Fantom Epilogue 2

Epilogue part 2.
“Try we lifelong we will never
Straighten out life’s tangled skein,
Why should we, in vain endeavour,
Guess and guess and guess again.
Life’s a pudding full of plums,
Care’s a canker that benumbs.
Set aside the dull enigma
We shall guess it all too soon.
Failure brings no kind of stigma
Dance we to another tune.
String the lyre and fill the cup
Lest on sorrow we should sup.
Hop and skip to fancy’s fiddle
Hands across and down the middle
Life’s perhaps the only riddle
That we shrink from giving up.
Then take life as it comes!

W.S Gilbert, The Gondoliers.

   They didn’t go straight home, but to the Victorian Savoy to watch a performance of Iolanthe.  Ruth was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to stand it, that the memory of her own performance would have spoilt the show for her forever.  But Patrick sat beside her, and when it came to the moment of Iolanthe’s sacrifice he took her hand, and did not let go until the finale was over.  Then she breathed as deeply as corset and bustle would let her.  
   “I’m no Jessie Bond,” she said.  “But I’m glad I’ve played that role, even if it didn’t end right.”
   “I don’t know how you did it, when you knew what was going to happen,” Patrick replied.  
   “I had to,” Ruth said.  “I’m not saying it was easy.  But the part helped- Iolanthe’s sacrifice has always moved me.  When I was a prisoner, I asked myself if I’d do what she did to help someone I loved.  I hoped so, but I wasn’t sure what the answer was- until it sort of happened.”  
   Patrick looked at her, and took her hand again, but said nothing.  She smiled at him, wiping a tear away.
   “You were a great Lord Chancellor,” she said.  
   “You were a wonderful Iolanthe,” he replied.  “But I can’t say sorry enough for what I did.”
   “There’s no need,” she said.  “And what you did to destroy the fantoms was brave, if you hadn’t done that she’d have won, and I’d have died.  So forget it.”   She smiled at him, and he smiled back.
  
   As they were going back to the TTC a strange wheezing noise behind them made them turn back.  A young woman opened the door of a blue phone box that Ruth was sure had not been there a moment ago and looked out.
   “You’ve got it wrong again,” she said.  “We’re too early.”  A man emerged beside her.  It was hard to say whether he was young or old.  
   “Naa,” he said.  “Look at those light fittings, genuine Victorian.”
   “But those people- they’re wearing digital watches.  They must be late twentieth century at the earliest.”
   “Shh, don’t be rude.  Yes, but look at everyone else- 1870’s, give or take a decade.”
   “I thought you said we were going to 1920.”
   “Well- we’re not far off.  Relatively speaking.”
   “But what about them?”
   “Well, you’re not in the right time either.  Who are you to criticise?  Come on.”  They disappeared inside the phone box again.
   “Was that...?”  Patrick said, staring.  They looked at each other and shrugged.
   “I’ll believe anything now,” Ruth said.  “Let’s go home.”


The End.