by Rosie Harris
She wished Robert had been prepared to talk about it, but he didn’t seem to understand why she was so concerned. He’d practically said that it wasn’t up to her and that it had to be Sam’s decision and that he should be left to make his own mind up.
She wondered if Sam would mention it to their parents and if so what her father would advise. He’d always seemed to be so proud of the fact that Sam was learning what he termed a proper trade.
It was two days before Sam said anything about Percy’s suggestion and then it was to announce to the family over dinner that Mr Carter had arranged for him to have driving lessons.
‘Driving lessons?’ Bill Collins’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as he laid down his knife and fork and looked across the table at his son. ‘Why on earth is he doing that?’
‘So that I can be a driver,’ Sam said, concentrating on the food on his plate.
‘A driver!’ There was a mixture of curiosity and pride in Margaret Collins’s voice as she stopped eating and looked questioningly from Sam to her husband and back. ‘This is all rather sudden, isn’t it? I thought you were helping out in the showroom until your hands were better and you could go back into the workshop.’
‘As far as I know we already have all the drivers we need, so why go to the trouble of training you for the job?’ Bill Collins asked. ‘It will only be another couple of weeks or so before your hands are completely all right again and then you’ll be fit enough to complete your apprenticeship.’
‘No, Dad. The idea is that I become a driver instead of being a mechanic.’
There was an uneasy silence as Mr and Mrs Collins both mulled over this piece of news. Lucy wondered again whether it really was Mr Carter’s idea or had Patsy persuaded Percy into suggesting it.
Her father didn’t appear to be too happy about the arrangement but her mother seemed to think that it was some kind of promotion. She kept saying that Mr Carter must think a great deal of Sam to suggest something like this.
As the discussion continued Lucy could tell that Sam seemed to be in favour of learning to drive and so, in the end, Lucy didn’t think it fair to spoil things for him. If it was what he wanted, then even though it might have been due to scheming on Patsy’s part, she reasoned that it might be best to leave things as they were.
At work, Patsy took all the praise for Sam’s change of direction, boasting to all the girls and making out that it was a step up the ladder for Sam. She took a delight in pointing out whenever Lucy was within earshot that Robert was still a ‘grease monkey’ but Sam was on to better things.
Lucy waited to see if Mr Carter would ask her about her visit to see Percy but he made no reference to it.
Robert merely shrugged and said he thought she was being silly when Lucy confided in him that she was sure the idea that Sam should learn to drive was all Patsy’s doing.
‘What difference does it make whether you are in overalls or a driver’s uniform as long as you have a job? That’s all that matters these days. Sam’s lucky that he didn’t get stood off when he wasn’t able to work.’
‘Mr Carter could hardly do that when it was his son that Sam saved, now could he?’ Lucy protested.
Robert didn’t answer and seemed to be so reluctant to talk about it that Lucy wondered whether he was jealous and whether he would have preferred to be a driver himself rather than a mechanic. Then she decided that the best thing to do was to put it all out of her mind. It was none of her business, she told herself, and as long as Sam was pleased about what he was doing then that was all that mattered.
She and Robert had so many other things to talk about. Robert had now finished his apprenticeship which meant that he was on a man’s pay, so their dream of getting married was uppermost in their minds.
They talked about it every time they met and eventually decided that as it was almost Christmas they would wait until the following year. Robert favoured a spring wedding, around Easter time, but Lucy thought they should wait until June.
‘There’s so much to prepare and Mam says she’s worn out after all the worry over Sam,’ Lucy pointed out. ‘Anyway, it will give us more time to decide where we are going to live.’
‘That’s true,’ Robert agreed. ‘My mam has said that we can have a couple of rooms and live with them if we want to do so.’
‘My mam has said the same.’ Lucy smiled. ‘I’d rather we found somewhere of our own, though, wouldn’t you?’
‘If we can afford it; if we live with our parents, there won’t be much rent to pay each week. I know I’m on a man’s pay now but it will be hard going at first unless Mr Carter lets you go on working. Carter’s Cars doesn’t employ married women.’
They finally agreed to aim for mid-July and decided they would both save hard until then for all the things they were going to need.
‘After Easter we’ll work out if we can afford to take furnished rooms,’ Robert promised. ‘I don’t think we should tell anyone outside the family about our plans until closer to the date though,’ he added.
‘I agree. if Sam knows, then he’s bound to tell Patsy and you know what she’s like; she’ll tell everybody,’ Lucy warned.
‘Yes, that’s true. She’ll be telling Sam that it was time they were married and want to make it a double wedding,’ Robert laughed.
Sam certainly appeared to be extremely happy at the moment, Lucy thought. He had taken to driving like a duck to water and every evening as they sat around the table eating their meal, he regaled them with details of his progress.
The one thing which seemed to irritate Sam was that although Percy Carter was now out of hospital and recuperating at home, Patsy was still visiting him every afternoon. Sam didn’t think this was necessary, and eventually Lucy decided she ought to ask Patsy why she was doing it.
It became obvious that the other girls in the office were wondering the same thing when someone brought up the subject a few days later while Miss Yorke was out at lunch.
‘Mr Carter asked me to do it because he says Percy looks forward to seeing me so much that it’s the highlight of his day,’ Patsy retorted, giving them all a supercilious smile.
‘Percy doesn’t usually have much to say for himself when he’s here at work so what on earth do you find to talk to him about?’ one of the girls giggled.
‘Well, I tell him all about what’s going on here in the office and news about his friends, and after that we play board games. Percy loves to play Snakes and Ladders and Ludo.’
‘Those are kid’s games!’ another of the girls laughed.
‘Does that matter as long as he enjoys them?’ Patsy defended, tossing her long blonde hair back defiantly.
‘Probably more entertaining than listening to you jabbering on about nothing,’ the girl agreed.
‘I bet you get up to a lot more than that,’ someone commented and there was general laughter all round.
Lucy kept silent because, like Sam, she didn’t think that Patsy should be visiting Percy now that he was at home, but she didn’t want to cause trouble and she knew that Patsy would repeat any comment she made to Sam.
‘You’re only taking advantage of getting off early every day, Patsy Warren. Are you really going to see him, or do you go shopping or something?’
‘She daren’t do that, Mr Carter would know and then she’d be in trouble,’ another girl pointed out.
It worried Lucy that the others also thought it was strange and she kept wondering whether she ought to talk to Sam about it. Each time she intended to do so, however, he started regaling her with tales about his driving skills and he was so enthusiastic about how much he was enjoying driving that Lucy thought perhaps she was worrying needlessly and said nothing.
It was several weeks before Sam was considered to be a competent driver. The first time he was allowed to take a car out on his own he came home bubbling with excitement.
‘Has Mr Carter told you yet which vehicle you are going to be responsible for?’ his father queried. ‘You’ll probably h
ave to be a co-driver at first because I haven’t heard that anyone is leaving and we have enough drivers in the Stores as it is.’
‘I’ve been told that I’m going to stay on in the showroom and that I will be delivering new cars and returning cars to their owners after they’ve been serviced,’ Sam told him.
‘Delivering new cars! You haven’t had anywhere near enough experience to be doing something as responsible as that.’ Bill Collins frowned. ‘You take care, my lad, we don’t want any more accidents, you know.’
‘It’s Mr Carter’s decision; he says I am a very good driver,’ Sam mumbled.
Bill Collins shook his head but said no more. It was left to Lucy to shower praise on Sam and wish him well.
Patsy positively glowed with pride when early in the New Year she informed everybody that Sam had been instructed to drive Percy and Mrs Carter to the hospital when Percy had to go back for his final check-up.
‘It shows how much Mr Carter thinks of Sam to choose him to do something like that,’ Patsy boasted.
‘He’s simply making use of him, and saving himself having to drive there,’ one of the clerks scoffed.
Once again Lucy took no part in the bantering that went on in the office but when she got home she did congratulate Sam and told him that he must be a good driver for Mr Carter to trust him so much.
Mr Collins, however, still continually expressed his doubts about Sam’s ability as a driver, saying that he was too young to have the responsibility of driving customers’ cars.
Then, as Easter approached, to prove to his father how good a driver he was, Sam summoned up the courage to ask Mr Carter if he could hire one of the cars to take his parents out on Easter Sunday.
‘I’d like to take them out for a drive and then stop somewhere for afternoon tea. It would be a real treat for my mam and I thought it would be a way of saying thank you to both of them for all the worry they’ve had ever since the accident.’
‘I suppose I could permit that,’ Mr Carter agreed. ‘Only your parents, though, and I don’t want you to go driving too far or too fast, so no showing off, remember.’
‘I’ll be extremely careful, Mr Carter, I promise.’
‘Right. Where were you thinking of going?’
‘I’m not too sure, sir,’ Sam said hesitantly. ‘I thought perhaps Southport or Chester.’
‘Hmm!’ Mr Carter looked thoughtful. ‘I think perhaps Southport might be the best choice. You are still too inexperienced to drive in a city like Chester.’
‘Southport it will be, then.’ Sam smiled. ‘My mam will love that and we can have tea at one of the cafés on the front and then walk along the promenade.’
‘Make sure you park in a suitable place and lock the car before you leave it,’ Mr Carter warned.
Margaret Collins was so excited when Sam told them about the proposed outing that evening when he arrived home that she could hardly eat her meal.
‘Do you know which car it is we’re going in?’ she asked.
‘Does it matter all that much?’ Bill Collins commented. ‘Most of Carter’s Cars are black, aren’t they?’
‘Some of them are bigger and shinier than others,’ his wife murmured.
‘I won’t know which car until I finish work on Saturday,’ Sam told her. ‘Then I’ll be given the keys and I’ve been told to collect the car at one o’clock on Sunday and to have it back in the garage again before five o’clock.’
‘Four whole hours of driving around,’ Margaret Collins exclaimed in amazement. ‘Can you believe it, Bill?’ she asked, smiling across the table at her husband.
‘We won’t be driving all of the time,’ Sam told her quickly. ‘There is a limit on how far I can go.’
‘Oh dear.’ His mother looked puzzled. ‘What are we going to do, then, and exactly where are we going?’
‘You will have to wait and see,’ Sam told her. ‘Don’t worry,’ he added with a smile, ‘I have it all planned out and I know you are going to enjoy every minute of it.’
‘Perhaps you ought to take your mother and Lucy on this outing instead of me,’ Bill Collins suggested.
‘No, it’s got to be you and Mam, that’s what I’ve arranged with Mr Carter. He said the two of you and no one else,’ Sam emphasised.
‘Well, he’s not to know now, is he, whether it’s me and your mam or your mam and Lucy sitting in it. Come to that, there’s room for both of us and Lucy as well. I can sit in front with you and Lucy and your mother can ride in the back.’
‘That’s not the point,’ Sam muttered. ‘I gave my word, and since he’s been good enough to let me have the car for the afternoon, I’m not going to go against his wishes.’
Chapter Five
Lucy didn’t have to work on the Good Friday which, that year, 1921, was early and fell on the twenty-fifth of March. She spent most of the day helping her mother to prepare for the special outing on Easter Sunday.
‘I can’t believe that our Sam will be taking your dad and me out in a motor car,’ Margaret Collins said over and over again, her plump, round face beaming. ‘I do wish you were coming along with us as well, Lucy, it would be such a lovely treat for you,’ she added in a wistful voice.
‘Never mind, I’ve got plans of my own,’ Lucy assured her. ‘I’m going out for the afternoon with Robert.’
‘I’m sure there would be room for both of you,’ Margaret Collins mused as she kept her head bent over an enamel bowl while Lucy poured a jug of lukewarm water over her head to rinse out the Amami shampoo from her hair.
‘We can’t come with you, Mam. Sam told you that Mr Collins said it was to be you and Dad and no one else. You don’t want Sam getting into trouble, now do you?’ Lucy said firmly.
After she had dried her mother’s shoulder-length hair with a towel and then combed it into a neat knot in the nape of her neck, Lucy offered to help her to put together everything she intended to wear on the Sunday.
‘I’m not really sure what to put on,’ her mother said worriedly. ‘I want to look smart.’
‘Then wear the cream dress and jacket that you’ve already bought,’ Lucy suggested.
‘Oh, Lucy, I can’t do that. That’s special for when you and Robert get married later in the year.’
‘Surely you can wear it again for that,’ Lucy told her. ‘No one else will know.’
‘I’m not so sure,’ her mother said dubiously.
‘You could always treat yourself to a new hat and gloves for the wedding and then it would look completely different.’
‘No, it wouldn’t feel right. I must keep it new for your wedding,’ her mother insisted.
‘You could always buy something else; it’ll be months till our wedding.’
‘I’m not sure I should be so extravagant because there’s so much else we have to spend money on for your bottom drawer.’
‘Nonsense. I’ve been collecting things for ages. I’ve all I need to start off with and I can always borrow things I’m short of from you,’ Lucy said, smiling.
‘Well, yes, that’s if you decide that you and Robert are going to make your home here. You haven’t told us yet what you’ve decided to do. Your dad was only saying the other day that if you and Robert are going to move in here, then he will have to start decorating the two rooms in readiness.’
‘We’ll talk about it after this outing is over,’ Lucy promised.
‘I want to make your wedding day the talk of Priory Terrace,’ she went on, her eyes shining. ‘I can see you now in your wedding dress, holding your father’s arm as you walk up the aisle to where Robert is waiting, and our Sam standing there beside Robert in a smart new suit.’
‘And Patsy as my bridesmaid,’ Lucy reminded her.
‘Mmm! Well, I hope she behaves herself and doesn’t start flirting with all the men like she usually does.’
‘Mam! You know it’s just her way because all the men think she is so pretty.’
‘Rubbish! You are going to be the one looking beautiful. Anyway,�
�� her mother said briskly, ‘all this chatter’s not helping me to decide what I am going to wear when Sam takes us out. I suppose I could wear the red dress that I wore on Christmas Day, but I’m not sure which hat and coat to wear with it.’
‘Your winter coat, of course,’ Lucy told her. ‘It’s still March and the wind can be quite cutting.’
‘Not if we are inside the car, surely,’ her mother protested, her face creasing into a frown. ‘It’s not like standing around waiting for a tram, now is it?’
They discussed it at length and finally agreed that her three-quarter-length coat with a fur collar would be ideal even though it was dark blue and her dress was red.
‘Oh dear, and my hat is black,’ Margaret Collins sighed. ‘That won’t look right, will it?’
‘In that case, why don’t you wear my dark red one and it will go with your dress?’
‘You mean that little one with the tiny brim that looks like a pudding basin?’
‘It’s called a cloche hat and they are the very latest fashion, Mam. It will look far better than wearing a black one and, anyway, the brim on your black one is so big that you will probably knock your hat off trying to get into the car.’
Reluctantly, her mother agreed to try it on and then seemed genuinely amazed at how well it looked. The face-framing hat flattered her and the colour suited her extremely well, making her look younger than she was.
‘Don’t let on to your dad or Sam what I am planning to wear, I want to give them a surprise,’ Margaret Collins said smiling conspiratorially as she took off Lucy’s hat and smoothed down her hair which was now slightly disturbed.
Her mother talked so much about the forthcoming outing, wondering where Sam was taking them and worrying about what the weather would be like, that Lucy began to feel that she would be glad when it was all over.
‘Very well, I’ll keep what you’re wearing a secret,’ Lucy promised as she took the hat from her. ‘Now, can we go and have our meal? I’m meeting Robert at two o’clock.’