THE SCAVENGER HUNT
Chapter Nine Martha closed the door and went to the next one. “Hmmm, Cinderella. Well, at least Cinderella doesn’t have bears or wolves in it,” she muttered. She opened the door and noticed an empty bucket hanging on a peg. She took it and walked into an old dusty cottage. She closed the door, reached inside the bucket, grabbed a scrub brush and went to look for some water. “There you are!” Martha gasped when she heard a screechy voice behind her. She turned and saw two middle-aged women clad in gaudy dresses staring at her with utter hate. She stared at them thinking she had seen the somewhere before and then it came to her. It was Rose’s mother, Jackie and Donna’s mother, Sylvia. Martha raised her eyebrow. “I’m assuming this is the Doctor’s idea of wicked stepsisters,” she muttered under her breath. “If it is, he better not have made my mum the wicked stepmother or I’ll kill him and then kill him again.” “Well, don’t just stand there gawping like an idiot,” Jackie said. “We need our dresses mended, so we can go to the ball tonight!” “Yeah, we’re gonna dance with the prince while you get to stay here and clean up the whole house,” Sylvia sneered. Martha rolled her eyes when both women laughed cheesy laughs. “Well, get to it, you little slack jawed waste of space!” Jackie said. “I need my dress and I need it now!” “And if you don’t have it done in the next hour, we’ll throw you in the well and watch you drown!” Sylvia added. Both women turned and pranced out of the room. “Hmmm, I wonder if I should inform Rose and Donna about all this,” she said to herself. She sat the bucket down. “Well, guess I better go find the dresses,” she added. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light and Martha gasped as she covered her eyes. She took her hand away and was shocked when she saw Jack standing in front of her with a wand in his hand. “Hello, Martharella, I’m your fairy godfather.” Martha held her hand up to her mouth, trying to hold back the laughter. “You are a kind and virtuous woman, Martharella, so I’m going to grant you your heart’s desire. I will make it so you can attend the ball and dance with the prince tonight.” “Oh thank you, fairy godfather,” Martha said, trying to keep a straight face. She smiled when Jack touched his wand to the top of her head. “There, you are now ready to go, just step through this door and you’ll be at the ball.” “What? No pumpkin and mice horses and stuff?” Martha said. “Eh, I don’t feel like going out and gathering all that stuff, it’s easier just to zap you to the palace and get it over with,” Jack said, waving his hand. Martha laughed. “Okay, well, thank you, fairy godfather.” “Not at all, but remember, you must be back here…”he pulled a stopwatch out of his pocket and clicked it, “by the stroke of midnight or nasty things will happen that will cause you great embarrassment and make you the laughing stock of the whole kingdom. And now…if you’ll excuse me, I have to go give a “tonsillectomy” to my fairy godpartner, Ianto. Have fun.” There was another bright flash of light and Jack was gone. There was now a door in the wall that had not been there before and Martha quickly opened it and stepped through it. Inside was an enormous polished, posh marble ballroom. Martha looked around at all the women who were waiting expectantly and staring up at the throne on a dais in front of them. Martha followed their gaze and grinned when she saw the Doctor android lounging in the throne with one leg dangling over the armrest. He was watching a servant who was walking by him carrying a tray filled with sandwiches and cheese. “Hey!” he called out, clicking his fingers. “Up here. I want some nibbles! I love nibbles!” The servant obeyed. The Doctor took the tray from him and shooed him away. He shoveled the food into his mouth with both hands while he looked around. Suddenly, his eyes fell on Martha and he paused, mid-chew while he stared at her with wide eyes. Martha giggled when he reached down, grabbed a telescope, opened it up and stared at her through it. She snickered when his mouth formed a silent, oooo, and he put down the telescope and tray of food. Getting up, he walked off the dais. Immediately, every android fell to its knees. “OUR GOD!” they said, prostrating themselves. “Geez, figures the Doctor would make the androids say that,” she muttered. The Doctor walked over and stopped a foot away from her. Reaching into his pocket, he brought out a pair of opera glasses and looked at her through them. Martha laughed while he examined her for a moment before putting them back in his pocket. “I have not seen you here before,” he said. “Pray tell me, what is your name?” “Marth…um…Martharella.” “Martharella, how lovely. Is that Italian?” Martha was thrown for a loop. “Um, how should I know?” she said. “Ah well, doesn’t matter. What matters is you are an enchanting creature and I would like to get to know you better. Would you care to dance with me?” Martha smiled. “I’d love to, your highness,” she said. “Oh, you don’t have to call me that. God will do just fine.” Martha rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’d rather not call you that,” she muttered. She took the Doctor’s hand and he led her to the center of the ballroom. They turned and stared at the crowd. Martha smiled when all eyes focused on her and she giggled when she saw Jackie and Sylvia near the back frantically pointing at her and whispering to each other. The Doctor looked at her and smiled. “And now, we dance,” he said. Martha turned to grab his other hand when she heard a sound coming from above. She looked up and noticed a panel in the ceiling was sliding back and a disco ball was dropping down. Martha stared at it, perplexed, while the room dimmed and it began to spin around throwing little circles of light all over the room. Suddenly, she heard someone shout… DO THE HUSTLE! She stood there in shock as the disco song, Do The Hustle played and the Doctor did the Hustle beside her. He smiled at her. “Come on, do the Hustle with me!” he said. Martha laughed out loud and mimicked the Doctor’s moves. The two of them disco danced while the rest of the crowd watched. “Yeah, I can definitely tell the Doctor had a hand in this simulation,” she said to herself. The two of them did the Hustle until the song ended and everyone applauded them. The Doctor turned to her. “That was marvelous. You dance divinely, Martharella,” he said. “Thanks, you’re not so bad yourself.” “Care to join me in another dance to celebrate the fact that it is nearing midnight?” Martha frowned. “Huh?” The Doctor pointed to the wall. Martha looked up and noticed it was now five minutes to twelve. “Blimey, that was fast,” she said. “Yes, time goes by fast when you’re disco dancing. But, never mind that, the night is still young and I’m sure you have all the time in the world to spend with me.” Martha stared at him. The Doctor stared back. “Is something wrong?” he finally asked. “Well…I…uh…” “Cause it looks as if you want to leave, but surely, that’s not it, because if you leave, I’ll have to search the entire kingdom for you and waste valuable time that would be better spent on disco dancing and nibbles.” The Doctor gave her a pointed look. Martha hesitated a moment and then sped towards the door. “WAIT! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?” the Doctor yelled. “COME BACK, MARTHARELLA, WE WERE JUST GOING TO DO GROUP MACARENA! COME BACK!” Martha rolled her eyes. She hurried though the door and slammed it shut. “Okay, so now I wait for the Doctor to come with the shoe, I guess,” Martha said, looking at the door. “Actually, no, this is the end of the simulation.” Martha turned and saw Jack standing on the other side of the room. “Thank you for participating though,” he added. “Well, wait, what about the scene with the glass slipper?” “What glass slipper, you had your plimsols on the entire time,” Jack said, pointing to her feet. Martha put her hands on her hips. “You mean we’re not gonna finish the story?” she said. “No, the Doctor was never a fan of Cinderella. Too girly and no action apart from Cinderella running away from the palace. He decided to cut it short and move on to other things. The man does have a short attention span, you know.” Martha snorted. “Yeah, tell me about it. But…um…why are you here instead of a proper fairy godmother.” “Oh, I’m comic relief. You know, the Doctor thought it would be fun to add a comic twist and have an android of me appear and grant you your wish.” “Comic twist….like using Rose and Donna’s mums as the wicked stepsisters?” “Yeah, something like that. Anyway, like I said, thank you for participating. Now, if you don’t mind, I have to get back to Ianto bot. he’s waiting in bed for me with a hockey stick and…” “Don’t…I don’t wanna know the details,” she replied, holding up her hand. “I’ll just go and try out the Rapunzel one now. Are you in that one too?” “Um, no, I’m not, sadly. But have fun anyway.” Martha nodded. She grabbed the bucket, put it back on the peg and went out the door.
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