Once Upon A Time...In The West

[Breck Haines]

Breck gripped the steering wheel of her old truck, setting herself up to ride over the bumps and ditches in the dirt road. She had driven down this road so many times that she did it unconsciously, allowing her to stew over the past hours' event in her mind.

Two thousand dollars. That was all she could get for her load of young steers at market today. A lousy two thousand bucks! Such a small sum would only pay a few bills and wouldn't even begin to cover the amount she would need to stock up on winter feed for the rest of her stock. She was also hoping to get a new stove for the kitchen as well. Now it would be yet another year of making do with two working burners and not much to put on top of it.

Her mind turned over the various ways to earn a few more bucks but came up short. The steers were what she had placed her hopes on and with the market being down it was hardly worth the feed she had stuffed them with since the spring. Raising livestock had always been a gamble though, and she accepted that fact.

She still didn't have to be happy about it though.

She snatched the worn black hat off her head, sending tendrils of her straight brown hair floating up from the static charge. She threw it violently down on the seat next to her with a few loud swear words. Her truck hit a pothole and she joustled up and down adding more words to the mix as she regained control.

"Blast it all, now how am I gonna git through this winter?? Sell my breedin' stock?! Sell off some acres? Shewt. I'm in a deep hole now, that's for shore. Hell, I won't be able to afford gas for this old pile of rust here!"

She kept on muttering about her dilema and the more agitated she got the faster she drove, twisting the wheel around what obstacles she saw and simply pounding over the ones she didn't. It was just one more mile before she would be able to turn into her driveway up to her cabin. One more mile around this sharp curve.

Breck's eyes widened in alarm when she saw what was in the middle of the road as she came around the curve. She slammed on her brakes but instinct also caused her to steer the old truck to one side. The result was she skidded off the road, into the ditch, up the other side of the road to end in a bunch of bramble bushes. The one saving grace was she didn't ram the truck into the tree just in front of it.

Having something else to fume and swear at was the icing on the cake as far as Breck's day was concerned. Grabbing her hat, she jumped out of her vehicle and stormed up to the obstacle in the middle of the road.

"Now who's the blame idjit that left this stupid shed in the middle of the road!?" she demanded loudly. Not really expecting an answer she circled the building. It didn't seem large enough to be a decent tool shed, or a barn. Perhaps it was intended for a backyard chicken house? Most likely it had fallen off some flatbed whose driver hadn't even noticed. She shrugged, it wouldn't be the first time she had benefited from such lost loads.

"Man, that guy must've been drunker than a skunk to not notice this thing fallin' off. Hmm, lessee, what can I make outta this thing? 'Police box'? What, they kept police officers in here?" Puzzled, she put her hand out to rest on the side then yanked it back in alarm. "Hoo boy! It's got engines or sumthin' in there!"

[The Eighth Doctor]

Inside the TARDIS there was more humming but it didn't come from the inter workings of the marvelous vessel. It was coming from the Doctor as he carried a fresh cup of hot tea and a paperback book with him to his favorite comfy chair in a corner. Heavy drapes made from scarlet velvet hung from the walls behind it and an antique lamp casting a soft light made it a most cozy nook. He was looking forward to relaxing a bit and to lose himself in a simple tale that had nothing worse to worry the reader other than a bit of greediness on the part of the character. Settling down in the chair he admired the sketch of Pooh Bear stuck in Rabbit's hole then carefully set his cup on the small wooden table next to him.

"Oh Pooh, what have you done to yourself now?" he murmured. He had often wished he could write such simple and peaceful tales himself. Stories that had nothing to do with fighting or destroying anything worse than a toy but he knew that the story he would try to come up with would inevitably wind down into nothing because he wouldn't be able to end it. He wouldn't want to leave such a relaxing imaginary world. A human may find it silly but the mind of a Time Lord had almost as many dimensions as a TARDIS and there was a larger danger of withdrawing into it as an escape than was available to other life forms. It was almost a sort of mental trap, a comfortable secure trap but a trap nonetheless.

Perhaps that was why there weren't all that many books of nursery ryhmes for Time Lord toddlers?

But he could enjoy tales written by other races and not get too lost into them. And the sillier and unrealistic the tale the better he liked them. It was a line to keep hold of, to allow himself to draw back into the real world when needed.

He had just gotten to the part where Christopher Robbin had been notified of Pooh's plight when he felt a gentle jerk and heard a loud thump from the console. The TARDIS had landed. He put the book aside with a sigh, marking it carefully with a bit of yarn yanked from a nearby scarf, and walked up to the console to see what was what.

"Now what, old girl? I thought we could take a bit of time off for a while." he murmured as he scanned the control screen. "Earth again. So soon? I was hoping for a change." Further study of the symbols made his eyebrows raise up. "Not England this time. The US. Central US. Hmmmm. I suppose that -is- a change." He activated the monitor for a quick peek outside and the first thing he saw was a girl staring at him from under a faded black hat. "Ah! A western state then! I do hope they've sorted out that mess with Custer and all by now. Hm..ok...2010. Yes, all hostilities should be gone so I won't have to worry about being shot or scalped. All right, let's see just what's what, shall we?"

He hit the controls for the door and briskly stepped out. As the girl wasn't infront he walked around until he spied her. Smiling widely he held out his hand in greeting. "Hello! I'm the Doctor! And you are..?"

[Breck Haines]

"Jeez loueezz!!!" Breck yelped, starled by the sudden appearence of a man in front of her. She fell back onto the dirt road and scrabbled backwards a few feet before standing up again. "Where th' hell did YOU pop up from!?"

She dusted off the seat of her jeans as she frowned at the man. This day was getting worse by the minute!

(OOC: Anyone else can join at this point, either driving by going home, to work, or just lost and looking for the freeway! )

[The Eighth Doctor]

"Ah, I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you. I was just coming over to say hello." The Doctor offered his hand again. "I don't mean you any harm. And perhaps you can tell me just where I am? The nearest town and so on?"

[Breck Haines]

"Just to say 'hi', huh?" Breck didn't bother taking the proffered hand, she simply stood her ground and glared at him. "There's better ways of doin' that, y'know. And is this your shed? What th' hell are you doin', leavin' it in the middle of the road like that? I purt near wrecked my truck!"

She turned and stalked back to where her truck rested, front end still buried in the thicket of blackberry bushes. "Great, if I cain't git it started I'm gonna have to walk up to the house, git Stonewall harnessed up and bring him over to drag it out. So it had BETTER damned well start!" That last remark was tossed over her shoulder back at the Doctor as it was plain she blamed him for the whole mess. "What a hell of a day this has been. 'Bout the only thing I need now is for it to start rainin' or sumthin'."

No sooner were those words out of her mouth when a faint rumble of thunder was heard off in the distance. She deflated and leaned against the fender of the truck. "Great. Just great. What did I ever do t'deserve this??!!"

[The Tenth Doctor]

Moments later, the sound of a car could be heard coming towards the woman and man talking. There was nothing special about this particular car -- it being a gray Ford Focus that was a couple years old. Still, it ran well, and served the purpose of allowing its driver transportation to work, graduate school, conferences, and anything else that he needed it for.

Having some free time, the man had decided to take a drive on a few back roads. Using this time to think, he liked the relaxing drive. So far there hadn't been any other car on the road. That was the way he preferred it.

However, the sight of a dark sky and stormy clouds made him frown. Why hadn't he checked the forecast before venturing out today? And where did the clouds come from? Had he really not been paying attention?

Perhaps it was the project that he'd been working on that had distracted him. As he continued driving along, he almost missed the couple who were standing by a truck that appeared to have run into the bushes. Knowing that a storm was coming up, and that these people probably needed help, he pulled his car over to the side of the road.

He quickly climbed out, not bothering to lock his car door, he rushed over to the man and the woman. Assuming them to be either friends, dating, or married, he asked, "Do you need some help?"

[Breck Haines]

Breck drew a relieved breath. "Oh man, you got great timin' there! You wouldn't happen to have any towin' rope, would ya? I went and left all my rope in the barn. It seems that this guy..." Here she threw a rather dark look at the Doctor. "Went and dumped his load of this here shed in the middle of the road, which made ME run my truck halfway up the bank there! I tried to back it out but all I did was dig the ditch about a foot deeper. And of course we got a storm comin'." She waved her hand at the oncoming clouds and turned to her truck, then a thought struck her and she looked back.

"Wait jus' a minute here. Where's YOUR flatbed anyways?"

[The Eighth Doctor]

"My...my what?" For a moment the Doctor was confused by her question. "You mean a vehicle? Oh, it's...." Not sure if he wanted to reveal the true workings of the TARDIS just yet he fished about for an explanation. "It's.....a bit...up the road. As you said, the load got...dumped..and I came back to look for it. And here it is." He patted the side of the time machine. "So I'll help with you getting your truck out and we shall all be on our own ways."

He smiled winningly at Breck and the newcomer. "Oh I'm sorry, I'm the Doctor."

[The Tenth Doctor]

Tyler glanced at the man -- his dress wasn't quite...normal. He looked to Tyler like someone who was playing dress up -- that or he was in costume for some sort of party. Maybe he was an actor in a play or a movie or a TV show or something. Tyler hadn't heard of anything being filmed in the area, but one never did know. There was one additional possibility -- he could be from some very high class family -- the way the man was dressed -- he just didn't know. He certainly didn't dress like anyone he'd seen out on a country road in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma.

Commenting on his observation, Tyler told the Doctor, "Well, you don't really look to be from around here."

Tyler was unaware that his own accent suggested the same thing. Well, he knew that he was born in England and lived most of his life there. He just could not tell the difference between accents. Everyone who spoke English sounded the same to him. He really didn't know how people knew his country of origin, as he could never tell when other people spoke. He had, however, picked up on US terminology for things and didn't really use British words for objects, if there was an American counterpart.

"Oh, and my name is Tyler," he said to both the woman an the man.

Then he turned back to the female. Thinking for a moment, he scratched his head. "I....I don't know if I have towing rope or not. Let me check."

With that, he walked back to his car and searched the entire thing. He was somewhat disorganized, his car being somewhat of a mess. He had textbooks and candy wrappers and papers flung about his back seat. Not finding the rope in the back seat he sighed. "Oh....probably in my trunk," he spoke out loud.

Rummaging through some more things -- a lawn chair, paper towels, and other items, he finally produced a rope. It looked like it was one of those towing cables, or at least could pass for one. "Ha! Found it!" he called out to the Doctor and the woman. Tyler walked back over to where they were and offered out the rope to the Doctor. However, upon reflecting on the interaction that he had witnessed between the Doctor and the woman, he concluded that they must NOT be a couple. The woman had to ask the Doctor about his vehicle, suggesting that they had not come together.

He then handed the rope to the woman. "Here you go," he said, smiling.

Tyler liked to help people out, and he was thankful that he had happened upon her.

It was then that Tyler glanced at what the woman had referred to as a shed. Tyler had never quite seen a shed like that -- bright blue with the word police written on it. However, he did recall that he had seen something like it before. He had no idea what it reminded him of, only that it did remind him of something. Scrunching his face up in an attempt to try to remember what it was, he continued looking at it.

[Breck Haines]

"Huh? Oh. Oh yeah, I'm Breck." It was a rather curt reply but Breck wasn't feeling too friendly at the moment. "Yeah, that's just what we need! Thanks!"

With a grunt she knelt down and after tossing her hat to one side she wriggled under the back axle to find a strong place to attach the tow rope to. Since the truck was old and more than just a little rusted she didn't quite trust the fender. Even as she worked on getting a strong connection she couldn't help but notice how much more the old Ford had deteriorated. A few good bumps would knock off the tail pipe and she wasn't so sure about the oil pan. She sighed inwardly. More bills to loom in the horizon!

"That should do it!" she grunted as she worked her way back from under and on her feet. She grabbed her hat and used it to get some of the dust off the seat of her pants. She walked off to the side and nodded at Tyler. "You can back up here now. Just be careful not to knock that old shed over. We don't need it being a bigger obstacle than it already is!"

[The Tenth Doctor]

Tyler nodded at Breck. "All right....I'll be right back."

He glanced at the Doctor suspiciously, wondering why the man hadn't volunteered to use his own vehicle that was....had he really said up the road? Tyler hadn't noticed any vehicle on his way to the current scene. Perhaps the man had been traveling the other direction, and he just hadn't reached that spot yet. But still, why hadn't this other man volunteered to use his truck. Surely it was bigger and more powerful than his own car. After all, it was hauling the shed.

Frowning, Tyler turned to the Doctor -- why would someone want to be known as their job title, anyway -- and addressed him. "Perhaps you'd like to use your vehicle. It has to be more powerful than mine....considering that you were hauling that thing." He pointed to the blue shed.

[The Eighth Doctor]

"Ah..yes..well..I'd have to go quite a ways to it and from the way those clouds look we may not have much time, unless we all would like to get caught up in the rain." The Doctor looked up as way of illustrating the darkening skies. "I believe just a tug or two would be sufficient to get Breck's truck out and working again."

He was wondering if he shouldn't go back inside the TARDIS and see if he couldn't move it over, just a bit, to make certain it wouldn't get hit. Not that it would do any actual damage but the poor old girl had been through so much, a whack by an errant Earth vehicle would be a bit of an insult. As he stood there weighing the wisdom of such a move the sky seemd to split open with a deafening 'CRACKKK!' accompanied by a streak of lightning hitting the ground not a half mile away.

"Oh dear, I do believe we should get moving on all of us moving out of here very shortly."

[Rahul]

Heading on his motorbike going home or at least back to his place that he was staying, he was waiting for the one person he was staying with “How longer does this meeting have to take” he moaned under his breath it had been an hour and a half and he expected her out by now. He felt a few drops of rain and looked up there were times he wished she’d be more helpful by coming out o time he might not have to get so wet as it is or will do “* maya do i have to come in” as he said that a female started walking out with an umbrella. He was just so lucky to have her about with the umbrella but he’d soon get wet that was sure enough.

“Can’t we move to your place so we don’t get everyone worried why we’re in the rain all the time” she blinked as she got on the bike “Okay Rahul let’s get going or i won’t be using the umbrella and letting you get a cold” they had always seemed to banter in Indian she had moved from there when she was a kid and he had been the only friendly voice so it seemed, heading down they slowed when they heard voices and a rather odd blue shed he said something which wasn’t pleasant but stopped right near them.

[The Tenth Doctor]

Tyler looked at the man who had called himself the Doctor in disbelief. Confused, he responded to the man, "Then what did you do, walk all the way up and down the road to look for your shed? Wouldn't it have been faster to just drive around until you found it?"

Deciding that this man was strange, Tyler shrugged. He glanced up at the sky and then back at the woman called Breck. "All right, I'll see what I can do."

He still thought there was something fishy about this Doctor person, but he also knew that a storm WAS coming up. Complying with both of their requests, he walked over to his car again, this time climbing into the driver's seat.

In an attempt to avoid the shed, he backed his car up to the spot that Breck had suggested earlier. The shed was a bit of an obstacle, but Tyler managed to avoid hitting it.

[Breck Haines]

Breck looked up at the sound of a motorbike approaching. She could hardly believe all this traffic suddenly coming down this old dirt road. "The circus must be in town," she muttered. She waved at them to warn them of the obstacles in the road. The last thing they needed was a wreck! Her insurance was high enough as it was. "Just give us a minute and we'll get this cleared!" she shouted. She watched as Tyler manuvered his car around the blue shed and was annoyed when the Doctor didn't even move away from it. It would serve him right if the shed got bumped over on him. What, did he think it was going to run off or something? It was obvious that this whole mess could have been avoided if he had only secured that blasted thing down on his flatbed properly! And what fool stops and -walks- back to search for a lost load??

She shook her head at the stupidity of it all and set to work getting the tow rope fastened up. At least -she- knew how to secure things the right way!