THE GRAND TOUR OF OKLAHOMA
Chapter Seven When the bus got back to the station, the Doctor visually checked his TARDIS as they got off and headed towards the building. "Let's find somewhere where we can escape the heat for a bit," the Doctor said to Rose as they went inside. They spoke to the lady at the information desk asking if there was somewhere they could go for a bit till it cooled off. "Well, there's the library down the street from here," the lady said. "How far?" the Doctor asked. "About four blocks. Go outside, turn right and it's a big white building with glass windows on the corner up by the courthouse," she said. The Doctor thanked her and took Rose's hand. They stepped outside and turned right. "Rose?" "Yeah?" "Why is it hotter than the fires of Hell and damnation itself?" Rose giggled and the Doctor grinned at that. They crossed the street and headed towards the library. On the way, they passed by a bank and the Doctor happened to see the temperature on the digital display on the sign. Rose stopped when he did. "Rose, it said it was 107 degrees out. No wonder we're baking. 107? We have to get inside now before we roast alive! We haven't much time and…wait…Americans use Fahrenheit, don't they? Phew, I thought it was 107 degrees Celsius and we were seconds away from death." "We still could be," Rose said. "True. Let's hurry then," the Doctor said. Two blocks from that, they found the library. The Doctor whistled when he saw how big it was. It took up one block and was four stories high. "Wow! This is nice," the Doctor said while they headed for the entrance. "Air!" they both said when they went inside the sliding doors. They laughed and walked into the main part of the library. It was huge with computers off to the right side, four to a table, and books on metal bookshelves beside them. There was a security desk with three people clustered around it when they came inside. Rose noticed the two men and woman gave them dirty looks for some reason but they walked past them and found a couple of comfy wooden chairs with fabric backing. They took off their backpacks and slumped down into the chairs. "Ahhh, comfy chairs, nothing like them," the Doctor said. "Yeah and air conditioning, nothing like that," Rose said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes while she rested. Suddenly, she heard someone knocking on the armrest of her chair and she looked up at an elderly security guard. "No sleeping!" he said sternly. "I wasn't," Rose said. "I was resting because I'd been out in the heat for most of the day and I was resting my eyes." "No sleeping or you have to leave," the guard said before moving on. "I wasn't," Rose said while the Doctor glared at the guard. "Don't worry about it, Rose, he's trying to be the heavy," the Doctor said to her. "Just relax, I wanna find something to read." He got up and wandered over to a rack filled with newspapers. There were two separate racks, one had newspapers from all over Oklahoma and the other was from the rest of the country and the world. There were also two racks filled with magazines. Rose slumped down in the chair, folded her arms across her body and glanced around. She stopped looking when she saw a man walking towards the empty chair beside her. The man was at least 300 pounds and was big around like a basketball. He smiled at Rose as he waddled over to the chair beside her and sank down into it. Rose turned her attention back to everyone else. She watched the people sitting at the computers and noticed a large number of people had backpacks and bags. She noticed a few of them looked scruffy and figured they were homeless. She looked at the Doctor when he tapped her on the shoulder. "Last weeks, Sunday Times," he said, showing her the newspaper. "Interested?" "Yeah," Rose said. The Doctor gave her the newspaper and sat down beside her. Rose glanced at the other thing in his hands and saw he had a copy of Field and Stream. "You're reading that?" she said, pointing to the magazine. "Yeah, why?" "You read a hunting magazine?" she said, pointing to the heading on the front that said Kill A Ten Point Stag, Here's How To Do It. "Oh that? No, just love looking at the photos of animals. I don't give a fig about hunting them," he said. Rose shrugged and thumbed through the Times. It was a week old but it didn't matter anyway since she was out of her time and anything the paper had to say would be new to her. She read the main news first but found nothing of real interest so she decided to check out the celebrities and see what they were doing 5 years in the future. On the front of the entertainment section, she saw a woman who was dressed in rubber with what looked like black condoms hanging off it. "What the hell?" Rose said. "Something wrong?" the Doctor said, looking up from the magazine. "Lady Gaga?" Rose said, showing him the photo. "Is this an alien?" "Um...well...maybe," the Doctor said. "Well if she isn't, she sure dresses like one," Rose said while the Doctor snickered. She went back to reading the newspaper when suddenly she heard an enormous snore from the chair beside her. She and the Doctor looked at the obese man who had fallen asleep and was now snoring so loudly, Rose was sure they could hear it all through the library. "SNNNNAAAAA-sneeeeerk," he snored. "SNNNAAAA-sneeeeeerk." "Geez," Rose said while the Doctor giggled. By now, everyone was watching him snore. Rose put the paper up over her head so no one could see her while they watched him. The Doctor was amused by that and stuck his head next to hers so his face would be hidden as well. "SNNNNNAAAA-sneeeerk." "I love the snerk at the end of the snore. Gives it a bit of character, don't you think?" the Doctor said to Rose. They looked towards the man when a thinner, taller security guard came up to him. The security guard paused by the man's chair and listened to him snore. He caught the Doctor and Rose's eye and winked at them before he began to shake the guy awake. The man let out a snort and jerked his eyes up. The security guard beckoned to him and waited until the man got out of the chair. Then he escorted him out of the building. "Wow, they mean business here," the Doctor said as they watched the security guard walk the man to the doors. "I'll see. But...I've never heard anything snore like that. I'm sure they could hear him back at the bus station." The Doctor giggled and nodded. "Rested?" he asked Rose. "Yeah, why? Wanna do something else?" "Well...wait a tic, be right back. Read your newspaper." He got up and walked over to the desk where the librarians sat while Rose perused more of the newspaper. She glanced at the Doctor while he chatted with a young lady sitting behind the desk. After ten minutes, he walked back over to her. "Well, there's an art museum just across the street and they have a free trolley that goes to a section near here called Bricktown where they have a baseball stadium and shops and restaurants. They also have a canal that goes through Bricktown and boat rides. And just up the street is the Oklahoma Bombing Memorial. Those are the things within walking distance. And just down the street here is a large park called Myriad Gardens. What'd ya think? Anything catch your fancy?" "Let's go to the art museum first and maybe go to Bricktown and eat and go on the boat ride. The other things I'd rather do after dark. Well, the bombing memorial, how late does it stay open?" The Doctor held up a finger and walked back to the desk. He chatted with the lady and walked back after a few minutes. "There's a museum that stays open till five but the memorial itself is open 24/7 and she said that the chairs they have for each person light up after dark." "Okay, let's do this then. Go to the art museum since it's the closest thing and then ride that trolley into Bricktown and maybe go to the park and see the memorial after dark." "Sounds good, my faithful companion. I have a thought though, I think we should hurry back to the bus station and put our packs inside the TARDIS since we had a problem wearing them inside Remington Gardens." Rose nodded. She folded the newspaper and put it on a nearby table before she and the Doctor left the library.
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