A Time-Bending Encounter
Nicky Parsons was immersed in a routine day, resplendent with mundane tasks at MI6 headquarters in London, England. Suddenly, a blinding flash of light engulfed her. When her vision cleared, she found herself in a bustling 1960s London café.
Disoriented, Nicky left the café and started walking around in the street of her new city.
Her mind was racing, panic temporarily set in, but as Nicky focussed on re-establishing her equilibrium, her composure was quickly regained. Nicky recognised the era, the fashion, the vintage cars. This was not a dream or a hallucination. She had been transported to the past, 1962, as she would discover.
A glance at her reflection in a nearby shop window confirmed the change in her appearance. Her 2020s attire was replaced by a sleek, 1960s-inspired outfit. It seemed the time-travel had not only transported her, but also altered her physical appearance to fit the era.
The Minor Key Café
Nicky walked in to the nearby Minor Key Café and ordered a cup of tea. As she sipped her tea, Nicky found familiarity in the layout of the café. The realisation dawned on her: she was a stranger in a strange land, yet this strange land was resplendent with familiarity for her. Nicky was a spy out of time and her adventure was just beginning.
As Nicky was drinking her tea, Emily from work entered the Minor Key Café and joined Nicky in her booth. Nicky told Emily that she was feeling a little light-headed and dizzy. Things seemed a bit off for her. Nicky asked Emily if she would walk home with Nicky to make sure she got home OK.
Emily said: “That would not be a problem, Nicky, and I will also give you my home telephone number, just in case you need some help once you get home.”
So far, so good, Nicky thought.
Once Nicky finished drinking her tea, she and Emily left the Minor Key Café and commenced the journey home. As it turned out, home was a fairly short walk from the Minor Key Café and Emily gave Nicky the impression she had previously visited the Parsons residence.
The joint walk home was uneventful for Emily. For Nicky, it was a curious mix of both new and familiar territory, and not just the landscape.
The Parsons Residence
Once they arrived at the Parsons residence, Emily said she could call in on Nicky around 8:00 am the following morning and they could travel to work together. Nicky said that was a great idea and she thanked Emily for her assistance.
Upon entering her residence, a modest London apartment, Nicky was again confronted with a curious mix of new and familiar surroundings. She was grateful for the arrival of Emily at the Minor Key Café to assist in the negotiation of travelling from the café to home in uncontroversial circumstances.
Nicky then spent a couple of hours acquainting herself with her apartment and curiously she seemed to know where everything was located. She was getting a strong sense that she had been transported to a parallel universe.
When she retired for the evening, Nicky slept sound, without interruption.
A New Day
Upon waking the next morning, Nicky was refreshed. Happily for her, getting dressed for work was instinctive, as was making breakfast for herself.
As arranged the previous evening, around 8:00 am Emily arrived at the Parsons residence to accompany Nicky to work. It was a pleasant walk to work for each of them. Nicky was more settled than she was the previous evening and she took more notice of her surroundings. She was confident she could make this journey on her own in future, if that was what the circumstances required.
MI6 Headquarters
By 8:30 am Emily and Nicky had arrived at MI6 headquarters, London. Emily accompanied Nicky to her office and then proceeded to her own office. The Nicky Parsons office and the whole workplace experience was more of the Déjà vu sensation for Nicky, but she also felt she was acclimatising. When it was time to attend the mid-afternoon team meeting, Nicky felt like she was getting the pace of the game and she was settling in to this new groove.
The Transition Challenge
2025 Nicky Parsons was adept at solving puzzles. She knew that the path to a solution could be informed by considering options not immediately apparent from the puzzle at hand. That 2025 Nicky Parsons was now in 1962 and she knew she had to transition to this new world.
Modern Nicky Parsons had consumed her share of sport and that might help transition to retro Nicky Parsons. Her new 1962 environment puzzle was much like a cyclist in a road race. She had already experienced muscle memory in negotiating her way around her apartment and it helped her become familiar with that environment. Visiting the dynamics of a cycling road race helped Nicky keep her equilibrium balanced, while she confronted the transition challenge.
She said to think of herself as being part of a cycling road race peloton. Ultimately everything in a road race evolves from the peloton. Sometimes a rider needed to go to the front and do the hard work of setting the pace and expending energy. Failing to take her turn at the front of the peloton could attract adverse attention, something she needed to avoid at all costs. At other times, she could rest in the peloton, conserving her energy and staying under the radar. Occasionally, she might even need to go back to the team car to gather supplies and information for her teammates.
So Nicky would treat this new environment challenge as though she was in a cycling road race and spend most of her time initially in the peloton, until she got the pace of the race, the pace of the game. Her years of training and experience would assist her muscle memory and would help Nicky find the rhythm of her new life.
Finding her new groove would also be aided by Emily, a friendly and helpful work colleague and someone whose company she enjoyed.
Fortunately for Nicky her first week in 1962 was mercifully free of missions. Nicky was grateful to endure the monotony and drear of conducting security checks, team meetings, strategy meetings, reading reports and other grunt work. It gave her time to see and feel how things operated in 1962, in less demanding circumstances.
When work was over for the week Nicky invited Emily to have dinner with her at the Minor Key Café, in part to close out the working week and in part to thank her for her assistance. Emily accepted the invitation and they ended their working week winding down over an enjoyable dinner.
It was Not All Smooth Sailing
The transition to 1962 life was not all smooth sailing for Nicky Parsons. On three (3) separate occasions in three (3) different shops Nicky Parsons asked for Low Fat Milk and the store staff remind her no such product exists. Each time Parsons realised the mistake she made and the need for her to concentrate more when buying milk in the future.
Nicky compounded her transition missteps when she went grocery shopping with Emily. Nicky expected to pay for her groceries by credit card. 1962 reality confronted Nicky when she was at the checkout and she realised she did not have enough cash on her for the purchase. Emily came to her rescue and paid for the Parsons groceries. Nicky subsequently paid Emily back.
Emily was proactive the next time they planned to go grocery shopping together after work. At morning tea that morning at work Emily asked Nicky if she had enough cash for the proposed grocery purchase. Grateful to Emily and a little embarrassed, Nicky said she would go to the bank at lunch time to make sure she had enough cash.
Emily said to Nicky: “For a smart girl, you forget the simplest of things.”
Nicky replied to Emily: “Lucky I have you to help me out.”
Confrontation with Mr Problem
It was an unremarkable Saturday morning. Nicky Parsons was seated alone, having breakfast at the Minor Key Café, as she liked it. With half of her breakfast finished, Nicky noticed Mr Problem, a wanted assassin, sitting at a nearby bus stop, seemingly alone. She gave a frustrated, internal groan and immediately placed her knife and fork on her plate.
In her training as a 2020s MI6 spy, Nicky Parsons learned of Mr Problem. That MI6 spy training education taught Nicky that 1962 Mr Problem was early in his career. Mr Problem went on to be a nightmare for MI6. Nicky instinctively concluded that if she took care of Mr Problem when he seemed vulnerable in that 1962 morning, she would prevent a subsequent nightmare. So, breakfast would have to wait, while she dealt with Mr Problem.
Nicky quietly walked outside the café to the bus stop, where she gently but firmly grabbed the arm of Mr Problem with her left hand and quietly said to him,
“Come for a walk with me.”
Her right hand had her firearm placed against his ribs.
Nicky quietly told Mr Problem, “You do not want to cause a scene.”
Mr Problem was persuaded to accompany Nicky to a nearby alleyway. A short, intense struggle ensued, which Nicky ended when she snapped the neck of Mr Problem.
As he was taking his final breath, Nicky said to Mr Problem,
“I just wanted to have my breakfast in peace.”
Nicky left the alleyway to go to a nearby public telephone box, where she rang MI6 headquarters and told them,
“A clean-up is required immediately in the alleyway beside the Minor Key Café.”
Nicky Parsons then returned to the Minor Key Café and finished her breakfast.