The Tales of Pop & Grace

“Where’s Pop?” Grace asked the young man sitting next to her in the compartment. “Have I been asleep for long?” “Have you been day dreaming again?” replied the young man warmly. He seemed to be rather amused by Grace as though this kind of thing often happened. Grace didn’t feel alarmed by this young man sitting in Pop’s place, in a strange sort of way he seemed to be slightly familiar. She thought to herself that Pop must be chatting to Toby and that he would be back any second. She cast her eye over the young man and she thought how odd and un-summery he looked in his grey stripy suit with baggy trousers and turn-ups. His jacket had wide pointy lapels with the collar of his stiff white shirt pulled out. His dark hair was immaculately combed and had a perfectly straight parting, and it was very shiny and slick. It almost looked as though it was wet and Grace assumed that it must be some sort of hair gel. Thinking about it, Grace thought that he reminded her of someone in Pop’s old black and white photographs. Then suddenly, Grace remembered her mum’s constant warning “DO NOT TALK TO STRANGERS!” Even though she assumed that Pop probably knew this young man, Grace could not chat any more until she was sure. “I hope you don’t think me rude, but my mum has told me not to talk to strangers,” she politely explained. At this, the young man roared with laughter, and he added, “Wait until Mother hears this one! I can hear her now.... Oh Grace! Such a little actress, however do you dream these things up?” Then he stood up and he theatrically bowed to Grace and he said, “Since I’m a stranger, I’d better introduce myself. I’m very pleased to meet you, Miss Grace Rose Armstrong,” and with this he shook her hand and then he continued. “My name is Jack William Armstrong Esquire, brother of the afore mentioned, Miss Grace.” Grace was stunned by this, whatever sort of game was this young man playing? What did he mean by saying he was the brother of Grace Rose Armstrong? She knew that Pop’s full name was Jack William Armstrong, and she also knew that Pop’s younger sister was called Grace Rose. She remembered that there was an old family joke about her name, but she couldn’t recall it. This was all beginning to feel rather odd, and then Grace caught a glimpse of her own reflection in the carriage window. Gone were her tee shirt, leggings and sandals, and in their place was a rather neat flowery dress. Looking down at herself she noticed that she had lace up leather shoes on her feet. She must have appeared shocked as the young man became quite concerned at seeing the bemused look upon her face. “Are you all right?” he asked, sounding a bit unsure now. “Yes, I think so,” Grace replied. “Maybe you had a bit too much sun yesterday, perhaps we should go home again,” he added. “No there’s no need for that, I’m sure I’ll be okay,” said Grace unconvincingly, whilst wondering what on earth was going on. Had she spent too long in the sun yesterday? Could this young man actually be Pop? Grace had to think quickly and she decided to test the young man. “If you really are Jack Armstrong, then how did I get my middle name?” Assuming that this was some sort of game, the young man replied, “That’s easy, because Grace sat on a pin, so Grace Rose!” That was it! Grace remembered it now. The old family joke, Pop often said those exact same words! She didn’t know how this had all happened, but somehow she had travelled back in time! This young man really was her grandpa, but they were locked in a time when Pop was still a young man. From now on she would think of him as Jack and hope for the best. “Can we play a game please?” asked Grace. “Yes of course we can, what kind of game do you want to play?” he replied, sounding quite relieved at having his little sister back to normal again. “Well, I’ll pretend to be a little girl from a foreign country, and you have to explain all the things that we see today.” “Does this little girl speak English?” enquired Jack. “Yes, of course I do,” Grace replied quickly, and immediately regretting her sharpness, she softly added, “I may need help with some words though.” Jack considered this for a couple of minutes, and then he said, “All right, you can pretend to be on a tour of England, and I’ll be your guide.” Grace went straight into asking questions, most of which would have sounded odd if she had not dreamt up this little game. However, although she was still totally confused, she felt quite pleased with how she was handling things. Just then the train started to slow down. “It looks like we’re coming into the station and everyone will be getting off here. We should sit tight until the crowd disperses,” advised Jack, and for some reason Grace thought that he sounded slightly anxious when he said this.