A hand reached out to grab the deck of the console floor. By varying degrees, the Doctor slowly sat up. Blinking his eyes, the Doctor’s freckled boyish face registered bewilderment. He looked around at the arched beams and the huge console resting on its metal decking. “Where am I?” He wondered out loud. He rubbed the bump on the back of his head, wincing. “Must’ve been some wild party.” Looking around the console room, he raised an eyebrow, muttering “Don’t think much of the décor, though. Must be on the low budget cruise.” The Doctor noticed the clothes he was wearing. “Ugh! Look at me! Where have I been? A fancy dress ball? Wonder if there’s a dry cleaners about? And those shoes…who dressed me, a blind Cyberman?” He frowned, puzzled. Wrinkling his forehead he whispered, “What is a Cyberman?” Slowly rising to his feet, he grasped his back and groaned. “I could do with a massage. Wonder if there are any pretty girl’s on this cruise?” He stepped up onto the metal deck, looking the console up and down. “What’s this rather ugly contraption? Some new type of household gadget, quite probably. A combination espresso machine, toaster and food processor–or some other sort of new-fangled rubbish.” He staggered as a brief wave of dizziness overcame him. Reaching out to steady himself, his hands grabbed onto the console. Just then, a look of wonder crossed his face. Staring in complete fascination, he laid his palms on the console absorbing the bio-energy radiating from the Tardis. He stepped back and grinning wildly, threw back his head. “It’s alive!” He yelled exuberantly. Staring off into space, he pondered this discovery. “Ha!” He said abrutly, “I hate carrot juice!” and passed out on the floor again.

Hours later, the Tardis door cautiously opened. The Doctor had changed out of his crumpled pinstripe suit, and was now wearing crisp new blue jeans and a thick tan fisherman’s sweater. He’d exchanged the sneakers for a pair of black Wellies, and had a tasseled red knit cap fitted snugly on his head. Still a bit wobbly, he walked into the clearing. Reaching into his right jeans pocket, he pulled out an old-fashioned compass that he’d found while exploring one of the Tardis’ store rooms. “Never know when one of these might come in handy.” He said to himself. “Don’t want to get lost. Not that I have any idea where I am–or who I am. Nearly got lost in the wardrobe…” He looked back at the Tardis. “Whoever that chap is who owns that thing, he must have one of the biggest clothes fetishes I’ve ever seen. Not sure I want to know who that big wedding dress was for.” He spied a long thick dead branch lying near his feet, and picked it up. Making a note of the direction of north, the Doctor set off to the south, intending to walk down the little river that flowed alongside the meadow. Not knowing where he learned it, he sang an old American college song, keeping time with his makeshift hiking staff as he walked. “John Jacob Jinkleheimer Schmit, his name is my name too…”

A short while later he came upon a small pasture containing a handful of forlorn dairy cattle. A scrawny Jersey cow looked over the rusted barbed wire fence at him. “Good morning!” The Doctor said cheerfully. The cow just stared at him and continued placidly chewing her cud. “I don’t suppose you could tell me where I am?” He asked, not really expecting any answer. “You’re in Rocky Brook, of course.” Startled, the Doctor stepped back and regarded the cow with a confounded expression on his face. The cow not only spoke english–albeit with an American accent, but sounded just like a young girl. “How very intriguing,” thought the Doctor. “No–mister, I’m up here. In the tree.” She giggled lightly. The Doctor looked up into the spreading branches of a nearby maple tree. There above him was a skinny girl in faded work clothes, sitting on an overhanging branch staring at him. She had on a gray wool cap under which seemed to be keeping a mop of unruly brown hair barely in check. Her dark brown eyes regarding him soberly, she asked, “Lost, huh? Well, I guess that’s easy to do, out here. Are you a hiker or a hunter?” Swinging her legs back and forth, she continued, “Where’d you park your car? If you just keep following the river south, you’ll come out to the main highway, eventually. It’s only about five miles from here, I think. So, you’re not really all that lost, I guess.” She squinted down at him, frowning suddenly. “Or are you? Tilting her head, she added, “Somehow, you don’t seem like most of the people I see up here. Where are you from–if it’s okay to ask, I mean?” Shoving his hands in his pockets, the Doctor looked up at her, smiling ruefully. “I Wish I could tell you, young lady,” he replied gently, “but I seem to have had a bit of an accident…can’t remember who I am or where I come from–or why I’m even here in—Rocky Brook? Where’s that, anyhow?.” It’s in the southern Adirondack mountains.” Seeing his blank look, she amended, “Northern New York State…about three or four hours south of Montreal, Quebec? Ring any bells? Geez—that accident of yours must’ve been one heck of a real doozy.” Something jarred the Doctor’s memory. A virtual catalog of information ran through his brain. “Ah. yes. I do seem to remember something.” Mentally ticking off a list in his head out loud he said, “Forty-million acre state park? Lake Champlain, Forty-six peaks over 4000 feet, Fort Ticonderoga, Roger’s Rangers, mines and tanneries, amusement parks, tons of trees, hoards of tourists from New Jersey? Is that right? By the way, what is your name–and what are you doing up in that tree? And do you know you ask a lot of questions?”

Marie jumped down blithely and stood a few meters from the Doctor. “I’m Marie. I live just down the way,” She pointed in the general direction of the other side of the pasture, “at Sage Hill Farm…well,” she admitted, looking down and scratching at the dirt with the toe of her boot, “it’s not really all that much of a farm, anymore.” The Doctor smiled at her. “That still doesn’t answer the question of why you were up in that tree.” She merely shrugged. “Felt like it, that’s all.” The Doctor, sensing that that wasn’t “all,” raised an eyebrow. “Really?” Squatting down, he looked up at her and asked gently, “That’s surely not the only reason, is it?” He noted that Marie seemed a bit taken aback by his posture and tone. She hesitated a long moment before answering. Suddenly, she seemed like a very shy–and lonely–thirteen year old. “Well…I like to watch the cows and birds and stuff. Sometimes the deer come down here, and there’s rabbits and hawks and stuff…” She trailed off as if afraid she’d spoken too much. The Doctor smiled. “I love nature, myself. There’s nothing like just sitting in the woods, listening to the wind and watching the life around you, the sights, the sounds, the colors. I seem to remember someone named Ralph once said to me that “The sky is the daily bread to the eyes.” I like being outdoors…always something new to see, isn’t there? No two days are ever exactly the same, are they, Marie?” Marie stared at him in wonder. “That’s right!” She said eagerly. “Just like snowflakes, and autumn leaves and the sky.” She looked at the Doctor with newfound respect. “I never knew anyone who felt like that, too, before. I thought I was the only one.” She looked down at the ground, a deep sadness etched in her expression. The Doctor reached out and touched her arm. “It must be hard, being alone so much. Where’s your parents?” “They died,” she mumbled, “in a car wreck. Mommy and daddy were fighting, and dad wasn’t looking where he was going and drove into the back of a truck. I was the only one who lived. They passed me around with all different aunts and uncles and such, but none of them wanted me. Said I was too different. Or a freak,” she added with a touch of bitterness too old for her years. “Finally, only old Uncle Tobias said he would take me in…he needed someone to tend to the farm, I guess.” She smiled thinly, “He doesn’t have to pay me, see?” The Doctor asked quietly, “Why would anyone possibly want to call you a freak? You seem like a perfectly nice, normal young lady to me.” She looked away abruptly. “It’s because of the way I am, I’m not like everyone else” The Doctor looked into the depths of her pensive eyes. There was something different about his girl. He could feel it, when he looked at her, something intangible that drifted through his sub-consciousness like a stray snowflake, only to melt away into nothingness.