PINK OBOE

PART 2

"What on earth are you doing here?" demanded Lady Cranny with an accusatory air, addressing the Doctor as she entered the attic corridor accompanied by the indian, "This area of the house is off limits to guests!"

"Sorry about that!" apologised the Doctor, "Only I seem to have lost my way! I discovered a secret passage in my room, you see - and before I knew it I'd been completely turned around in the labyrinth of interconnecting corridors!"

"It is I who must apologise!" acknowledged Lady Cranny, mustering the most half-hearted of smiles, "Some areas of the house are very old, the more modern wings constructed around a far earlier building - the Cranny family of the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries were always very accommodating towards the many Catholic priests fleeing from persecution!"

"Well believe me, the last thing I want to do is poke about in a priest's hole! In fact, I prefer to avoid back passages altogether!" assured the Chronolord, his attention soon drawn towards the South American accompanying his hostess and the not insignificant in size penis sheath dangling between the fellow's thighs, "Blimey, I hope that thing doesn't fit you like a glove, otherwise I'll have to keep you well away from my young friend Honey! If I don't, she might decide I'm not man enough for her anymore!"

"And now, you really must allow me to show you back to your room!" insisted Lady Cranny, keen to urge the old man away from the attic.

"Suits me, I'm sick of searching for a way out!" shrugged the Doctor, "By the way, before I forget, I discovered something rather unexpected sealed away inside one of your cupboards!"

"Oh? And what was that?" wondered Lady Cranny; at once the Chronolord led her to the linen closet, wherein the old woman witnessed the nurse still struggling to free herself from her bonds.

"Well? Any idea who she is?" enquired the Chronolord eventually.

"Yes, I believe she is one of our guests!" explained Lady Cranny, though the Doctor doubted the woman was being entirely truthful, "An excellent costume, don't you think? Very authentic! I'd imagine this to be some sort of prank, you know what the younger generation are like! Now, let's leave Bo'Norr to attend to this young lady whilst I return you to your room!"

"Thank Fallico for that! I was starting to feel a bit like Cinderella, you know - missing the ball!" exclaimed the Doctor, "Besides which, I can't wait to get stuck into all those gorgeous girls in their nineteen-twenties attire! What are they called again? Slappers?"

"Flappers, I think you'll find..." corrected Lady Cranny.

And so, as the ageing widow led the Doctor downstairs, the old man intent on enjoying a long overdue soak in the by now lukewarm waters of the bath, he reassured Lady Cranny that he would breathe not a word of what he had witnessed; entering the bedroom, the old man observed to his immediate distaste the Harlequin costume stretched out upon the bed, little suspecting it had recently been borrowed by a silent figure fleeing into the wainscotting...

*   *   *

"Love a duck, where's the Doc?" grumbled Honey Sucks, seated outside upon the terrace beside Sir Roger Muir, the annual ball still in full swing, "Crikey, If I 'ave to endure this bleedin' fiasco, then so should 'e!"

"Well I hope an old codger like me isn't boring you too much, my dear!" smiled the silver-haired Chief Constable.

"Nah, course not! Although to tell ya the truth, I'm far more interested in ol' todgers..." revealed the cockney, her hand creeping across Sir Roger's inner thigh, "So 'ow 'bout we find somewhere a little more private, only I've a few things ya might wanna take down as evidence, if ya know what I mean..."