THE GRAND TOUR OF OKLAHOMA

Chapter Twenty Seven

Jenny and Rose ate their food while the Doctor relaxed and Suri spoke to Anthony on the phone. He hung up and looked at them.

"They want to pick us up tonight so we can go to church with them tomorrow. I said I'd call after this gets done."

"Oh crap," Jenny muttered.

"What?" Suri said.

"Here we go, this is one of those shelters where you're required to attend church or else," Jenny said angrily.

"So?" Suri said. "You're a Christian, aren't you?"

"No, I don't consider myself one. I do like a lot of Jesus' teachings but I don't believe he died for our sins and I don't believe in Hell. If there's a Hell, this is Hell," she said, pointing to the floor.

"The baseball stadium?" the Doctor said, frowning. "Oh, oh! You mean Earth, sorry."

He grunted when Rose smacked him on the head with the bat.

"The Bible says there's a Hell," Suri said.

"So? The Bible was written by men. I don't believe everything in a book just because it's supposedly the word of God. I study and read and decide for myself what I believe."

"Besides," the Doctor said. "I killed the Devil so Hell is ownerless now."

"What?" Suri said while Rose laughed.

"He killed the Devil?" Jenny muttered to Rose.

Rose chuckled and leaned into her ear, whispering to her while she explained what he meant.

"Seriously?" Jenny said to the Doctor when she finished her explanation. "You really killed Satan?"

"Well, he claimed to be Satan at any rate. Don't know if he was the real deal or not but I killed him," the Doctor said, ignoring Suri's confused look.

"So, are you a Christian?" Suri asked the Doctor.

"No, I'm a member of the Orthodics."

"The what?" Suri said.

"Orthodics, it's a Venusian sect that says that Ortho once ruled Venus but he was killed by rival factions and someday he will return and Venus will take its rightful place in the universe."

Jenny and Donna laughed when Suri stared at him while he leaned away.

"And I do believe in God but I don't go to church," Rose said. "Believe I told you that already."

"And I don't believe that shelters should require people to go to their churches. That's a violation of the First Amendment, especially since most of them make you go or you get kicked out which means you have to choose between your faith or a bed," Jenny said. "That's wrong."

"It's just a church, all you have to do is go and sit and listen to a sermon. They're not asking you to get up and preach to everyone," Suri said with a shrug.

"It's the principle of the thing," Jenny said. "They're trying to get butts in their church and it's violating a person's right to believe…oh fuck it, I'm not arguing with you over this!" she said, waving her hand dismissively. "I'd rather talk to Rose and the Doctor anyway. Actually, I've been thinking, Doctor."

"Yes?" he said while Suri listened.

"Do you like solving mysteries?" Jenny asked him.

"Ah, yes, love, love, LOVE solving mysteries. Why?"

"Well, if you two are looking for ideas, I was also thinking about finding out who Jack the Ripper really was. Have you done that before?"

The Doctor stared at her silently for a moment and then a huge grin spread over his face.

"Blimey, you just jump in with both feet, dontcha?" he said while Rose giggled. "I give you a choice of where to go and instead of saying, oh, let's go to a nice beach somewhere, you instantly wanna go find out who killed King Tut and now Jack the Ripper. You love danger, don't you?"

"Hey, might as well make it interesting if I'm gonna do something," Jenny said, shrugging.

"Rose, this one's a keeper!" the Doctor said, pointing to Jenny.

"I'll say!" Rose said. "We're gonna be on our toes with her making the choices."

"I agree. Why, who knows? She might want us to go to Gettysburg during the battle and make us land right in the middle of the battle so she can see everything up close. That's what I love though, a companion who isn't afraid of danger."

"What are you talking about?" Suri asked.

"I'm a time traveler. I travel through time and space and I take friends along to join in and help me. I like Jenny and I asked her to come with me and I asked her to pick where she wanted to go and she wants to go back to Ancient Egypt and try to solve King Tut's death. And now she has the idea about Jack the Ripper which is also brilliant. Would you like to come with us to Ancient Egypt?"

Suri gave him another odd look while Rose and Jenny shared a gleeful look.

"You want me to come with you to Ancient Egypt?" Suri said.

"Yes. Course there are a few rules. I don't allow alcohol on my spaceship and I require you be sober at all times and you have to follow my lead and do what I say."

"And I recommend not beating the shit out of King Tut or I'm sure you'll be thrown to the crocodiles," Jenny said.

"Shut up," Suri said.

"And I require that you be respectful of the other travelers," the Doctor said. "What Jenny said makes sense since apparently you have a temper and I won't have you go around time and space threatening to kick people's arses."

"I don't."

Jenny snorted at that.

"And I don't drink that much either," Suri said.

"Oh, what's that in your hand?" Jenny said, pointing to the beer in his hand.

"This is the first drink I've had all day and beer isn't as bad as vodka or whiskey."

"Mate, you've been drinking constantly. You can tell everyone you're not drunk but I've been drunk and I've been around drunk friends and you are pissed," Rose said. "And if you don't watch it, you're gonna get cirrhosis of the liver and die."

"I already have that," Suri said.

They stared at him silently for a moment.

"You claim not to be an alcoholic yet you have cirrhosis of the liver which comes from heavy drinking," Jenny said.

For once Suri didn't have a comeback for that.

"Okay, I do drink heavily sometimes but I'm not drunk now."

Jenny sighed and looked at Rose who was rolling her eyes.

"So, you basically ruined your life and you're gonna die young because you wanted to drink your problems away," Jenny said.

"I don't hide from my problems. What I do is none of your fucking business!"

"Oi, you don't talk to her like that!" the Doctor said angrily.

"So is she your second girlfriend now?" Suri said. "Do aliens have multiple partners?"

"Yes and we lay eggs in people's stomachs," the Doctor said.

"No need to be an asshole," Suri muttered.

"Aren't you glad you're leaving this git behind when we go?" Rose muttered to Jenny.

"Hell, yes," Jenny muttered back.

They relaxed and settled back in their seats when the ballgame finally started.

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