SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
Chapter Twenty Five For the rest of the flight, Alan and Rose quietly rested. Alan stared out the window, watching the clouds while Rose worked a crossword puzzle in a puzzle book she bought in a gift shop in Heathrow. There were so many other questions Rose had for Alan about the Doctor, but she let him rest. We have a whole year or so, she thought. There’s plenty of time for talking. Finally, when they were nearing the end of their flight, the captain came on the intercom. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking; we are descending towards JFK International Airport and will be on the ground momentarily.” Rose felt Alan poking her side. She looked at him and saw the mischievous grin on his face. “You hear that? They’re only gonna be on the ground momentarily, I guess as soon as the wheels touch the runaway, we barge out the door before the plane goes up again.” Rose snickered. “We like to thank you for flying United Airlines. We hope you enjoy your stay in New York.” “Now everyone run to the door because the plane’s gonna be on the ground momentarily,” Alan said. Rose snorted out laughter. “I don’t think that’s what the Americans mean when they say momentarily,” she said. “I think he means we’re going to be landing in a minute, not landing for a moment.” “Well then they need to get a British person out here to translate for the yank impaired. I don’t speak Americanese. Are they trying to start an international incident or something?” “Shut up,” Rose said, laughing. “Go on, dare me to go up to the cockpit, knock on the door and when they open it, I’ll say, “I say, old chap, what the bloody hell do you colonials mean by momentarily? Dash it all, I don’t speak the local lingo and I might jolly well throw myself out the door and break every bone in my bally body. I can’t Adam and Eve what you are telling people, old bean. You septics need to watch your bally tongue, otherwise I might have to find a bobby and have them drag you off to prison where you will be detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure. Pip pip! And then I’ll run back here and let them figure out what I just said. How ‘bout it?” “No, I think you better just sit here and ignore the American’s way of saying things,” Rose said. “Damn, I could have had a lot of fun with that. Ah well, it’s a big country, plenty of time to confuse the locals. For now, I’ll just be content to sit back in my seat and watch while the plane lands momentarily and goes back up again.” After getting off the airplane, they headed inside the terminal and collected their rucksacks from the baggage carousel. “Okay, so now where do we go?” Alan asked as they walked along. “Well, let’s think,” Rose said, as they stopped in the middle of the terminal. “We need to think how we’re going to do this and where we should go first. Do you wanna go down towards Florida or do you wanna wait and go west and you know, there are a couple of states above this one. Do you wanna go up to Maine and back down or what?” “Um…well…” He looked around and noticed a gift shop nearby. He stared at it for a moment and then slapped himself on the forehead. “You know what we forget to get in London, Amo’tiri? An atlas. How are we gonna plan things if we don’t have a map?” “Yeah, you’re right. Come on then,” she said, taking his hand and walking towards the shop. “Ah, here we go, an atlas,” he said, pulling one off the book rack and taking it over to her. They opened it to the map of the US. “Okay, so like I was saying before, what direction are we going to go?” Rose asked. “You wanna go right down to Florida?” “Um…eh….well, not yet, I mean I’d really like to save that for last if we can,” Alan said. “Damn, we should have landed in Maine and went down.” “Well, we don’t have to go to every state,” Rose replied. “We can just follow a certain path and cover certain states; nothing says we have to go to every single square inch of the country.” “Well, the way I see it we can do one of two things. We can either go west to California and then come back east and go down towards Florida or we can go down to Florida, up to Michigan, down to Louisiana, back up to Minnesota and go up and down and up and down until we reach California.” Rose stared at him. “Surely, you can’t be serious.” “What? It’s just as doable as going west and then going east, isn’t it? I figure if we use the loop-de-loop method, we’ll get a broad spectrum of American culture and we won’t spend months in the hot south or the colder north, we get both.” “Okay, but wait, what about Canada and Alaska, are we going there eventually? Because if we end up in Florida, we might as well go south to the Bahamas or go back to Europe and if we go to California, then we should go on to Japan or Hawaii or down through Mexico into South America.” Alan sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. Blimey, we should have started in Alaska then. But Canada’s like Russia, it’s huge.” “And the US isn’t? Alan, dear, these little outlines that divide the states will mean nothing to us. When we’re out there walking, the only way we’re gonna know if we are in another state is the welcome to this state sign or goodbye, you’re leaving our state sign. There aren’t gonna be big black lines on the ground showing us the borders, which means this is just one big bloody landmass to cross, just like Canada and Russia. The only reason you wanted to come here was because this is the country of Disneyworld. So, what is the difference between this and Canada?” “Because Canada and Russia are sparsely populated in places and I was thinking we would leave them for last because some spots would get boring and monotonous. America, at least, is jammed packed with people and cities and things to do. That’s why I thought it’d be a good idea to come here first.” “Well, like I said, just because we’re doing this doesn’t mean we have to cover every square inch of the Earth. If you don’t wanna go through Canada or Russia, that’s fine with me. I don’t care where we go as long as you’re with me, alright? There’s gonna be plenty to see on this journey even if we do skip those two countries.” “Hey, buddy!” Alan looked over at the man behind the counter. He was glaring at both of them. “Ya gonna pay for that? This ain’t no library, ya know,” he said in a heavy Brooklyn accent. Alan resisted the urge to say something sarcastic in return. “Yes, we’re planning to get it. Can we look around and get a few other things as well?” “Suit yourself, I just don’t want ya standin’ there blockin’ traffic and readin’ things ya ain’t paid for yet.” Alan looked around and noticed they were the only ones in the shop besides him. Rose guessed what he was doing and what he might say and tugged on his arm. “Let’s just pay for the atlas and go, alright?” she said. Alan nodded. He glanced over, grabbed a map of New York off the rack and carried them both to the counter. Rose quickly paid for them with the credit card and they hurried out of the shop and over to a leather couch. Alan glanced up at CNN playing on the TV mounted in the wall above them and then looked back at the atlas when Rose opened it back up to the US. “Okay,” Rose said. “As I was saying, what d’ya think? Where do you wanna go?” Alan put his arm around Rose while he mulled that over. “Okay, how about this,” he finally said. “We’ve had quite enough of parky weather, yeah? We go down south and see Disneyworld and after that we kinda just angle back up north a bit and just gradually work out way up and down until we get to California where we can go to Disneyland.” He gave her a look of innocence when Rose eyed him. “No?” She grinned. “And what about the theme parks in between those two points?” “Oh, we’ll visit them all. Just a whirlwind tour of the US and its theme parks.” “And I’m the one picking up the tab for it.” Alan gave her a patronizing look. “Pete agreed to pay the credit card bills while we’re out here. I don’t think you have to worry about going over your credit limit.” “Yes, but I don’t want him to pay a bazillion dollars every month because you now have an urge to ride every roller coaster in sight.” “Yes, but why not experience the full monty while we’re here and do everything fun that we possibly can? You deserve it, my star light, you said yourself you’ve been slaving away for Torchwood for two years, not to mention you just risked your life finding the Doctor and taking down the Daleks. I mean, I’m not talking about breakin’ the bank and putting your stepdad in stook. Aren’t you the least bit chuffed about the possibility that you now have a chance to explore and have a bit of fun with your partner in crime without worrying about filling out reports and kissing the arses of your bosses?” “Of course I am. But, we have to be sensible as well. And yes, I know I’m talking to the twin of the Doctor who didn’t know the meaning of the word sensible. But, you’re different from him, aren’t you?” She giggled when Alan raised his eyebrow. “You’re using my whole philosophy against me, aren’t you?” “Yup.” She patted his cheek. “Don’t worry, I won’t be an old maid and sit in the corner and never let you have any fun. But just don’t go ballistic because I happen to have credit cards, alright?” “Alright,” he said, pretending to pout. Rose laughed. “So, next question is, do we stay in New York and see some sights or do we just move on?” Alan raised his eyebrows. “Why would we land in New York and not see anything?” he said. Rose nodded. “My thoughts exactly. I think that whenever we reach a major city, we ougtha rent a hotel room and spend a night or two so we can see the museums or the landmarks or the shows or whatever. Sound good?” “Sounds very good. So, we find a hotel in Manhattan and celebrate our first night on this journey with dinner and….perhaps a Broadway show?” Rose smiled. “That sounds wonderful.” She looked back at the gift shop. “We need a newspaper, so we can see what’s going on,” she said. “Oh God, you’re not actually thinking of going back in there with Mister Manners, are ya?” “I’ll get it; you just sit here and look pretty.” She giggled when he shot her a look. “Oh, I’m sorry, you aren’t a pretty boy. I keep forgetting that,” she said, kissing him on the cheek. She got up, slipped her rucksack off and laid it on the ground beside Alan. “Rose?” “Yeah?” “Just had a thought. How about getting a memento from each city we visit?” “Alan, the rucksacks…” “I’m not talking about something huge, like a postcard or something. Start a postcard collection.” He pointed to his pin striped trousers. “If it makes you feel any better, these are specially made pants. The pockets are bigger on the inside, so I’ll carry the postcards if you want.” “Wait a minute, if your pockets are bigger on the inside, why did we get bleedin’ rucksacks?” “Because for one thing, I can’t stuff everything into it that we have, especially the larger stuff, and another, even these pockets have a limit and once they get too full, I do feel the weight. You’re not a pack mule and neither am I. I figured it’d be only fair to share the load, but for souvenirs, I can use my pockets, so we aren’t carrying around two tons of junk on our backs.” Rose nodded. “Well, in that case, I’ll get a postcard. Any specific thing you want?” “Um….Statue of Liberty?” Rose nodded. “Gotcha, you wait here and I’ll be right back.” “No problem Alan leaned back and watched while Rose walked towards the gift shop.
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