Chapter Text
Giles’ head hurt.
He was lying down, on an uncomfortable bed. He was about to open his eyes when his hearing registered something.
Feet approached him.
“Where am I ?” he asked.
It was, in retrospect, the wrong question to have asked. The reply entered his personal directory of ‘Things I Do Not Wish To Hear’ at number-one.
“In the Village.”
╫╫╫╫
Between The Mountains And The Sea
“There you are, Number Forty-Two,” the nurse said: “The taxi will run you to your apartment. Take care now. Try not to fall over again.”
I didn’t *fall over* last time, Giles thought back: I was struck across the head.
The taxi was the small Mini-Moke he had expected, driven by a pleasant Oriental girl.
“Get in – we go.”
With consummate skill, she drove the little vehicle back down the hospital drive, round the abstract sculpture at the end, and then down a small incline into one of the Village squares. She threaded her way through the pedestrians, and pulled up outside a block of apartments, built in a neo-Venetian style.
“Number Forty-Two,” she said. “Top Floor.”
Giles picked up the bag they had given him and got out of the taxi. Instantly the girl drove off, leaving him no chance to ask questions or anything.
He went in and found that the apartments were numbered almost at random, but that 42 was on the second storey.