Jane Actually

the hotel will be nice,” Mary said, trying to act the adult. She then caught the eye of the driver who had noticed her apparently having a conversation with the empty seat beside her.
    “My friend says hi, Tony.”
    “Uh, yes ma’am, anything you say.”
    Mary looked out the window of the limo, marvelling at the novelty of being in another country, amazed at the familiarity and the strangeness of it. Being on a highway was familiar, the M4 in this case, and she didn’t even really pay attention to the fact they were on the wrong side of the road, it being a divided motorway. But the look of the cars was different; very few SUVs, many more compacts and sub compacts and even the trucks—
they call them lorries
, she reminded herself—seemed on a smaller scale.
    She was reminded of a documentary she’d seen about dinosaurs that had evolved on a small island, and were consequently small. The houses they passed, which practically touched the highway, were all in a row with their neat little backyards facing the road. They reminded her of the New Jersey neighbourhoods she saw from the subway.
    “Where did you live in England? I mean just before you came to the US.”
    “I suppose just before I left for America, I was in Bradford-on-Avon, which is near Bath. It would be more romantic to pretend I haunted Steventon or Chawton, but those are still small villages. Even Alton 2 is very small and has terrible AfterNet access and is frankly uninteresting to a disembodied person.”
    “Bradford-on-Avon is more interesting?”
    “Oh yes, the Avon Valley is lovely and the town is charming, although the traffic is dreadful. But I find the tourists interesting and if I desire something more cosmopolitan, there’s always Bath.”
    “You hated Bath.”
    “Once. You should know by now that I can no longer be defined by my words or actions from when I was alive.”
    “Do you have a disembodied person with you?” their driver suddenly asked.
    “What? Oh, yes I do,” Mary confessed. “Is there a problem?”
    “Course not. I just like to know who my passengers are. I don’t want to close the door on anyone or leave someone locked inside. So which one of you is Jane Austin?”
    “She is, I mean we are,” Mary said. “Actually I’m Mary Crawford, but I’m her avatar, so it would be good if you think of us both as Jane.”
    “Gotcha.”
    “You’re American, right?” Mary asked.
    “Better than. I’m Canadian, so don’t worry, I’ll make sure I call you Jane Austin outside the cab. You’re not my first avatar.”
    “Thanks Tony, and that’s Austen with an ‘E.’”
    1 Kensington is a town and district of west and central London, within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is home to many foreign embassies, Harrods department store and, of course, Kensington Palace. Neither the Ritz nor Savoy hotels are in Kensington.
    2 Alton is a small town nearby the smaller village of Chawton

Walkabout
Jane feels restless
    “J ane, it’s almost midnight. Don’t you think it’s a little late to start your night-time wanderings?” Mary said this while preparing for bed, thoroughly knackered from the flight. She had exaggerated; it was only 10 pm, but Jane was understandably bored, especially after watching Mary nap for three hours immediately after checking in.
    “I’m sorry, Mary, I am more than a little anxious tonight and would like the night air to settle me.”
    “Is there anything wrong?”
    “No, nothing more than the usual worries of an old ghost. Perhaps it is this city that affects me.”
    “OK, you will be careful. You know Melody wouldn’t approve of this. What if you get trapped somewhere?”
    “I am quite capable of looking after myself and have done so …”
    “I know, for two hundred years. OK, suit yourself.” Mary opened the door and waited for Jane to leave.
    “The fire door in the lobby hallway will be closed at this hour as well. I am afraid you will need to open that for me,” Jane said. She’d naturally observed all the exits when they’d arrived, not eager to find herself stuck in a stairwell.
    “OK.” Mary found her coat and put it on over her T-shirt, made sure she had her room card and walked out the door.
    She looked around and saw no one and in her bare feet she went down the stairs and walked the short distance to the fire door. She opened it for Jane.
    “When will you be back?”
    “I shall return at eight. These doors should be open by then. Have a good