Full Circle

Chapter 2. THIS WAY

NO SOONER HAD JENNY walked a few paces into the street when a strange feeling came upon her. She felt a chill spread from her feet right up to her head, and the noise from the city seem to lower to such an extent that it felt almost quiet. She glanced back at the street sign. Still it read, "THIS WAY".

"There's something strange about all this," said Jenny quietly to herself. "The weather seems to have instantly changed and it's as if I'm in an entirely different city."

The further she walked down the street, the more she noticed that the houses on either side seemed to be quite old-fashioned yet not particularly old. What did it mean? Every car she passed, though there were not too many, was coloured black and looked more fit for a museum than a city street. But at least they looked almost brand-new. Finally, she began to notice the odd person walking along the street, or pottering about in their front gardens. Their clothes were very old-fashioned.

"Have I gone through a time warp and travelled back in time?" murmured Jenny to herself, befuddled. "No, no, that's ridiculous. Let me think..." Jenny stroked her chin, deep in thought. "Ah," she said, raising her eyebrows. "I've got it now. This must be a street full of fanatics who like to live as people did in the old days. The street sort of reminds me of a London street from a Second World War film. Strange that the whole street would go along with this nonsense. Mum and Dad will never believe this. The houses, the cars and the clothes. What a palaver. Nutters, complete nutters. And I thought I was bad."

But then Jenny saw a sight that disconcerted her a little. She saw in the distance a gang of children just a few years younger than her charging down the street in her direction. She was disconcerted because they too were wearing old-fashioned clothes. The boys were wearing short trousers. Now she could imagine adults suffering from a stupid fanaticism—but kids like herself. Surely an impossibility.

"I'm going to put this online," she said, plucking her smartphone from her larger inside school uniform blazer pocket.

Jenny tapped on her smartphone and activated its camera. She wafted her smart phone slowly about in every direction getting a good all-round panoramic video of the street. And as the gang of about six or seven kids began to noisily reach her in their highly enthusiastic undisciplined charge, she steadied her smart phone on them and concentrated on getting a quality video.

Most of the kids swept right around her, as if she wasn't there, as if she was too boring. However, a boy and a girl quickly decelerated to a stop, having apparently taken an interest in her videoing.

"Oi, girly," said the boy. "Wot's that thingy in your hand? Why are you pointing it at us?"

"I'm just doing a video for the Internet," said Jenny.

The children looked at her, puzzled for a moment, before looking at each other.

"Are you from France?" said the girl. "You're either stark raving mad or your translating some of your words all wrong. What's a video? And what's the in-test-net when it's at home?"

"I'm not the one who's stark raving mad," snapped back Jenny. "You two and the rest of the people in this street are blooming bonkers. Were you paid to dress up in those old-fashioned clothes? And you," she said, turning her attention to the boy, "how on earth did anyone convince you to wear short trousers at your age?"

The boy and the girl were stunned into silence...but not for long.

"Ooh missus, 'ark at you with the posh royal blue school uniform," said the boy, with more than a hint of sarcasm, looking Jenny Sullivan up and down judgmentally.

"Cheeky trout," added the girl sternly, also giving Jenny the once over.

"Okay, girly, just tell us what that thing is in your hand," insisted the boy. "It looks like some sort of weapon. You're not from France, but I'll bet you're from Germany. Yeah, that's right. You're a spy, aren't you?"