The Impossible Year

Daleks in Manhattan

''Where are we?'' Martha asked as soon as they all stepped out of the Tardis.

 '''Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely. Martha, have you met my friend?'' The Doctor spoke with a smirk as he got Martha to turn around.

''Is that? Oh, my God. That's the Statue of Liberty,'' Martha gasped in surprise, completely in awe of the statue.

''Gateway to the New World. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,'' The Doctor recited.

''That's so brilliant. I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, new one,'' Violet let out a giggle from Martha's comment.

''Yeah, but let's hope this is a little less eventful,'' Jones added, as he did not like the last adventure they had gone on.

'''Well, there's the genuine article. So good, they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. No wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam,'' The Doctor ignored Jones and begun to ramble.

''I wonder what year it is, because look, the Empire State Building's not even finished yet,'' Martha pointed out gesturing to the building that was surrounded by scaffolding.

''Work in progress. Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, which makes the date somewhere around...'' But he was cut off by Martha who had spotted the New York Record lying on the bench near to them.

''November first 1930.''

''You're getting good at this,'' The Doctor commented not noticing the newspaper in her hand.

''She cheated,'' Jones grumbled. He was in a bad mood for some reason and Violet was going to find out one way or another. She just had to wait until they were alone.

''Eighty years ago. It's funny, because you see all those old newsreels all in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are. It's real. It's now. Come on then, you. Where do you want to go first?'' The Doctor asked as Violet went to look at the newspaper Martha was holding.

''Look,'' She said pointing to an article with a very interesting looking headline.

''I think our detour just got longer,'' The Doctor commented as he noticed what his daughter had seen.

''Hooverville Mystery Deepens. What's Hooverville?'' Martha asked glancing between the two Time Lords.

''Herbert Hoover, thirty first President of the USA, came to power a year ago. Up till then New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, and then,'' The Doctor was explaining to Martha as the group walked through central park.

''The Wall Street Crash, yeah? When was that, 1929?'' Martha asked.

''Yeah about that time,'' Jones added nodding, causing the Doctor to shake his head. Jones knew a lot more than he let on and one day he was going to find out why because the Doctor was willing to be it wasn't from the books he'd read.

 ''Yeah. Whole economy wiped out overnight. Thousands of people unemployed. All of a sudden, the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So, they ended up here in Central Park,'' The Doctor spoke gesturing around with his hands as to prove what he was saying.

''What, they actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?'' Martha asked.

''Pretty much yeah, but it's not their fault,'' Violet added as they all continued to walk through the park eventually arriving at what seemed to be the Hooverville that Doctor was describing.

''Ordinary people lost their jobs. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything. There are places like this all over America. No one's helping them. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go,'' The Doctor whispered as they entered into what seemed to Violet more like a small village.