NOTES: I know. I know! This fic has ridiculous premise, but that's the fun of writing and reading AU, IMHO. Even if you say "No way!" I hope you enjoy this little window into Barbara's past. Comments are always welcome!
Barbara sat staring at the ring and then put it on her left pinky finger, the only one it would now fit. The gun metal finished ring was quite small and had a flat round disc surface where normally a gem might be set. On the flat surface of the disc an engraving of the constellations of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor had been etched. Polaris, also known as the North Star, hung on the tail of Ursa Minor. Its brilliance was emphasized by a tiny clear crystal at its center.
Barbara remembered the first time she had seen the ring. As a twelve year-old student, her science and maths class had gone on a school trip to the Science Museum of London. Her best friend Katie was home sick with the flu and Barbara was not keen on anyone else in her classes. At some point, she had straggled behind the other students enough that she found herself alone.
She was happy enough to be alone. However, to her surprise, a boy seemed to be trailing her as she wandered about. He always stopped a few feet away from her, but at one exhibit, she felt him standing directly behind her. She turned around and grabbed him by his public school blazer lapels, pulled him down to her height, and yelled, "Why are you following me?" directly in his face.
Although the boy seemed at least a couple of years older and was easily a head and a half taller than Barbara, he stammered when he answered her, "No, I — I— I'm not. I'm not meaning to follow you. We're just walking in the same direction together." Then he smiled at her, remembering his manners, "I'm sorry. Please accept my apology. I didn't mean to frighten you."
"You didn't frighten me, you prat! I just don't like people I don't know breathing on my neck You can stuff your apology."
The boy grinned. He could tell the girl was a couple of years younger than him, but she was not showing any signs of being intimidated by his age or size, or his Eton uniform jacket, for that matter. He found himself automatically taking a liking to her. "So if you knew me, you would like me breathing on your neck?" His grin was huge.
"Oi! You're a right idiot aren't you?" She said and walked away to the next display.
The dark-haired boy heard some laughter behind him, and turned to see his friend and roommate Simon, another boy also named Simon, and several other boys from his class at Eton watching what had just happened. "Smooth!" the other Simon sneered at him.
The tall dark haired boy felt his face heat up and took a breath. He didn't like that boy, "Simon, I don't know what you mean."
"I mean you are the Eighth Earl of striking out. If you can't get a working class skirt like that one to fancy you, you have no chance with the birds of our own economic class."
"First of all, I wasn't trying to get her to fancy me. I was enjoying the exhibit and didn't realize how closely I stood by her. She was right to take offense. Now that I think about it, my joke was offensive too. No doubt, she was in her rights to be rude back." Although his voice sounded steady and light, his eyes were flashing with anger. He really didn't like that Simon and couldn't believe he shared the same name with his jovial and kind roommate, Simon.
"Yeah. Right!" the other Simon said. "I bet you, that even if you tried, that girl wouldn't like you. What do you think, boys?" The other boys, including his roommate, laughed too.
Turning back towards the exhibit where he had been standing with Barbara, the boy thought how badly he wanted to punch the speaker in his face. However, it wouldn't be the Eton way to come to blows in public. He could wait. Boxing was next up in games in physical education and he would be sure to clean his clock then. He took time to read all the exhibit's informational plaques and by the time he was done, he had calmed down. Unfortunately, his school group was no where to be seen. The boy didn't mind though. He had been at this museum many times, including after hours with his father who served on the museum's board of directors. He didn't want to spend the day with that group anyway.
It was several exhibits later that he saw the girl again. He stood along side her and started to explain about "the historic development of the steam engine" in a quiet, but ridiculously pompous voice. The girl tried to ignore him but when a student group walked up which was lead by a museum docent, she heard the same spiel coming from that person's mouth, in an even more pompous voice. She tried not to laugh but it came out as a snort anyway. The boy howled with laughter as the docent glowered at their interruption. Without thinking, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the next room.
When young Barbara found herself being dragged by the older boy, her first reaction was to hit him where it counts! Luckily for him, though, she heard his laughter and could not stop herself giggling along with him. They sat down on a bench and laughed until tears came out of their eyes. The boy noticed Barbara drying her eyes with her hands and he reached into his jacket picket and offered her his handkerchief. "It's clean." He said.
Barbara roared with laughter, wiped her eyes and giggled, "Of course it is, you toff!" And they started laughing again. From that point on they walked throughout the museum together, with the boy giving Barbara what amounted to as a private tour, using his regular voice, "Thank goodness!" thought Barbara.
It was when they sat at small table sharing their lunches , the boy's from the museum restaurant and the girl from the brown bag she retrieved from her satchel, that they begin talking about their likes and dislikes. Both were surprised at how much they had in common: chocolate covered biscuits, not plain; still water not gassy; shepherds pie not stew. Oh, they disagreed, too! The boy liked rugby and Barbara liked football. The girl swore by Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Mysteries and he assured her that when she was older she would like Agatha Christie. Of course, Barbara had to punch him on the shoulder for that remark, but, surprisingly, he just laughed loudly again and rubbed his shoulder.
They looked at a few remaining exhibits after lunch and then found themselves at the gift shop. That was when Barbara saw the constellation ring for the first time as they window shopped each display case.
She and the boy were roaming through the gift shop when they stopped at a glass enclosed case that held chains with pendants depicting various exhibit items — steam engines, space rockets, computer code and energy symbols. At the back was a display of rings made in a similar fashion as the pendants, and that's when Barbara exclaimed, "Look! One of the rings has the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper on it!" She grinned at her companion. Throughout their self-led tour of the museum's exhibits, he had been narrating all of the exhibits, much like one of the museum's docents but with boyish humor and entirely less respect for the exhibits than the grown-up docents. This was the only item Barbara thought to tell him about first. She went on to say, "My dad says that if you can find those two constellations in the night sky, you can find your way anywhere, because the North Star is the last star on the handle of the Little Dipper. Find North and you can find your way to where you need to go, no matter how lost and alone you are."
The boy who stood more than a head taller than Barbara had leaned down to get a better look at what she was pointing out to him. When she stopped talking, he turned his head and found himself staring straight into the greenest eyes he had ever seen, and perhaps the only eyes he had ever stared into without it being a game. He swallowed and said in his changing, but not yet baritone voice, "Yes. That's right — with the North Star we would never get lost. Did you know the scientific names of the constellations are Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, snd the North Star is Polaris?" Barbara just grinned at him and crossed her eyes, making him laugh and look away.
After they had looked through the entire shop, Barbara turned to leave. "Wait!" The boy called to her, "Don't you want to get something?"
"Nah. Remember, I told you at lunch, I only had pocket change for a juice." She answered.
"Well, let me get you something then. How about the ring with Pol— the North Star on it?" He asked her. For some reason, he felt he must get her something, but she just shook her head and walked away.
Barbara called back to him, "Don't be daft! Besides, I need the loo! Can I meet you here in a few minutes?"
"Yes! I'll be right here!" But the boy ran back into the store as soon as she stepped out of sight. Seeing a one pence vending machine at the entrance to the store, he had an idea.
When Barbara came back to meet him, the boy was leaning against the wall with a cheeky grin on his face. Barbara smiled back. Whatever he had in mind for next, she knew she would say yes to. "What?" she asked.
He held out his hands with his fists closed. His grin widened, "Pick a hand!"
Barbara raised her eyebrows and rolled her pretty green eyes, "I don't like surprises. You could be holding a worm or worse!"
The boy laughed loudly, "Now where would I get a worm in here?! Don't be so suspicious, just pick a hand! You wouldn't let me get you a souvenir from the shop, so I bought us each a one pence "guess what" prize from the vending machine. You pick a hand and I'll keep one and you keep one. It will most likely be like a cracker prize but something to remember the day by! Come on! Pick!"
Barbara reached out and selected his right hand, but only after hesitating for what seemed to him an eternity over his left. When she touched the top of his hand, it felt like electricity ran up his arm. He turned his hand over, palm up. She took the ball-shaped container from him and looked up into the deepest brown eyes she had ever noticed, with a thick lock of almost raven hair hanging into them. Without thinking, she pushed the hair out of his eyes and let her fingertips trail down his cheek. The boy breathed in and took a step towards her.
"There you are, Barbara!" An annoyed adult voice called out to her, interrupting whatever might have happened next between the two young people. "We have been looking for you all day long, young lady! Come with me, now!" The school matron grabbed Barbara's elbow and forcibly started marching her away from the boy. The woman continued haranguing Barbara about how late it was and that her school group was waiting for her at the bus stop. Barbara stopped listening, in fact, she stopped completely, jerked her elbow out of the woman's grasp and turned back towards the handsome, smiling boy.
"Don't forget! The North Star will help you find your way anywhere when you feel lost and alone!" The matron grabbed her again and dragged her away.
Barbara was indeed in a lot of trouble when she reconnected with her school group. She was in even more trouble when she got home. Her mum said the school had called her four times and she thought her "only daughter" had been kidnapped. Barbara, who was tired of being yelled at by that point, happily went to bed without her supper. Her little brother, Terry, asked to hug her good night before she went upstairs, but he really just wanted to ask her if he could have her pudding. She laughed and said that he certainly could!
Sitting alone on her bed looking out at the stars later that evening, she finally remembered the ball prize in her jumper pocket. She fetched it and proceeded to happily open it. When the ring fell out into her hand, she gasped! She knew it was the ring from the gift shop case, and she knew it had cost twenty pounds. What kind of kid carried around twenty quid to blow on a girl he didn't even know? After a few minutes of reasoning, she thought, no — forty quid. The only way he could be sure she would get the ring was to buy two of them, one for each prize ball. "Plus two bloody pence for the prize balls themselves!" She mumbled, but she couldn't help smiling as she put the ring on her left hand. She knew the boy was a toff, a nice one from the Eton school group, but still a toff. She hadn't realized he must be wealthy though. And crazy. He really was daft, she grinned to herself. She fell asleep that night looking at ("What did he call 'em?") Ursa Major, Ursa Minor and Polaris. Something she found herself doing often over the years in moments when she felt lost and alone.
Years later, adult Barbara pushed herself up off the storage closet floor. She smiled again and looked down at the small ring on the pinky finger of her left hand. She put the "keepsakes" box with all it's contents on top of the box of things to keep. She was done packing and couldn't wait to get home to Belgravia and Tommy.