Unlike the old couple who ran the café, most of these peoplehad a reasonable grasp of English. Perhaps that was a generational thing. Shetold them all about her trip and asked where the best place was to see themidnight sun. They directed her to a place called Ounasvaara Fell, just outsidethe town.
Bidding her new friends farewell, she followed theirinstructions and headed for the fell. It took her nearly an hour to climb tothe peak, by which time it was after 11pm. The sun was very close to thehorizon now, but it was still broad daylight outside and still warm. She satherself down at the peak and took in the glorious view of the town below herbasking in the late-night sun.
Cracking open her vodka, she took a swig and satcontentedly, just watching the sun as it travelled along the skyline. This hadbeen an amazing day and it had left her feeling fulfilled for the first time inyears. It didn’t matter that it was only a copy of her own universe and thatsoon she would have to go back to her older self. The point was she was herenow and living in a moment that had been taken away from her once before. Thistime, she was really here, and this was really happening at last.
As her watch reached midnight, a feeling of euphoria andtriumph flooded through her. She uncorked the champagne, and swigged from thebottle like a Grand Prix driver on the top of a podium, even if the bottledidn’t quite have the same dimensions as one of Lewis Hamilton’s.
She feared that she might be whisked away at that precisemoment, back to the flat in 2018, but nothing happened. She continued to watchthe sun, swig her champagne and muse about her life. There was no one else upon top of the fell. She was completely alone, enjoying her own special momentin this special place. Right then she felt as if the whole world belongedcompletely to her. In a way, it did, for this world would soon cease to exist,and only she would go on.
Later she felt tired, and lay down on the grass to rest. Shecould quite happily have drifted off to sleep right there and then and neverwoken up again. It wouldn’t have been a bad time to go. The day had given her asense of completion and at least she would have died happy.
But it wasn’t time to go yet. Her trip to the midnight sunhad given her plenty to think about. Most importantly, during that last hourwhile she was enjoying her champagne, she had worked out exactly where and whenshe wanted to go next.
Chapter Six
December 2018
Kay wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep but suddenlyshe found herself back in the bathroom, standing in front of the mirror. It wasan odd sensation. She didn’t feel like she had just woken up and nor did shefeel tired. Her return was instantaneous, almost as if she had been placed backinto her body exactly when and where she had left it.
“Feels weird, doesn’t it?” said the angel. “Most people feela bit disorientated at first. I call it time travel jetlag. You may have beenin the past for a whole day, but here, no time has passed at all.”
“That’s handy,” replied Kay. “As I’m actually due in workthis morning, and I can’t afford to lose this job. I don’t think they wouldneed much excuse for sacking me, and failing to turn up on the last Saturdaybefore Christmas would see me out on my ear for sure.”
“Well, best you get yourself off to work, then,” replied theangel.
“What about my next voyage to the past?” asked Kay. “I’mgetting a taste for this now.”
“I find it works best if I let people have atwenty-four-hour break between trips,” replied the angel. “It gives them achance to reflect on where they’ve been and plan properly for the next one.”
“That seems sensible enough,” said Kay. “I’ve got somethingin mind, but there’s someone I’m hoping to talk to first before I go. What I amplanning to do in the past directly involves him.”
“There you are, then,” said the angel. “Get yourself allprepared then you can make the most of your time when you go back. Before I saygoodbye for today, how did you feel your first trip went?”
“It went brilliantly!” exclaimed Kay. “Exactly as I hoped,and I even got to see that ex-worm of my husband snivelling and grovelling likethe big baby he is and always was.”
“Fantastic,” said the angel. “Well, I must pop off and letyou get ready for work now. I will see you back here again the same timetomorrow morning.”
As soon as she had spoken, the angel’s image was replaced bythat of Kay’s own current self. It wasn’t a pretty picture and a solemnreminder that she wasn’t the beautiful, young version of herself that she hadso enjoyed being again over the previous twenty-four hours.
Not wanting to gaze at her undesirable current appearanceany longer than absolutely necessary, she hurriedly brushed her remaining teethand headed back into the bedroom to get dressed. It was still freezing cold.She was going to have to speak to the landlord about it.
That was not a conversation she was looking forward to, butshe had no choice. She would freeze to death up here if the weather stayed likeit was. There would not be time to track him down this morning. It was five tonine and she needed to rush or she would be late for work.
There was no one in the chip shop downstairs anyway, butthere never was at that time in the morning. She let herself out and walked thecouple of hundred yards or so to the store as quickly as she dared on the icyground. She arrived with seconds to spare and headed out the back to put on heroveralls. It was going to be a busy day. The shop would be full
