Chapter 1

I am not sure really what happened, and I am not entirely sure that I ever will understand properly, but it all seemed to start for me on the 10th September 2000. I was then a 30 years old single man. I had an extremely good job with the Ministry of Defence at the war Office. I was very fit, and I was very well qualified as I had a Doctorate in Cryptography from Cambridge, and a Masters in applied Mathematics which I had completed in two years at Heidelberg and at the same time almost, but not quite marrying a fellow German student called Ursi.

I must admit that my decision not to marry Ursi had probably been brought about by her mother. She was absolutely livid with me, and almost attacked me physically after Ursi had slipped on the ice and fallen down the steps, and lost our unborn child. I felt sorry for Ursi, and I almost rang her from the airport to apologise for leaving her like that.

Perhaps the truth was that I had been put off by all those married guys who were always moaning about their wives and mothers in law. For instance that night when all this started I had been listening to a story told by one of my neighbours in the Green Man Public House.

He had been telling this joke about this church, and how the congregation was waiting for the service to start when a man rushed in and said. "Run, the devil is coming this way." Immediately everyone rushed out of the back door to get away from the devil, except for one man, who stayed sitting where he was. When the devil arrived at the church, the devil was amazed to see him sitting there quite calmly and he said. "Why aren't you frightened of me, don't you know I could do terrible things to you?" The man looked up and smiled and said "No why should I be frightened of you, I have been married to your sister for twenty years."

Well that had brought a big laugh, and nearly all the married men had commented on the fact that many a true word was spoken in jest. Anyway later that night I was walking home and the last thing I remembered was the screeching of tyres.

However getting back to the present I found my work was extremely challenging. I had a nice apartment and I was looked after by a daily housekeeper, and I had a substantial bank balance. I liked my nookie, and I had plenty of girl friends, both single and married, so I never really lacked for female company.

Anyway as I said previously, I was walking home from the pub. It was not often I went to a pub, but tonight I had been feeling a bit down, for once I did not have a date, and I decided I wanted some company

I don't know how much later I returned to consciousness, but I found I was lying naked on a table covered with a white sheet. I pushed the sheet away and I sat up and looked around, and saw a number of other tables with bodies laid out, and also covered with sheets. There were two ladies wearing surgeons' masks at a table working on something or someone, on the other side of the room, and I called out.

"Where am I?"

The two ladies looked round and gave a sort of scrambled screech and ran screaming from the room. Meanwhile I was conscious that my voice had sounded different and also my body felt different I looked down and it suddenly dawned on me that I was in a completely different body. It seemed to be the body of a teenager with a large appendix scar. I had never had my appendix out, so I knew it was not my body.

My reflections and bewilderment, was interrupted by the sound of angry shouting and a man shouting. "Good god woman I have enough to do tonight without your hysterical ramblings. Its just spasms sometimes the body gives a spam or two shortly after they die."

Then a woman said.

"Some bloody spasm he is sitting up and talking."

And then a middle aged man wearing a white coat and a rubber apron burst through the door, skidding to a halt, when he saw me sitting there, gazing around, obviously looking and feeling very bewildered.

"Is this some sort of prank?" He asked. If it is its bloody sick one."

"Where am I?" I asked again

"You are in the morgue in Paddington Green Hospital laddie.

"What am I doing here?"

"Well laddy as far as I know you were dead a few moments ago."

"What's that noise?" I asked.

"It's a bloody air raid and you got caught in it."

In the background I could hear the sound of explosions and gunfire. Now I began to realise that something strange was happening to me. It was no dream. I had read stories about this sort of thing happening, but I had never ever believed them.

Then the man said "Well laddy I am Dr Forsyth the resident pathologist, and I am glad you are alive. I think we had better move you to a proper bed pronto, and get someone to check you out.

Without really thinking I tried to stand up, and then I felt myself falling, when I came round. I was in a bed, and I was being examined by a young female doctor.

She was a quite attractive redhead, and gave me a sickly sort of smile. "I am sorry Alan I pronounced you dead when you were brought in. You had no pulse and no heartbeat my only excuse is that we are rushed out with casualties tonight from the air raid. Anyway, your mother and sister are waiting outside to identify your body so they are in for a pleasant shock."

The doctor left me, as two women walked through the door. The older one, a slim attractive lady of about 35 was obviously my mother, and the younger sulky looking, gum chewing fairly pretty girl who was about seventeen, would obviously be my sister I thought.

The older one flung her arms round me and hugged me close to her breast. "Oh Alan darling they told us that you had been killed, and then when we got here we found you were still alive. Even Mandy here was upset. Weren't you dear?"

"Don't kid yourself brother I thought I was rid of you for good."

The young female doctor came in and my new mother asked anxiously.

"What is wrong with him?"

The doctor said. "He has got no physical injuries as far as we can see. He had no heartbeat or pulse when the ambulance dropped him off, and so he was pronounced dead at 21.03. At the time I assumed it was shock from a bomb blast which can sometimes can kill without obvious physical injury."

"When can we take him home?"

"I really would like to keep him for 24 hours, but we are so short of beds tonight with the raid, that it may be best if you can take him now, and let his doctor see him in the morning. We have a steady stream of casualties coming in that will tie up all the on duty staff and all the beds for the rest of the night."

The next problem that arose was my lack of clothes. The doctor said. "I think we have his clothes, gas mask and identity card in the office. Or what is left of them."

Eventually my tattered clothes were produced and after a wait, we eventually got a lift back to where we allegedly lived, in the east end of London in a returning ambulance. It was a long journey with many diversions as the ambulance had to avoid roads closed through bomb damage, or unexploded bombs. Their was the pungent smell of burning and the flickering of many fires.

Their were taxis running round pulling fire pumps and ambulances. It was a scene of total chaos. I recognised a few buildings, some damaged, some miraculously still standing defiantly against the rage of the Luftwaffe. But above all was the courage of the fire crews and wardens who were working away in damaged building attempting to rescue trapped or injured people.

The strange thing for me was the fact that I still had a complete memory of my previous life, my schooldays, and my girlfriends. That is why I am able to write about it all now so clearly. And then in the distance we heard the sound of the siren sounding the "all clear." My new mother commented. "It's early yet; they will be back before the nights over."

Putting all the facts together, the bombing, the hospital uniforms and the clothes people were wearing seemed positive confirmation that I had been transported back to the war years. My new very glamorous brunette mother was making a great fuss of me, and kept her arms round me, hugging me as though she could not believe I was still alive, while my new gum chewing sister sat opposite in the ambulance just glaring across at me.