep love."
"Yeah, but love's the worst." Mary Margaret declared. "Especially with David…I just can't get him out of my head."
Smith nodded understandingly and placed a gentle hand on Mary Margaret's shoulder. "I'm sure the feelings will eventually pass, M.M. Just keep reminding yourself that there are plenty of fish out there in the sea."
Mary Margaret smiled at her fellow schoolteacher. "Thank you."
"Ah! Mr. S, that reminds me." Emma said before pulling an item out from underneath her and handing it to Smith. "Henry wanted me to let you have this for a while. He says that he hopes it'll 'refresh' your memories."
Smith let out an amused chuckle when he took the thick old book out of Emma's hands. He knew exactly what the book was and shook his head. "Henry really believes I'm some sort of alien doctor, doesn't he?" Smith continued to chuckle while flipping through the pages of the storybook. "It's funny. I don't seem to recall any fairy tales of such a character."
Emma shrugged. "Me neither. But Archie thinks it's something Henry made up to put you somewhere in his idea of everyone here being a cursed fairy tale character. He's got everyone except for Mr. Gold figured out, but you're like a 'missing link' to him. In his version of these fairy tales, you're the one who will eventually break the curse…the real hero of the tale."
"I thought that was you." Smith assumed.
"Apparently I'm like your 'companion' or something." Emma clarified.
Smith laughed. "Companion? Oh, my. I wouldn't be the type to ever carry around a companion."
Mary Margaret suddenly glanced over at the clock and realized how much time had passed since David left. "We'd better get to the school before we're late, John." As she stood up from her table, she quickly took notice of the tie Smith had worn with the black and white suit he was wearing for school. "John, did you look in the mirror while you got dressed today?"
"Pardon?" Smith uttered, very confused.
Mary Margaret giggled. "Your tie…it looks so crooked and barely even tied."
Smith looked down at his tie and noticed the poor condition it was in. "I thought I did a fine job, thank you."
"Not fine enough. Here, hold still." Mary Margaret commenced in untying Smith's long black tie and retying it in a more suitable way. "You know, you should really consider wearing a bowtie for once."
"No!" Smith exclaimed, pointing a stern finger at Mary Margaret. "No bowties! Bowties aren't cool!"
Mary Margaret snickered before finishing up on Smith's tie and taking a step back to admire her handiwork. "There. Perfect in every way." She then gathered her hat, book, and bag and headed towards the door. "Now, c'mon! We're going to be late!"
"Right. I'll catch up with ya." Smith waved her off, letting her step out of the diner, and focused on Emma once more. "I think Henry ought to read this book sometime. It has a lot of his Doctor character in it." He handed Verity Newman's book over to Emma.
Glancing at the title of the book, Emma's eyes widened in wonder. "A Journal of Impossible Things? What's it about?"
"Just as it says on the title." Smith indicated. "It's a supposedly non-fictional account of events that happened in the life of Verity Newman's great-grandmother, Joan Redfern, when she met an alien visitor whose life resembles Henry's 'Doctor' quite well."
"You think she was for real on this?"
"I doubt it. My thoughts are that she had vivid dreams of the events she depicts in this journal of hers and just jot them down for sport, much like all writers." Smith appeared somewhat motivated as he added, "Thinking of writing one myself soon…I've had quite interesting dreams myself as of late."
Emma smiled. "Dreams like what?"
Smith looked off into space as he reminisced. "A young redhead…Amelia Pond is her name…er, the name that my subconscious picked for her, I guess. Anyway, 'Amy' and I were having lunch by this lake in Utah, and we were interrupted by this astronaut that had risen from the lake. Of course, I bravely went to confront this astronaut before…" He stopped abruptly and looked towards Emma, grinning from ear to ear.
"Before what?" Emma impatiently asked.
At the corner of his other eye, he even noticed Ruby listening intently to the depiction of his dream. Finally, Smith smugly uttered a single word: "Spoilers." He then turned to the door, laughing energetically. "See ya later, Swan."
Both Emma and Ruby scoffed over the arrogant schoolteacher. While Ruby returned to her work, Emma shook her head and gazed upon the book that Smith had given her, flipping through the pages. She placed her thumbs in between two pages and focused on one section in the middle of the book, which featured colorful illustrations. One of these illustrations appeared to resemble the police box across the street from the diner. The detail on it was so great that Emma had to quickly glance between the real thing and the book's illustration, her face registering mystification and astonishment over the resemblance.
Was it pure coincidence or did this particular police box truly did have a connection to Joan Redfern's "story?"