The wizard's revenge 9/11

After breakfast the next day, she went out to have a quiet look round. She'd already seen how dirty and smoky everything was. There were no cars or lorries on the roads at all. The traffic clogging the roads was all drawn by horses and the noise made by the cart wheels and the horses was tremendous. Men were shouting above the noise and there was a strong farmyard smell in the air, competing with the all-pervading smell of soot. It really wasn't very pleasant.

She soon came to the shop where she'd sold her first batch of rolls. In the window was a large freshly printed card. 'A most delicious and unusual home made confectionery, entirely new, is now for sale on these premises. A rarity for the connoisseur and available for a limited period only.'

Jennifer Jane laughed and went into the front of the shop to ask the lady some questions, before she could be sent to the tradesman's entrance.

"I'm afraid I'm a stranger in London. Please could you tell me if there's a railway station near here?"

After a few minutes of questioning, she'd found out that the railway system was much the same as it was at home. She was hoping to go to Essex and the station she needed for that journey was Liverpool Street.

"It's only up the road half a mile or so son, you can't miss it."

Jennifer Jane trudged off to the station and enquired about train timetables and the cost of a one way ticket to Northchurch. Dad had sent some household goods by train when he first bought his cottage on the Therdle and Jennifer Jane had gone with him several times between the cottage and the station, to help him collect all the things he'd sent.

Northchurch was at the end of a single track branch line and she found she would have to change trains at Wickford. Hopefully there would be some means of getting down to the Therdle when she arrived but it wouldn't be impossible to walk if she had to, although it would probably take her all day. In her own world there was always a taxi waiting and it was only a twenty minute ride.

As usual in this world, the station was full of sulphurous smoke from the steam engines. Guards were blowing shrill whistles and waving green flags to start the trains on their way. It was the sort of scene that the older people at home would reminisce about. 'The good old days,' they would say nostalgically and heave a sigh. She didn't think much of it at all. It was dirty and smelly and bits of grit blew into her eyes.

Jennifer Jane was only too glad to leave and go back to the streets to sell more of her chocolate swiss rolls. She'd worked out that it would take a week to make enough money to pay for her fare to the Therdle and keep herself in bed and breakfast accommodation.

She became quite an expert salesman. Most of the shopkeepers realised the 'baker's boy' was offering a bargain. There were no costs involved in producing her wares by magic, so the goods could be very attractively priced.

It actually took her four days to get sufficient money for her train fare and she arrived at Liverpool Street station late one evening so that she could save the price of lodgings for the night. She had to stay awake until she'd changed trains for Northchurch and then went to sleep, happy in the knowledge that she was going to the end of the line.

She woke up with a start as the carriage door banged open. A loud voice said, "Northchurch terminus, all passengers alight please."

It was pitch dark outside, except for a feeble glow from the porter's oil lamp and it was pouring with rain. There was no way she could go any further until it was daylight. She explained the situation to the porter, who kindly let her sleep in the waiting room for the rest of the night.