Foston Slacks - Time's Flies

13

After blowing out the candle and suffering a kiss on each cheek, Clara felt she could no longer muster even a strained smile for Café Man. It wasn't his fault, this Earth's Clara would probably have found it endearing, but she, the real Clara, the original Clara, didn't care for it in the slightest.

As Foston began to tear into the cake, swapping between mouthfuls of Full English and cake, Clara considered waiting outside. Down the street. Far, far away from the café, but she feared Foston would simply disappear, forgetting her and leaving her on an Earth where a happier, well-loved, version of herself already lived. With her flowing hair and matching shoes. She knew she shouldn't, but she hated Clara.

"I think we should leave." She leaned forward, over the table, pulling Foston's hand away from his face, the sugary icing from the cake sticking to the fur around his mouth.

"Quite right." Wiping his mouth with the napkin from his lap, Foston dug into his pockets, pulling out a large handful of coins and sticky boiled sweets. He counted out a few of the coins. "It's pounds on Earth, isn't it?"

She nodded and Foston picked out around fifteen pound coins, dropping them onto the table. Standing, he waved at Café Man, paused, picked up the last of the cake and headed for the door. Clara began to follow, only to find herself stopped by Café Man, his hand behind his back, a fatherly smile radiating from his lined face.

"I almost forgot. Here, before you go. It's not much, but I had to get you something." With a flourish, Café Man brought his hand out from behind his back, offering Clara a package around three inches square, wrapped with a purple bow.

Hesitating, Clara took the box. She couldn't accept it, of course. This present, whatever it was, was the other Clara's. Super-Clara's. She opened it anyway, untying the purple bow and tucking it into her pocket. She lifted the lid of the box and gasped. There, on a lump of fake satin, sat a beautiful gold bracelet, a single diamond inset at the top. She turned it around in her fingers and saw writing engraved on the inside of the band.

"To the daughter I never had, love Kevin." It read.

Clara's heart almost broke, her hand clutching at her chest, tears appearing in the corners of her eyes. This time the tears were the kind she could dab with one finger, blinking the tears back and looking up at the ceiling. She knew she had to put it back in the box, re-tie the bow and give it back to Kevin the Café Man, ready for him to give to this world's Clara.

"Thanks!" She squealed, clipping the bracelet to her wrist, attaching the delicate golden chain.

Giving Kevin the Café Man a double thumbs-up, she strode out of the café, tossing the box onto a table as she passed, and ran to catch up to Foston. Upon reaching him, she made a meal of pretending to fix her hair, the wrist, with the bracelet on, wiggling before the lemur's eyes. He didn't notice.

"What we have to do, I think, is think outside of the box. Act, not react. Go forward, not sideways or back." Foston tapped on the face of his watch as he walked. He seemed like he knew, now, what he was doing.

"So, you know how we can get back to my Earth? You've worked it out!" Clara felt giddy at the thought that Foston may not be as incompetent as he appeared.

"Ha! No!" He laughed as he tapped away at the watch.

"Then what are you going on about now?" The giddiness dissipated as she realised he was, in fact, as incompetent as he appeared.

"What's happened every time we've gone through a Breach to get you home?" He stopped suddenly and Clara bumped into his back. "I'll tell you. We've not found ourselves where we should have found ourselves. We've found ourselves in many different places and times, but not where we wanted to find ourselves."