Playtime (short story)

Summary
On a day trip to London with her aunt Lavinia in November 1963, Sarah Jane, a young girl with an enquiring mind, nips off to explore while her guardian goes off to buy sweets for her. Behind some double gates she finds a junkyard full of shop window dummies, broken chairs, picture frames and, strangely, a police box. Lost in her own world (during which she briefly pretends to be a reporter at one point), she suddenly remembers her aunt and races off as a car pulls up and an older girl runs into the junkyard.

Characters

 * Sarah Jane Smith
 * Susan Foreman (unnamed)
 * Lavinia Smith

Continuity

 * The story presents some of the events of DW: An Unearthly Child from the viewpoint of Sarah Jane Smith. The story can only work if it is assumed that the UNIT stories took place in the "near future". SJA: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, which shows Sarah Jane as thirteen years old in 1964, makes this story impossible, unless changes to the timeline are assumed. Perhaps it is best to class this story as imaginary – i.e. never happened.

For Sarah Jane

 * This story occurs after: SJA: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (baby Sarah Jane)
 * This story occurs before: SJA: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (1964 scenes)