After tea I walked the short distance to the sea and waited<\/p>\n
I had only been there a short while when I saw Beryl walking down the road towards the beach<\/p>\n
She was wearing a green bathing suit with a tropical towel wrapped around her waist<\/p>\n
My luck was in as a train from Minehead was due and the level crossing gates had been closed against traffic<\/p>\n
I quickly changed and entered the sea and began swimming in irregular circles watching Beryl all the time<\/p>\n
She waved to the engine driver who smiled broadly at her<\/p>\n
Although she was a wife and mother the engine driver and many people in the area still held Beryl in high regard because of her heroics at the 1956 Olympics<\/p>\n
They were proud to call her one of their own<\/p>\n
A few minutes later Beryl entered the sea and began swimming<\/p>\n
She swam every day unless the weather was poor or the conditions were dangerous<\/p>\n
This was my chance<\/p>\n
Although I was a strong swimmer I began to splash around<\/p>\n
This attracted her attention immediately<\/p>\n
Wait I am coming to get you <\/i><\/p>\n
Do not panic you will be all right <\/i><\/p>\n
Within a minute I felt Beryl\u2019s strong arms grasp me firmly<\/p>\n
You will be alright I promise <\/i><\/p>\n
I was swimming and then my legs began to hurt quite badly <\/i><\/p>\n
You experienced cramp that\u2019s all <\/i><\/p>\n
Before I knew it we were on the small beach not far from the railway station and Beryl had put her towel around my shoulders<\/p>\n
I pretended to cry<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t cry you are a big boy <\/i><\/p>\n
I was scared that I would drown <\/i><\/p>\n
If I had not saved you somebody else would have done so<\/i><\/p>\n
But you must always swim in your depth <\/i><\/p>\n
I have seen you swimming before and I think you might have become over confident <\/i><\/p>\n
You must always know your limits <\/i><\/p>\n
As I listened to Beryl speak I knew that she would not die tragically under a bus on a wet road in Fishponds<\/p>\n
But would live a normal life with her husband and two children<\/p>\n
She would not drown and become Beryl\/Viola for the next fifty years<\/p>\n
In a way I had saved Beryl from drowning but as I walked back to the camping coach with her I knew that I had committed the greatest of all time-crimes<\/p>\n
I had caused a junction in time<\/p>\n
Beryl explained what had happened to my parents and it was decided that I had not allowed sufficient time between my tea and my swim<\/p>\n
It was agreed that there were lessons to be learnt and after a hot bath I retired to my small bed as they considered that I was still in shock<\/p>\n
Neither Beryl or my parents had the faintest idea that I had created a theatre<\/p>\n
I had faked my distress to alter a time line<\/p>\n
But I knew that it was the only way to ensure that Viola was not cremated<\/p>\n
I had disembodied her and physically all that was left of her was the severed arm that was floating in the sea<\/p>\n
As each hour passed it would travel further and further from Blue Anchor as I had trapped time<\/p>\n
Beryl was safe to swim<\/p>\n
That was my last thought as I closed my eyes and when I opened them again I was in my car opposite the chapel of rest<\/p>\n
Beryl was not in there as she had not died in an accident<\/p>\n
There had been no accident<\/p>\n
On that Monday evening the skies above Bristol had remained grey and there had been no hint of a rainbow<\/p>\n
My thoughts were interrupted when my phone rang<\/p>\n
Viola <\/i><\/p>\n
You will wish it was <\/i><\/p>\n
I do not need to tell you what you have done Victor <\/i><\/p>\n
It was the most senseless action of your entire life <\/i><\/p>\n
Not only have you sent my sister spinning through time <\/i><\/p>\n
But you have caused a time crack <\/i><\/p>\n
You have warped time <\/i><\/p>\n
It will destroy you <\/i><\/p>\n
That is of no matter at least Viola is safe <\/i><\/p>\n
You must be aware that she is just infected matter floating somewhere in the dusts of time \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
That is not true <\/i><\/p>\n
It is my friend <\/i><\/p>\n
Perhaps it would have been kinder for me to have cremated her in the body of her host <\/i><\/p>\n
I did not reply as I knew that my actions had indeed disembodied Viola<\/p>\n
That was the risk I knew I had to take<\/p>\n
Whether she was time dust or not I could not say<\/p>\n
I had a feeling that she as still out there watching me<\/p>\n
Goodbye Victor <\/i><\/p>\n
I was jolted from my thoughts<\/p>\n
I was going to destroy you to gain your meagre strength but you are as infected as Viola was <\/i><\/p>\n
Goodbye Victor and as a last thought please be aware that disembodied or not I will still pursue Viola through all levels of time <\/i><\/p>\n
It is her destiny that we should merge after all we were conjoined at birth and twins should never separate <\/i><\/p>\n
My phone went dead<\/p>\n
I looked at the chapel of rest<\/p>\n
It looked dull in the grey light of the day<\/p>\n
I knew that I did not have long<\/p>\n
Within the hour the time warp would rip me apart<\/p>\n
A car passed me and for some reason I watched it in my rear view mirror<\/p>\n
It was then I noticed my father sitting in the back of my car<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0To Be Continued
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After tea I walked the short distance to the sea and waited I had only been there a short while when I saw Beryl walking down the road towards the beach She was wearing a green bathing suit with a tropical towel wrapped around her waist My luck was in as a train from Minehead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3739"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}