The Doctor To The Rescue!

 

Link to the story

https://medium.com/we-paw-bloggers/the-doctor-to-the-rescue-byline-frank-talaber-b5aa29203065

 

 

 

              (This Story was entered into a contest where I had to put myself into a TV Series)

                                                        The Doctor To The Rescue!

                   

Mark Huang; superb dentist, lousy criminal. Concerned about a Mr. Jones, a very strange patient of his. He thought he was an alien. I asked why?

He replied with, “he has four more teeth than has ever been recorded on a human.”

“And that makes you think he’s an alien, are you kidding me.” I asked him why he doesn’t just sneak into his house for a poke around. I got short shrift about the perils of breaking and entering!

“Well, Frank, if you’re so good at it, why don’t you go along? You can take this mysterious Doctor friend of yours with you,” he challenged me.

“Doctor who?” I hear you ask. Well, just The Doctor. As a novelist, I had regaled Mark with tales of my adventures through time and space with The Doctor and I think he thought they were just fiction. This was the first inkling I’d had that Mark might actually believe them!

 That is how I wound up outside the mysterious Mr Jones’ garage with my trusty terrier guard dog, Sparky, and a pouch full of various Endodontic hand files Mark had lent me as I had neglected to grab my lockpicks. Well, I didn’t think I’d be needing them to drink wine with my dentist.

            In about ten seconds I heard the audible click of the garage door unlocking. I scooped Sparky up in my arms and stepped over the threshold which triggered a slight but shrill alarm, followed by a flash like a thousand light bulbs. I fell to my knees onto damp grassy earth and bathed in sunlight and tropical heat. "What?"

Suddenly cast in shadow I fearfully raised my head to be greeted by a very quizzical stare from a living, breathing Stegosaurus! Okay. So, Mark was correct. His patient was weird!  

"How many times have I told you not to go on those wild adventures? Well at not at least without me!" My wife, Jen’s, voice echoed in my head as I hit speed dial one; the Doctor. A zap from his Sonic Screwdriver and my lowly Android phone could call anywhere and any-when. Only will it work in whatever hundred thousand BC?

            A screech rent the air above me and I fearfully looked around to find I’m surrounded by a pack of Stegosaurs and there's Pterodactyls flying overhead. Not what I expected to find in a normal suburban garage! A fifty-six Ford Thunderbird yes, Pterodactyls, no.

The stench of rotting meat assailed my nostrils as I spied Sparky tearing into the massive pile of dead something just below me. I hauled on his leash, nearly gagging on the stench. “I just hope you're not allergic to hundred-million-year-old dogfood," I scolded him. Who'd have thought terriers would love dinosaur meat? 

            More cries as two Carnivores, either T. Rex or Allosaurus types broke the jungle bushes and tore into one of the herbivores. Obviously, lunchtime. Hopefully neither Sparky nor I were next on the menu. A six-inch-long tooth lay discarded nearby, I grabbed it, more for moral support than anything else as I didn’t stand a hope in hell against such a beast. I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I heard the familiar “vworp, vworp” behind me.

            “Sure, is hot and humid in 200 million BC, give or take an epoch or three,” The Doctor remarked, as he tugged at his bowtie. “Now, it is usually me taking you on travels into danger and excitement, not the other way around, Frank Talaber.”

            We both stared around and watched the two giant carnivores, possibly Allosaurs feasting on a Stegosaurus carcass as I explained everything. He flicked his sonic screwdriver on and scanned around. “The residue seems to indicate that this is a device used by a Draconion, masters of disguise. Your dentist must be very observant; they usually blend in. However, they aren’t a peaceful species, so I think we need to get back in the Tardis and skedaddle pronto before…”

            It was too late; a metallic click and a strange buzzing filled the air. A being shimmered into view. The Doctor grabbed me dragging me behind the stinking carcass. “You know how I tell you ‘everything’s going to be fine’ even when I’ve no idea whether it will be or not,” The Doctor said, fiddling with his ever-present bowtie again.

            “Yes,” I replied.

            “Well, everything’s going to be fine!”

The being, dressed in upper-body armor, pulled a laser from its side and stared at a dial on its arm. “Yup, just what I thought! Your dentist’s alien is a Draconion, and he isn’t in a picture-taking mood.”

The alien trained its laser in our direction just as my small terrier leapt from nowhere and ripped into his leg. Caught off guard, the Draconian looked down, confused, screaming as Sparky teared into him. It dropped its laser in shock and flicked a button to remove its helmet in order to better see his attacker.

            “Good God!” It wasn’t human, or even mammalian in nature. It was some sort of reptilian; similar to the Allosaurus, but smaller, more refined, more …

… more evolved! The alien stared up as something large blocked out sunlight as one of the carnivores thumped past us. It had left its meal and moved to attack.

            The Draconion bent over, swatted Sparky aside reaching for its weapon. Too late. The huge Allosaurus reptile snapped the screaming being just above the knees, lifted its head straight up and swallowed the alien whole, luckily ignoring us. All that remained were mere shins and blood-filled boots.

            A yapping filled the air as Sparky ran up to us, tail a-wagging, and The Doctor smiled and scratched him behind the ears. “You are the most annoying, most troublesome, most incredible little dog in the universe. Let’s get you and your inquisitive master home!”

 

My wife, Jen, came to me the next day holding the six-inch-long tooth. I had some explaining to do!

           

 

A blog for the upcoming All Hallow’s Eve. Care For Some Ghosts With Those Scones?

 

Care For Some Ghosts With Those Scones?

 

A blog for the upcoming All Hallow’s Eve

Walking into the stunning lobby of the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, BC, Canada, with its amazing multi-faceted crystal chandelier, you'd never know that, among the thousands of tourists, walk several ghosts.

Its designer, Francis Rattenbury, who died a very lonely death in England after being bludgeoned to death by the very young lover of his second wife is reported to be one. As a bold young architect, he moved to Canada and won his first blind entry into designing the BC parliament buildings by signing it, ‘local Canadian architect’. Then built the five-star hotel that everyone views as they come into Victoria, The Fairmont Empress.

Another is Margaret from Calgary, an elegantly dressed older woman, taking afternoon tea, always searching for her would-be beau. On the outlook for the man that admired her large-brimmed hats. She passed away in her room, having lived there for months on end in the winter. The room later became the un-rentable room as lights would flicker and TV channels would change.

Working on the redesign of the hotel when the Fairmont chain bought it two construction workers quit when they spotted a man hanging from the rafters. In fact, a man did hang himself in that room decades earlier in the fifties.

There are reports of maids being spotted long after their deaths, still servicing the rooms. A woman who knocks on the suites' doors trying to find her room. Guests who try to help her are surprized when she leads them to the elevators and vanishes.

Bastion Square, in central Victoria. The site of the original cemetery was covered over and built on. None of the nearly thirteen hundred bodies moved only the headstones, some of which were found in an old storehouse. "You left the bodies, and you only moved the headstones". Okay, I pinched that from a very famous movie (PS. I’ve talked to some of the store owners and yes, they have crazy stories of things that have happened). Wonder if things fly about in nearby buildings! Perhaps that, and the fact that ley lines are reported to cross the area, is the reason that Victoria is the most haunted city in North America.

The weirdest true story is courtesy of the doorman of the Empress. While waiting for the valet to return my vehicle, I struck up a conversation (as I usually do) and asked if he'd any ghost stories to help me with my novel. Apparently one couple, looking very ashen, told him that they returned to their locked room only to discover the wife's luggage had been taken out of her suitcase and "ghost clothing" put in. "Ghost clothing?" I asked. "Very old clothes," he said.

As a writer, the question I always ask myself is what if? What if there's a ghost walking about on his tourist travels, dressed like us. I think after that sobering thought something stronger than the great tea they serve there is required.

I myself have never seen a ghost. But would love to hear from people that have, I went to a Writers Convention in Calgary, When Words Collide https://www.whenwordscollide.org/ and my talk was the last of the night, nearly at midnight, and after asked if anyone had ghost stories and several told me of theirs, this I’ll put in another blog, some for the first time sharing. Glad they felt free to open up.

So, if anyone want to share their ghostly experiences with me, I might add to the next blog or safe it for a novel idea as well.

PS. I did put the Fairmont Empress doorman’s ghost story into my novel, The Mystery of Ms. Teak and yes, he was walking around in modern day clothing, you’ll have to buy the book to find out who, but all I’ll say is he signs his dinner bills with Local Canadian Ghost.

 

And if you are interested learning more about Ghosts in Victoria, check out these videos below.

https://youtu.be/rXJT3R8qkGU

https://youtu.be/AklQImD0mzo