Chapter 42
Montgomery Crescent, Exeter
10.17 a.m.
Helena watched the silver Astra from the upstairs window. She frowned with curiosity when she saw a man step out and walk to her house. She heard three loud raps on the door.
Howie waited for the door to open for what seemed an awfully long time. He heard footsteps along the hallway and the click of the lock.
“Helena?”
“My god, I remember you, you’re Howie Doyle, what the hell are you doing here. I’ve not seen you in years,” said Helena, with a broad grin.
Howie was confused. He didn’t understand why Helena accepted who he was. She greeted him as an old long lost friend and not someone who was supposed to be dead. He wasn’t certain what to say next.
“What are you doing around these parts? she asked.
“We’ve driven down to see you, well more to see……,” Howie was cut short by Helena.
“I get it, you’ve not really come to see me, you’ve come to see my pain in the backside husband haven’t you?”
Reluctantly, Howie nodded.
“He’s here, he’ll be pleased to see you. Let me get Jimbo, he’s out back.”
“Jimbo?” said Howie.
“Sorry, Jimbo’s my pet name for him.”
Helena trotted down the hall and called her husband.
Of course Jimbo, Helena calls James ‘Jimbo’, thought Howie. Although, he wondered why James had never mentioned this back in the other world.
He turned to the car and mouthed ‘he’s here, Helena’s gone to get him.’
Howie thought about the vision on the hill, and wondered why Helena had been married to someone other than James.
A minute later Helena returned.
“Jimbo’s on his way, he’s wiping grease off his hands. He’s fixing the damn washing machine again.”
Howie nodded and nervously waited for him to appear. He wondered what would go through James’ mind when he saw who was at the door.
Helena’s husband stood alongside her with a dirty towel in his hand. He had grease on his face.
Howie was speechless. He’d seen the vision, so had been warned what to expect, but he was lost for words.
Markland and Jodie watched from the car. Jodie was confused, and Markland was concerned.
“What brings you here mate, I’ve not seen you since the wedding?”
“Wedding, whose wedding?” replied Howie.
“Ours, who else?” he replied, whilst affectionately ruffling Helena’s hair.
The colour drained from Howie’s face.
“What’s the matter?” asked Helena.
“But you said Jimbo, I thought you were married to James?” enquired Howie, in a tense tone.
“James? James who?”
“James Trafford.”
“Oh him. My God, I’ve not seen him since school …… why on earth did you think I was married to him.”
“I’m not sure,” stuttered Howie, “it was because you said you were married to Jimbo.”
The two of them looked at him in such a way that Howie assumed they thought him to be insane.
Markland heard the conversation from the car, and was worried what Howie might do next.
“Jimbo? That’s what I call him, he’s not James,” said Helena, with an air of confusion.
“I don’t get it, why Jimbo?” asked Howie.
“Dean, ….. James Dean ….. Jimbo is for James Dean,” explained Helena as to why she referred to her husband, Dean Barrington-Smyth as Jimbo.”
“So you really are Helena Barrington-Smyth?”
Dean’s attitude towards his old friend from Bristol changed.
“It’s lovely to see you again Howie, but I’m not sure why you’ve come to see us and to be honest with you, you’re making no sense and you’re frightening my wife.”
Howie didn’t know what to say.
Markland saw that a situation was about to ensue, and decided it was time to intervene.
“Come on, we’d better go over,” said Markland. He and Jodie got out of the car and scurried across the road.
“Hi, my name’s Mr Garraway and this is Miss Standwick. We’re with Howie.”
“What’s this about?” asked Dean.
“Howie insisted that he wanted to see you both, and we agreed to bring him down. We weren’t happy about him travelling on his own,” replied Markland.
Jodie was quick to catch on.
“He’s been unwell lately, I’ve been taking care of him,” she added, in a whispered voice.
Howie glanced at her disapprovingly.
“You’d better come in,” said Dean reluctantly.
“Would you like something to drink?” asked Helena.
Markland and Jodie said ‘yes’ and thanked her. Helena gestured to Dean to follow her to the kitchen.
“What do you think this is about?” said Helena, waiting for the kettle to boil.
“I’m not sure, it seems like our old friend is suffering some kind of mental health issue, the poor bastard.”
Markland, Jodie and Howie waited in the lounge. They spoke in hushed tones, and agreed that they shouldn’t explain what was happening.
Helena walked in with a tray of drinks, followed by Dean who carried the biscuit barrel.
Markland took the lead.
“Howie’s been reminiscing about the two of you, he really wanted to see you, but for some reason he thinks you’re married to his other friend James.”
Helena and Dean looked at him with a manner of sympathy.
“He thinks it’s great that you’re at university doing a PhD, and that you’ve got twin boys. Where are they right now?” said Markland.
“They’re at nursery.”
Jodie leaned in towards Helena and Dean.
“Howie remembers some stuff with great detail, but gets mixed up with other stuff. He’s told us all about what you’re doing, and your young boys, but gets confused with the basics, like who’s married to who,” whispered Jodie.
Helena and Dean nodded.
“Tell me, does Mr Masterson still live next door?” asked Markland.
They nodded in unison.
“And that noisy guy next door with the beard, Drew Lees?”
“Yes, unfortunately he’s still a nuisance, despite the many disputes we’ve had, he continues to keep us, and the boys, awake at night,” said Dean.
“But how would Howie know about either of our neighbours, we’ve not spoken since not long after our wedding, how did he know?”
As if on cue, a muffled repetitive thud emanated through the wall. The thud preceded a long drawn out deep, almost subsonic rumble, which progressed into an unbearable cacophony.
Helena rubbed her forehead and glanced towards Dean.
“He’s started early today.” Her voice was almost inaudible above the noise thudding from Lees’ house.
Dean closed his eyes in an attempt to suppress his anger.
“Imagine our children having to sleep through this,” shouted Helena.
Howie didn’t pay any attention to the noise booming through the walls. Instead he became agitated about something else and got up from the chair.
“Why don’t we just tell them, why don’t we let them know what’s going on?”
“Sit down Howie, it’s okay,” said Jodie.
“No I won’t sit down. We should just tell them!”
Helena and Dean watched and were worried for their old friend.
Howie became more agitated as Jodie tried to reason with him.
It was hard for the five of them to have a conversation due to the racket from next door. Dean stood up, marched to the wall and hammered his fists against it.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”
It was like someone had shut of the power. The deafe
ning row ended immediately.
“Well that’s never happened before,” said Helena, in a relieved tone.
After a half a minute, during which no one spoke, Howie continued from where he’d left off.
“Please let me tell them why we’ve come, they need to know why we’re really here. They need to know we’re all in this together.”
“Sorry about this, it’s probably best that we leave now,” said Jodie.
“All in what together?” asked Dean, his tone sounding borderline threatening.
“We’ve come to see you, and we’ve come from a parallel world. We’ve come from a world where James Trafford is in trouble. He’s been swapped from another world where he’s married to Helena and he needs to get back, and we need to help him.”
Dean relaxed and shook his head.
“Okay, it was nice to see you, but I think it’s time you should go,” said Dean, with a compassionate smile.
Markland stood up and put his arm on Howie’s shoulder,
“Come on my friend, it’s time to head back.”
Howie resisted. The tension of the past few weeks, the crossing over to a parallel world and now to find that James wasn’t here, had become too much for him.
“Take your hands off me Garraway and don’t treat me like a mental case. Why can’t we all just tell them what’s going on.”
Markland gave him a look which Howie knew meant there would be trouble. Markland was a well-built man, who could easily over-power him and Dean was built like a brick house. He knew he was no match.
Dean was becoming tense and wanted them out of the house. Helena was scared.
“It looks like you’ve got off at the wrong world mate,” said Dean, opening the front door.
Markland escorted Howie along the hall and Jodie followed behind.
“I’m sorry, this wasn’t such a good idea after all,” she said, stepping into the garden.
“I hope he gets better,” said Helena.
Jodie smiled sympathetically and nodded.
Robert Masterson left his house, walked along his garden path and directed a smile towards Helena who turned the other way. Dean noticed the brief interaction between his wife and their neighbour and made a mental note of what he’d just seen.
Jodie and Markland bid Helena and Dean farewell, whilst Howie trudged behind.
Markland and Jodie simultaneously looked towards Drew Lees’ house, and both saw the man staring at them from an upstairs window. He threw them an evil look.
“My god, I’m glad I don’t have him as a neighbour,” said Jodie.
Markland steered the rented car along Montgomery Crescent and away from Helena and Dean’s house.
“Why couldn’t we have told them the truth,” whined Howie.
“Because Dean was right when he said we’ve got off at the wrong world. For some reason we’ve ended up in a world where Helena has pursued her dream to achieve a PhD, she has twin boys, is neighbours with Masterson and Drew Lees, but has married a different person. We must have travelled along the wrong branch and along to a different parallel world. Here she barely remembers James Trafford and here you clearly didn’t die,” said Jodie.
“She’s right, something went wrong on the hill, it’s sent us along the wrong route,” added Markland. “And I would advise you that from now on you keep your emotions under control. There was no need for that outburst.”
Howie lowered his head.
“So what now?” he asked turning to Jodie.
“We return to Bristol, go back to the woods and try again.”
“But before we return, there is something I’d like to do,” said Markland.