Chapter Seventeen
Tom and Jodie got past the barriers at Golders Green station. It was dark and a little cold. The time was 5.17 p.m. Tom went left to go to the northbound platform while Jodie carried straight on to the southbound one. They had decided that if they both just concentrated on one line each they would be less likely to miss the driver if he were working that day.
They both sat down on their respective station benches and pretended to read something while the tubes came in and out of the station every couple of minutes. After about 20 minutes they moved to other benches to avoid attracting attention.
If they spotted the driver they would phone the other on their mobile phone; they had both just replaced their old ones. Jodie would also call Tom if the detective had returned her call. After about an hour, Tom called Jodie. ‘I’ve just seen the driver pull in.’ There could be no mistake: there was no one else who could possibly look like the driver. It was 6.14 p.m.
The driver got out of his cab onto the opposite platform to where Tom was. This platform was where the staff cafeteria was and allowed no access to the public. Another driver got into the cab of the tube, not greeting the driver in any way. The driver had his black shoulder bag that all tube drivers seemed to have. He looked around him. Tom quickly put down his phone and lifted his magazine to cover his face.
The driver then began to walk down the stairs. Tom phoned Jodie again, ‘He’s on the move and could be headed in your direction; there’s no reason for him to come onto my platform. Move away from sight of the stairs in case he comes up. I’ll phone you in a minute when I know what’s going on.’ Tom was nervous: if the driver noticed them then he might realise what they were up to and try to trap them.
Tom went down to the bottom of the stairs to see if he could see anything but the driver did not come his way. Tom’s phone then rang; it was Jodie, ‘He’s just come up the stairs. Come quickly. A tube’s coming.’
Damn, thought Tom, the driver might recognise Jodie. He hurried towards the southbound platform. As he got to the bottom of its stairs, he could hear a tube pulling in. He then rushed to the top of the stairs and could just see the back of the driver getting onto the tube. Jodie was at the top.
‘Quick,’ she said. ‘We mustn’t lose him.’ They both got on just before the doors closed.
As the tube moved off they entered the carriage next to the one where the driver was. They went to the door leading to it and looked into it. The driver was sitting on the left in the middle of the carriage reading a newspaper. They could see they were not the only people looking at him; other passengers also gave his odd looking appearance the occasional glance. The tube had entered the tunnel and was by now getting near to North End. When it passed it the driver looked up from his newspaper. He seemed to have a concerned look on his face when he did this, Tom thought.
As the tube passed through North End, the driver remembered when he had first encountered the creatures and made his arrangement with them. It was twelve years ago, after he had become a tube driver. His tube had been passing through the southbound platform area of North End and he had seen someone run through the platform area. It was not a tube worker because the person did not have any safety clothing on. He did not think much of it, but a short time later when his tube was waiting for another tube to leave Hampstead, he saw a ‘person’ stick its head out of the bottom of the tunnel in front of him. He could not believe it.
He then took an interest in North End and learned its history from his local library and other drivers who also mentioned they had seen some strange things at the disused station. One day he managed to steal the keys to the entrance to its surface building from a tube engineer in the Golders Green staff canteen and began to explore it. After a few late night visits he encountered the creatures. They looked at him and he at them with fear and amazement. But the creatures did not attack him and even tried to communicate with him; it was as though he was related to them in some way.
From what he could make out from their guttural English with a very limited vocabulary, their habits were sleeping during the day and scavenging for food at night. With their misshapen heads and bow legs, the driver assumed they had rickets, not having any or much access to daylight. Their eyes were also very large, which he thought was understandable because of the darkness. Their lean bodies were probably because their diet did not have many carbohydrates.
He was happy that he had found the creatures. They were something no one else knew about. What was more, they were the only people who did not treat him harshly or make fun of him. In fact, apart from his mother, who had died some years ago, they were the only friends he had.
Over a period of time he fully gained their trust and brought them food. But they said they preferred human food. He had been surprised at how frank they were with him about this, as though they knew he would not mind about such things. Then gradually because he did not want them to be discovered he told them he would bring them such food. They were his only friends and their so-called victims came from a world that despised and mocked him.
These people got what they deserved from the creatures; just as the pesky interfering teenagers soon would, thought the driver, as the tube pulled into Camden Town tube station.
The driver got off and headed towards the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line. Jodie and Tom followed from behind at a safe distance in the busy station and got on the northbound tube that came a short while later. They again watched him from the adjoining carriage; he did not seem to notice them following him.
At Highgate, he got off again, went up the escalator, turned right, and then went up the final escalator to the high street. This is where he must live, thought Tom excitedly. Jodie’s phone then buzzed. Jodie probably thinks it’s the detective, to judge by her face, thought Tom. He looked at her while she listened to the phone message. But she silently mouthed that it was only her mother.
Tom and Jodie continued to follow the driver until he went into a small block of flats in a small council estate just round the corner from the tube station. They could go no further without risking his seeing them or arousing suspicion but after a couple of minutes a light come on in a first floor flat. It had dirty-looking windows with old net curtains, and as Tom was assuming this must be where the driver lived, he confirmed this when he came to the window to close the heavier curtains behind the net ones.
‘Let me see how many flats the doorway he went through has,’ Tom said. ‘Stay here.’ When he did this he came back. ‘There are four flats, 21, 22, 23, and 24. It looks like he lives at 24. I can check on the electoral role on the internet, who lives in this flat.’
They then continued to watch the windows of the flat. The light went off then another in the window next to it went on. After a few minutes it also went off. Tom waited for about half ‘n hour before deciding that the driver must have gone to bed, for he had not come back out of the entrance. It was 8.06 p.m.
‘Come on. Let’s get a drink at the pub we passed by the tube station,’ said Tom. They entered the Woodman pub on the corner of the high street and Tom got them both a drink: a pint of Guinness for himself and a half a lager for Jodie. The pub was not particularly busy and they sat down.
‘Did you see the way the other passengers looked at the driver?’ asked Jodie.
‘Yes,’ replied Tom. ‘He certainly looks odd and even evil-looking. In fact when I saw him at Golders Green, changing with another driver, the other driver did not even greet him. Maybe that’s why he does the things he does with the creatures because no one else seems to like him.’
‘He seems to look like them a little or has the same sort of feel as them, don’t you think?’ asked Jodie.
Tom responded, ‘There does seem to be some kinship between them and him. But they say that pets start to look like their owners and--‘
‘The owners look like their pets,’ finished Jodie. ‘Look, I’m just going to phone my mum. She left a message for me to call her
earlier and will definitely be worried.’
‘Ok,’ said Tom and watched her as she went outside. It’s funny, he thought, how much had happened to them both in the last week and here they were now having a drink in a pub; almost like nothing bad had happened - almost like they were a couple on a date. Tom felt embarrassed by that last thought. He had never really had a girlfriend; he always felt shy with girls.
Jodie returned and sat down.
‘Anything from the detective?’ asked Tom without much hope.
‘No,’ said Jodie. ‘It looks like he does think I’m a little crazy.’
‘Maybe he’ll call tomorrow,’ said Tom unconvincingly.
‘Maybe,’ said Jodie. ‘Anyway, what about your family; won’t they be worried about you?’
‘My mother is with her sister until Sunday and thinks I’m studying. She’s the only one I live with. My father left a long time ago and I have no brothers or sisters,’ replied Tom.
‘I’m sorry about that,’ said Jodie. ‘What about a girlfriend?’
Tom’s felt his face go red. ‘I don’t have one at the moment.’
‘Oh,’ said Jodie. ‘Well, not to worry I don’t have a boyfriend either. So that makes two of us.’
Tom felt suddenly quite happy when she said this. ‘Anyway, I’ll check the electoral register tonight or tomorrow to see if he’s on it,’ he said. ‘I will then see what else there might be on the net about him. You never know. But we’ll have to follow him again tomorrow in case he gets up to anything.’
‘But what if he does something tonight?’ asked Jodie.
‘Well, we can’t possibly watch him 24/7. You have to go home to your parents and I have to get some sleep, besides which there’s no place for me to watch his flat without attracting attention,’ replied Tom.
‘Yeh, I suppose you’re right. We’ll just have to hope we get lucky again tomorrow,’ said Jodie finishing her drink. ‘Let’s go. I told my mum I would be home in about an hour.’
‘No problem,’ said Tom as he finished his Guinness.
They got back on the tube and Tom saw Jodie safely back to her street in Brent Cross. They agreed to meet at his house at 2 p.m. the next day. On his walk home he thought about the events of the day, especially her. He reached home at about 10.30 p.m. and went straight to bed. He would look on the internet tomorrow, he thought tiredly.