The Party in Room Four (short story): Difference between revisions

{{Infobox Story

|image        =

|series       = [[Iris Wildthyme (series)|Iris Wildthyme]]

|writer      = [[Simon Guerrier]]

|anthology    = ''[[The Panda Book of Horror]]''

|prev         = Just the Ticket (short story)

|next         = Party Kill Accelerator! (short story)

After a restless night, [[Frank (The Party in Room Four)|Frank]] comes downstairs in the [[Village Inn|inn]] he's staying at, and [[Gavin (The Party in Room Four)|Gavin]], the owner of the inn, makes him [[breakfast]]. In the [[lounge]], Frank thinks back to when he was a kid, when his friend [[Andy Lang]] had bought [[fake ID]]s so that they could drink at the inn.  

Gavin gives Frank his breakfast, and Frank tells him that he was kept up all night by the [[party]] in room four, but Gavin says there weren't any [[guest]]s staying in that room.  

Frank leaves the inn, going on a walk over the hill, where he's ambushed by reporters, and he walks past them, ignoring them. He receives a [[phone]] call from his friend Jane, but he's distracted when he sees a [[Celestial Omnibus|double decker bus]] in a [[meadow]], with what appears to be a [[marquee]] and [[tent]]s erected around the bus. He sees a [[Iris Wildthyme|elderly lady]] dancing around, and he shouts at her, but she and the other people don't hear him and keep dancing. He walks towards them, but when he reaches the meadow they all disappear. He contemplates calling Jane, and he decides against the notion. He walks off, and then it starts [[rain]]ing, but this doesn't deter Frank - to the contrary - it refreshes him.  

On the way back to the inn, Frank avoids the [[crater]] where the village once stood, and when he's approached by the [[journalist]]s, he tells them to leave the remaining villagers alone, so that that he and them can deal with it in their own ways.  

Back at the inn, [[Father McGrath]] introduces himself to Frank, and Frank barely acknowledges McGrath, and Frank heads into the lounge for a [[steak and ale pie]]. He overhears a posh sounding man talking to Gavin out of eyeshot, who's called [[Panda]]. Frank looks to his side, shocked to see Gavin standing there. He asks Gavin about the posh man, but Gavin says he doesn't know what Frank is talking about.  

Early the next [[morning]], the remaining villagers walk solemnly around the [[mile]]s wide crater to the mass funeral held at the remains of the [[church]], and Frank weeps.  

At the inn, Frank tells Gavin he's going to temporarily live with Jane, and he tells Gavin that he could make a fortune with the inn when the [[tourist]]s come, but Gavin tells Frank that he's going to sell the inn.  

* [[Frank (The Party in Room Four)|Frank]]  

* [[Gavin (The Party in Room Four)|Gavin]]  

* [[Andy Lang]]  

* [[Jane (The Party in Room Four)|Jane]]  

* [[Father McGrath]]  

* [[Iris Wildthyme#Sixth Iris|Iris Wildthyme]]

== References ==

* Frank looks for an issue of the [[The Daily Telegraph|Telegraph]].

* There is a copy of [[Cold Comfort Farm]] in the Village Inn.

* There's a cartoon playing in the inn involving a [[Pépé Le Pew |skunk]] and a [[Penelope Pussycat|cat]].

* A [[gramaphone]] played a song by [[James Last]].

* The village used to have [[Tudor]] and [[mock-Tudor]] houses, an old [[Post office]], a [[housing estate]], and a [[bakery]] own by a [[Mr Gerald]].

* Iris Wildthyme and Panda are travelling in the Celestial Omnibus. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Wildthyme at Large (audio story)|Wildthyme at Large]]'', et al)

[[Category:2009 short stories]]