by Rosie Harris
‘He’s probably only doing that because he feels guilty about accusing me now that he knows it was Percy’s own fault.’
‘Well, keep quiet about it; you can’t expect him to admit he was mistaken, now can you? As it is, he’s been saying how brave you were so that’s an accolade in itself.’
‘He should admit he was wrong to blame me for doing such a stupid thing,’ Sam argued.
‘Robert was accused as well as you and he’s not had Mr Carter praising him or saying how brave he is,’ Lucy chipped in.
‘That’s enough,’ Mr Collins said firmly. ‘Mr Carter is a good boss and it’s only natural that he was extremely upset that such an accident should happen to his son. Let’s hope the lad is better soon and out of hospital and that things get back to normal. Have they told you how long it will be before your bandages are off, Sam?’
‘Probably sometime next week,’ Sam mumbled. ‘Mind you, they also said that it might be a bit longer before the new skin is strong enough to stand up to oil and grease. I hate having to be the errand boy around the place. I only hope that I’ll be able to catch up with the other apprentices after all this time.’
‘Of course you will, it’s only a matter of a few weeks,’ Lucy assured him. ‘All you need to do is ask Robert and he will tell you about anything you’ve missed.’
‘I was wondering if I ought to go and see Percy,’ Sam commented thoughtfully.
‘Whatever for?’ Lucy asked in surprise.
‘To see how he is and to thank him for owning up that the accident was his own fault. I did ask Patsy to tell him but she said she forgot to do so.’
‘How could Patsy tell him? Percy hasn’t been into the office since the accident.’
‘She’s been visiting him in hospital. I would have thought you knew.’
‘No.’ Lucy frowned. ‘Patsy’s never said a word to me about it. How strange.’
‘I think she said that Mr Carter asked her to do so to try and cheer Percy up because he is so depressed about everything.’
‘Well, she’s kept very quiet about it and that’s not like Patsy. Usually she would be boasting about it,’ Lucy observed dryly.
Chapter Three
A week later when Mr Carter summoned her to his office, Lucy wondered what was wrong and whether it had anything to do with the fact that Sam was still not able to resume his full duties as an apprentice mechanic.
It can’t be that, she told herself as she took off her head phones and checked in the little mirror in her handbag to make sure that her hair was tidy. He wouldn’t talk to me about it, he’d see Sam himself.
‘It will be at least another two weeks before Percy is allowed out of hospital,’ Mr Carter told Lucy when she reported to his office a few minutes later. ‘He has asked if you will go and visit him, so you can leave an hour earlier this afternoon in order to do so.’
Lucy stared at him in surprise, wondering why she was being asked to do so. Knowing how Percy felt about her she wondered if she dared refuse.
As if reading her mind, Mr Carter said, ‘Percy has requested it. He seems to need to see someone his own age to cheer him up and he said there was something he wanted to talk to you about. I can’t allow both you and Patsy Warren to have time off, of course; she will have to take over the switchboard this afternoon so that you can leave early. She’ll probably welcome the break; she’s been in to see him every day since his accident.’
After she’d promised Mr Carter that she would go and see Percy that afternoon Lucy went back to her switchboard feeling very uneasy. She didn’t really want to go and see him because she knew he had a crush on her and she didn’t want to do anything that might encourage him in any way.
Since Mr Carter was telling her he wanted her to go and was giving her time off, she had no alternative but she didn’t think that Robert would be too happy when he heard about it and there was no way she could keep it from him.
She was also concerned about being late home because her mother would be wondering where she was. Without asking Miss Yorke for permission she put a call through to the showroom and asked Mr Fitzpatrick if she could speak to Sam so that she could tell him where she was going and her mother wouldn’t be worried when she didn’t arrive home at the usual time.
Lucy was shocked at how ill Percy looked. Without his glasses he looked quite different; not nearly so studious or owlish. His face was bandaged and there was a metal cage over the bed to support the bedclothes and keep them from touching his body.
He seemed to be very anxious to know how Sam was; in fact, it was the very first question he asked.
‘Well, his hands are recovering but he still can’t do his normal job,’ she told him. ‘At the moment he’s helping out in the showroom. I’m not sure how long it will be before he can go back into the workshop.’
‘Is he upset about it interfering with his apprenticeship?’ Percy asked worriedly. ‘I feel it is my fault.’
‘I don’t think that he looks at it like that at all,’ Lucy assured him. ‘He is keen to complete his apprenticeship, of course, but a couple of weeks shouldn’t make that much difference.’
‘I don’t know,’ Percy admitted gloomily. He bit down on his lower lip as if there was something else he wanted to say and didn’t quite know how to put it into words. Finally, avoiding Lucy’s eyes, he gulped, ‘Do you think your Sam would like a driving job?’
‘You mean instead of becoming a qualified mechanic?’
‘Well, in the long run it might be a better job for him. If his hands are as bad as both you and my dad say they are, then perhaps he shouldn’t do manual work.’
Lucy shook her head. ‘I really don’t know. It’s probably never entered his head. He hasn’t got much longer to go before he finishes his apprenticeship.’
‘Dad thinks he might get rashes or something from all the oil and grease and if that happened then he would probably have to stop working as a mechanic anyway. Can he drive a motor car?’
Lucy shook her head. ‘Not as far as I know. I suppose one day he will want to learn to drive, but at the moment he is happy enough dealing with the mechanical side of motor cars.’
‘Being able to drive as well as knowing what goes on under the bonnet might be to his advantage,’ Percy persisted, staring shortsightedly at Lucy.
‘I expect you’re right, but I really don’t know. Is this why you wanted me to come and see you?’ Lucy asked in relief.
‘Yes.’ Percy nodded. ‘We wondered if you would know what Sam would say if it was suggested to him that he became one of our drivers.’
‘So is it your dad’s idea?’ Lucy asked.
‘We’ve talked about it. I’ve been worrying about Sam while I’ve been lying here. I feel it is my fault he’s been hurt and I know that if it hadn’t been for him, then probably I would have burned to death. I want to do something to make it up to him and to help in some way. I thought changing to a driving job would be the perfect answer and Dad agreed that he would arrange it.’
‘Perhaps you should have asked Sam to come and see you, not me,’ Lucy prevaricated. ‘I don’t know how he would feel about it.’
‘You do think it would be a good idea, though?’
‘In some ways, yes,’ she agreed hesitantly. ‘It depends on how Sam feels about it, though, doesn’t it?’
‘Would you ask him, Lucy, and let me know?’
‘You want me to ask him?’ Lucy exclaimed in a startled voice. ‘I don’t know about that. I think it might be better if the suggestion came from you or your dad.’
‘No.’ Percy shook his head. ‘You ask him, and then if he doesn’t like the idea, we need say nothing more about it. If Dad asks him, he might think he has to agree because the boss has suggested it.’
‘If I ask him, he might tell me to mind my own business and he mightn’t like the idea that we’ve all been talking about him behind his back.’
‘What about if you mention the idea to Robert first and see what he thinks? Sam and
Robert are good mates so perhaps Robert could talk to him.’
Lucy was saved from answering by the bell signalling the end of visiting time.
‘You will do something and let me know? Promise me,’ Percy pleaded as Lucy said goodbye and made to leave.
‘I’ll think it over,’ she promised.
‘Talk to Robert about it,’ Percy called after her as she moved away from his bed.
Lucy thought about Percy’s suggestion all the way home but she couldn’t decide what to do for the best. When she met Robert later that evening she was so preoccupied that he wanted to know what was wrong. When she tried to dismiss it with a smile, claiming that she felt tired, he wasn’t satisfied.
‘Has it got something to do with you going to see Percy in hospital without saying a word to me about what you were going to do?’ he said.
‘I didn’t have much option, Robert. Mr Carter asked me to go; in fact, he more or less said I had to go and he gave me time off work so that I could do so.’
‘Why was he so keen for you to visit Percy, anyway? Patsy has visited him most afternoons, hasn’t she?’
‘Yes, she has,’ Lucy agreed, ‘and I don’t think that Sam is very happy about that either.’
‘You know quite well that he isn’t and I feel the same way. The difference is that he keeps quiet about it because he doesn’t want to upset Patsy. Anyway, he knows she is always flirting and there is nothing in it and that it doesn’t mean a thing. You’re different. Was Patsy there as well?’ he added.
‘No, she had to look after the switchboard while I was away from the office.’
‘In other words, Percy wanted to see you instead of her. You do know that he wants you to go out with him?’
‘I know, but what can I do about it?’
‘Not visit him in hospital for a start and don’t talk to him any more than you have to do.’
‘I don’t,’ Lucy protested, her face pink with embarrassment. ‘I have to sometimes, though, when he comes into the office or when he’s with a group of us and he says something to me.’
‘That’s different. I know you have to speak to him then but try and avoid being on your own with him. It’s not that I’m jealous,’ he went on quickly, ‘but the others all laugh about it and keep ribbing me and saying that if I don’t watch out then I am going to lose you to Percy Carter and I don’t like it.’
‘Well, you certainly don’t think there’s any truth in what they’re saying surely,’ Lucy defended.
‘No, of course I don’t.’ He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. Then he kissed her on the mouth; a long, hard, possessive kiss that left her breathless.
‘You’ve been my girlfriend since the first day you started school. I stopped the other kids from bullying you and I’ve been looking after you ever since,’ he laughed as he released her.
‘Except when it came to Patsy not wanting me around because I was a few months younger than her. You never took my part then.’
‘Well, that was different.’ He grinned. ‘She was in the same class as me at school so I couldn’t fall out with her, now could I?’
‘No? Why was that? Did you hope people would think she was your girlfriend because she was so pretty and so popular?’
‘Of course not!’ He pulled a face. ‘You are the only girl I’ve ever been interested in and you know how much I love you,’ he added as he hugged her again and kissed her on the cheek.
Reassured, Lucy smiled up at him. She knew what he was saying was true but it was nice to hear him admit it, nevertheless.
‘This weird mood you’re in has something to do with that visit to see Percy, though, hasn’t it?’ he commented thoughtfully. ‘Come on, what did he say that’s upset you so much? He didn’t try to make a pass at you, did he?’
‘Percy make a pass at me in his condition!’ She laughed dryly. ‘You should see him, Robert. I had quite a shock because he was in such a dreadful state.’
Robert listened in silence as she related all about Percy’s face and the cage to keep the bedclothes off his body.
‘That’s pretty bad, but I don’t think that’s what’s made you so contemplative,’ he said. ‘There’s something else worrying you, isn’t there?’
‘Yes,’ Lucy admitted. ‘It was something Percy suggested.’
Taking a deep breath she told Robert all about Percy’s idea for Sam to take driving lessons and become a driver for Carter’s Cars instead of being a mechanic.
There was a long silence when she finished as Robert contemplated what such a change would be like for Sam. Like her, he was uncertain if Sam would want to be a driver.
‘He loves being a mechanic, you know,’ he said at last.
‘I agree and that’s why I’m worried about suggesting the idea of being a driver to him,’ Lucy pointed out. ‘As a qualified motor mechanic he would have a job for life, so it’s his future I’m worried about.’
‘On the other hand,’ Robert said thoughtfully, running his hand through his shock of fair hair, ‘he was saying the other day that he’s not enjoying working in the showroom and being a general dogsbody, so he might welcome the idea.’
‘How can we be sure?’ Lucy frowned.
‘By doing what Percy suggests and asking him, I suppose,’ Robert sighed. ‘Let’s ask Sam if he’d like to come out for a drink with us tonight and then we can tell him what Percy has suggested and find out how he feels about it.’
‘That’s a good idea as long as he doesn’t invite Patsy along as well because I’m sure it is her idea that he should become a driver,’ Lucy said. ‘Perhaps I should suggest to her that we go to the pictures tonight, just to make sure.’
‘No,’ Robert shook his head firmly, ‘you were the one Percy asked to talk to Sam about this, so you must be there. I agree with you that we don’t want Patsy along as well, so don’t say anything to Sam when you get home. Later on this evening I’ll call round and then invite him to come out for a bevvy.’
‘Just the two of you,’ she said with relief.
‘No, you must come as well.’
‘Won’t Sam think that is rather strange? He is bound to suggest that if I am coming we ought to take Patsy along as well.’
‘I’ll deal with that if he does. I’ll tell him that since we are only going for a quick half it’s not worth going round for her.’
‘Surely it would be much better if it was just the two of you?’ Lucy persisted.
‘No,’ Robert said firmly. ‘You must be the one to tell him what Percy has suggested. ‘I’ll talk it over with him afterwards, if he wants to do so, but as we said before, it is up to him what he decides to do.’
Chapter Four
Lucy watched the changing expressions on her brother’s face as she repeated what Percy had suggested. At first his dark eyes widened with astonishment. Then his thick brows drew together in contemplation of the idea and his eyes narrowed speculatively.
When she’d finished speaking he took a long drink of beer from his glass and then looked questioningly not at her but across at Robert who had remained silent the entire time Lucy had been talking.
‘What do you think about it?’ he asked.
Robert picked up his own glass and stared down into it as if seeking an answer. ‘I don’t know what to think, it’s up to you, whacker, isn’t it?’ he said at last.
‘I’m well aware of that,’ Sam stated, ‘but I wondered what you thought of the idea.’ He looked at Lucy. ‘Do you think they mean it about me packing in my apprenticeship and becoming a driver instead? Or do you think it is something that Percy has dreamed up himself while he’s been lying there in his hospital bed with nothing else to do and that probably his old man knows nothing about it?’
‘He told me that he and his father had talked it over,’ Lucy assured him.
‘So do you believe him?’ Sam persisted. ‘I’m wondering if Patsy’s had something to do with it. She’s always saying she wished I had a white-collar job; one where I didn’t get a
ll oily and my hands stained with grease from the cars. Do you think she’s the one who has put the idea into Percy’s head?’
‘I really don’t know,’ Lucy said uncertainly. ‘It was Mr Carter who asked me to go and visit Percy, though, and he said there was something Percy wanted to talk to me about.’
‘Yes, but he didn’t give you any idea what it was,’ Sam muttered, picking up his glass again and staring into its contents.
Robert drained his own glass and began fastening his coat as though ready to leave. ‘Why don’t you mull over the suggestion, Sam, and then if Mr Carter does ask you about it, at least you will know what sort of answer to give him,’ he suggested.
Sam was very quiet as they walked home and he went indoors ahead of Robert and Lucy who lingered on the doorstep to say goodnight to each other.
‘I hope we’ve done the right thing in telling him,’ Lucy said worriedly as Robert took her into his arms and held her close.
‘We’ve done what Percy asked you to do and now it’s up to Sam to decide what he wants to do. It’s none of our business what the outcome is, so let’s forget it and not talk about it any more,’ Robert told her firmly as his lips sought hers.
Lucy sighed and said no more but the thought that perhaps Sam was right in thinking that it had been Patsy’s idea went round and round in her head and she wondered if it was the right decision for Sam to make. As a fully qualified mechanic he would be able to work anywhere; as a driver, she wasn’t sure what his prospects would be.
Learning to drive was something most young men wanted to do but very few had the opportunity so she could understand what a temptation it must be for Sam. Since his hands were still tender after all this time, then perhaps it was a wise decision. If he hesitated, then he might not get another chance and if he ended up with some sort of skin problem from the oil and grease he came into contact with daily, then he would bitterly regret having turned down such an opportunity.
On the other hand, Lucy mused, if it was simply because Patsy fancied having a boyfriend who always looked clean and spruced up, then it was regrettable for Sam to sacrifice all the years he had spent as an apprentice simply to please her.
