THE FLAPPER'S FAN

Chapter 4 - Your Virtue is Quite Safe

"What do we do now?" I asked. I was asking myself more than him. I couldn't let her just walk away without knowing her part in my mysterious time displacement. "Oh look, Charlie's friend has finally arrived!" We stood together and watched Charlie embrace the other girl. She seemed pretty enough, if one liked the horsey sort with front teeth so huge we could see them clearly from here. Obviously, dentistry had a long way to go before the twenty first century. We both winced when her shrill, hiccupping laughter reached us.

"Come on, we can go this way." He grabbed my hand and a few minutes later we were zig zagging our way through the kitchens, down a narrow stairway and out the back door. It was cool out, and my dress was sleeveless, causing me to shiver.

"My coat!" I remembered Harry saying they had checked coats as well. Nick sighed and dragged me around to the front, taking my ticket and leaving me beside the doorway.

"Stay here," he said, his hands on my shoulders. He exchanged a look with the doorman who nodded, then he slipped back inside, coming back moments later with our coats. In the meantime, a cab had pulled up, the driver sitting up in front leaning down to take instructions.

"Follow that cab in front please Joe, but not too close that it's obvious."

I looked from the driver to Nick in confusion. Nick gave me an apologetic smile and a shrug.

"Joe, this is Miss...."

"Adams, but you can call me Eddie."

"Pleased ta meetcha, Miss Eddie," he said with a cockney accent, touching his finger to his cap and dipping his head slightly in greeting.

Nick helped me up into the cab and I sat back, wondering what I had been thinking on my ride to the club earlier. This strange vehicle was unlike anything I had seen before, and certainly not like a modern automobile. As it was night, and we couldn't see out the front of the cab, we had to trust Joe knew where he was going, and we were left in the dark, literally, in the back together.

"So, you're Australian?" he asked me, breaking the awkward silence. "How long have you been in London?"

"Almost a month, this time."

"You've been before?"

"Yes, about ten years ago."

He frowned. "During the war?" Oh, bugger. I had to watch what I said.

"No, just after. Seven years ago actually." He nodded, looking at me strangely.

"I met a lot of Australians during the war. Good soldiers."

He was talking about the ANZACs, but I wasn't sure if they were commonly known as that yet. Best to avoid anything I wasn't absolutely sure about.

"We lost a lot of good men."

"We all did." There was pain in his voice. I thought of my mate Andy who had come back from Afghanistan a different person than the one who had left. I could just make out Nick's face in the flicker of passing street lights through the window and I recognised the same look I had seen in Andy's eyes. War changes a person, in any time.

The cab slowed and then came to a jerky stop. A moment later Joe opened the door.

"She's just met some bloke for dinner, sir."

"Did you recognise him?"

"You won't like it, sir."

Nick narrowed his eyes. "Who is it Joe?"

"It's Mr Murray sir, from the picture company."

"John Murray?"

"Yessir."