‘Oh, thank goodness,’ she said breathlessly, as I opened the passenger door for her to jump in. ‘It’s really good of you to collect me, Gervase. I’m so grateful.’
‘No problem at all. Now,’ I said, as I eased out into the traffic, ‘I take it we are heading for Hawthwaite?’ I asked.
‘Oh, yes please,’ replied Gerry. ‘I really am sorry to be such a nuisance. The car just suddenly cut out. For all my knowledge of science, I’m afraid the workings of the car engine are beyond me. I phoned the breakdown people but they said they’d be over an hour and I just didn’t know what to do. Did I drag you away from anything important?’
‘Just one of Sidney’s long stories. I was glad to get away, to be honest. It was lucky you caught me because I was about to make tracks when your call came through.’ Gerry did not reply but rubbed her hands together uneasily, then glanced at her watch. ‘So, what’s the emergency?’ I asked.
‘What?’ she asked sharply.
‘The emergency,’ I repeated. ‘You know, the something urgent you have to do.’
She was silent for a moment. ‘Oh, it’s… I really don’t know what to say. I honestly don’t know where to start.’
‘You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,’ I said, gently. ‘I’ll just drop you off home and ask no questions. But I can be very discreet, you know, and if you need any more help…’
‘I do appreciate your coming out. I know you will want to get on home and Christine will be wondering where you’ve got to. And on Friday night as well.’ She glanced at her watch again.
‘Oh, she’s used to my staying out late. Anyway, it’s unlikely she’s back from school yet. She stays late most evenings. I often get home before her and –’
Geraldine was clearly not listening. ‘Actually, could you drop me off just the other side of Fangbeck Bridge? There’s a row of red-brick cottages, just past the Three Feathers pub.’
‘Oh yes, I know them. But I thought you said you lived at the other side of the village?’
‘I do,’ Gerry replied, ‘but I have to collect someone.’ She took a deep breath, and then said, ‘And then actually if you could run us home. Fortunately it’s Saturday tomorrow so I can sort the car out then.’
‘Do you want me to collect you in the morning,’ I asked her, ‘and give you a tow to a garage?’
‘No, no, you’ve been really kind as it is. I’ll be able to deal with that myself She glanced at her watch again and then rubbed her hands together. ‘Gervase, there is something I have to tell you,’ she began, ‘and I really don’t know where to start. The someone I have to collect… oh, this is very difficult…’
‘I think I can save you the embarrassment, Gerry,’ I said. ‘I assume it is your little boy?’
There was sharp intake of breath. ‘However did you know?’ she whispered.
‘I was speaking at the Totterdale and Clearwell Golf Club dinner and I sat next to Mrs Hills, the woman you rent the cottage from. She told me you had a child.’
‘When was this?’ Gerry asked, still in a shocked whisper.
‘Oh, sometime before Christmas.’
‘You’ve known for over six months?’
‘Yes.’
Gerry released a huge sigh, then threw back her head and gave a little laugh. ‘And here I was thinking that it was the world’s best-kept secret. Why ever didn’t you mention it?’
‘I assumed you wanted to keep it a secret – although heaven knows why.’
‘How many other people know?’
‘None, so far as I know. I haven’t said a word to anyone – and that includes Christine.’
‘Thank you, Gervase, a hundred times. Heavens, that’s another thing I have to thank you for.’
‘And discretion being my middle name, I shall continue to remain as silent as the grave. But what I cannot understand, Gerry, is why you have decided to keep it such a secret? I mean, it is not as though we are living in the Dark Ages. Who nowadays is going to bother about someone who’s a single parent? There’s enough of them about.’
‘It might not be the Dark Ages, Gervase, but this is Yorkshire, not London. People can be very narrow-minded. And do you imagine for one moment that I would have had a hope in hell of getting this job if it were known that I had a three-year-old son to look after and no husband – an unmarried mother? Just think of some of those who sit on the interview panels – Councillor Peterson, for example, with his ghastly comments about young women not being able to handle the difficult lads and his prehistoric views on the woman’s place being at home, cooking and cleanings darning the socks and looking after the kiddies. It’s difficult enough for a woman to get a senior position m such a man’s world as it is, without being unmarried and with a young child. I just knew I could hold down this job and be a good mother as well.’
‘Mmm, I see what you mean.’ I immediately thought of some of the more ‘traditional’ governors, councillors and clerics I had come across who made Councillor Peterson appear positively liberal in his views. ‘But, you know, Yorkshire people are generally very warm and generous and usually don’t judge others too hastily. I think you would have been rather surprised at the reaction, had you taken the risk.’
‘It will eventually have to come out,’ continued Gerry. ‘I realise that. Jamie starts nursery school after the summer holidays and you know what the jungle telegraph is like.’
‘So no one, except myself, knows then?’ I asked.
‘Harold knows. I told him before they offered me the job. I thought it only fair to tell him, and he said it was nobody’s business but my own and if it did not affect my work then there was no reason to say anything.’
‘That sounds like Harold,’ I said.
‘He’s been a tower of strength. In fact, he’s been like a father to me, has Harold, and I will really miss him terribly. I’m not looking forward to the arrival of Simon Carter, I have to say. He doesn’t strike me as the most understanding and tolerant of men. He has already told me he expects lots of late meetings and evening events. I’ve not stopped worrying since that dreadful encounter with him when he outlined all the changes he intends making. I cannot imagine Simon Carter being warm and generous and non-judgemental. I really am dreading his coming.’
‘Join the club,’ I remarked.
‘Anyway, I’ll have to face that when I have to. I always try to collect Jamie from the child-minder at six. She’ll baby-sit for me as well so long as I give her good notice. It’s worked out pretty well.’ She glanced at her watch for the umpteenth time. ‘Until today, that is. She’s arranged to go out this evening.’
‘Well, we are nearly there now,’ I reassured her. ‘And I wouldn’t worry about Mr Carter. As Connie would say, “You can burn that bridge when you get to it.”’
*
Early the following Monday morning Sidney, David, Gerry and I were at the Staff Development Centre for an inspectors’ meeting.
‘Thanks a million for Friday,’ said Gerry quietly, placing a bottle of wine before me on the table. ‘I was in a real state. I hope you and Christine will enjoy this on one of the rare evenings you spend together.’
‘Oh, you shouldn’t have bothered,’ I told her, ‘but thanks. It’s very thoughtful of you. Has the car been fixed?’
‘No, not yet. I’m in a hire car this week but I should have it back next Monday.’ She sounded her usual composed and confident self.
‘As I said to Gervase the other night,’ said David, peering over the top of his spectacles, ‘you ought to get yourself a reliable vehicle, Geraldine. You could have broken down in some dark, deserted and dangerous place in the middle of nowhere with no sign of life for miles. Then what would you have done?’
‘I shudder at the thought,’ Gerry said.
‘I mean, you read all the time about young women being attacked along lonely country roads, dragged into the bushes and assaulted, left for dead in a ditch, buried —’
‘David,’ I interrupted, ‘must you be s
uch a prophet of doom. You are getting more and more depressing lately.’
‘It’s a sad fact that there are all sorts of weird, violent, deranged and dangerous people at large,’ he continued obliviously, ‘who prey on young women. My sister’s daughter, Prudwen, is a case in point. She was coming home from a pop concert in Colwyn Bay with a friend last year when one of these flashers jumped out of the bushes, baring all. Rather unfortunately for the flasher, Prudwen and her friend are big strapping girls and they were not the least bit frightened. More amused than anything. They had caught the drum sticks which the drummer in the band had thrown into the audience at the end of the concert.’ David nodded sagely. ‘That little man will not be so keen on exposing himself again, I can tell you, not after Prudwen had finished with him. She’s taken up playing those steel drums, so my sister was telling me last week, so some good came of it.’
Sidney entered the room, pursued by Connie who was wearing her usual bright pink nylon overall but, in place of the feather duster that morning, she held aloft a long and lethal-looking mop.
‘I was merely pointing out, Connie,’ Sidney was saying in a weary tone of voice, ‘that there is little point in putting a notice which says “Wet Floor” right at the end of the corridor where no one can see it. The sign would be better, I would have thought, placed in the entrance to forewarn those who are foolhardy enough to venture through the door in the first place that the floor is like an ice rink. I very nearly fell full length.’
‘Putting the notice in the entrance would cause an obstruction and be a health and safety hazard,’ announced Connie. ‘People could fall over it.’
‘And people could, and I nearly did, slip on the wet floor,’ said Sidney.
‘I always do my floors on a Monday morning, Mr Clamp, you know that. Eight o’clock prompt before the teachers arrive at nine for their courses is when I do my floors. Then I do the brass fitments in the Gents and the washbasins in the Ladies. I always have done and I always will do. I never deleviate from my routine. Anyway, I did wait until the inspectors had arrived before starting on the floor, so it’s your fault for being late.’ Before Sidney could respond, Connie turned her attention to the rest of us and smiled. ‘Now, I called in to say I have had a phone message from Dr Yeats, who said he would be a bit late. He’s tied up with that Mrs Savage at the moment.’
‘I can’t think of anything more unpleasant,’ remarked David.
‘So, since we have a little time on our hands,’ said Sidney, glancing in the direction of Connie, before gently pulling out a chair and making sure it did not leave a mark on the highly polished floor, ‘I shall conclude my story of Delores and the headmaster of West Challerton High School.’ He looked in the direction of Connie as if to indicate that she could get on with her mopping but she remained where she was, standing sentinel at the door with her mop, like Britannia herself.
‘If you must,’ said David.
‘Now, it is far too long for me to narrate the first part of the story,’ Sidney told us, ‘so I shall briefly summarise the story so far for your benefit, Geraldine. I was telling David and Gervase that I was doing a two-day inspection in West Challerton High School at the beginning of last week and on the first day eavesdropped on a conversation between that dreadfully pompous and self-opinionated headmaster and one of the older pupils. This girl was due to have a baby, one of these teenage pregnancies, and he was explaining to her that she could still come in for her examinations which she would sit in a small room rather than the hall. He was also informing her that the Outward Bound week over the summer holidays was off because she was not in a fit state, being five months pregnant, to go grass-skiing and abseiling. Well, on the following day old Pennington-Smith stands up in assembly, before all the staff and pupils and announces, “There is a spare place now available on the Outward Bound week over the summer holidays because of a late withdrawal.”’ Sidney’s face creased with laughter. ‘I nearly died when I heard what he said. All the staff had to go out for laughing.’ David gave a weak smile but I know I must have looked acutely embarrassed because I could not avoid immediately thinking of Gerry’s circumstances.
‘Well, I thought it was hilarious,’ said Sidney, looking crestfallen. ‘A spare place due to a late withdrawal!’
‘Mr Clamp,’ said Connie, who was still listening from the door and shaking her mop like a spear, ‘Delores, for your information – and I assume you are talking about my Delores – happens to be my cousin’s girl and I’ll tell you this. Those who get into trouble like what she did are the innocent ones, those what men take advantage of. It is no laughing matter bringing up a child without a father. No laughing matter at all.’ With that she stomped out.
Sidney hunched his shoulders, pulled the most excruciating expression and whispered across the table, ‘Tell me where the hole is so I can crawl into it.’
‘It was in rather bad taste,’ remarked David. ‘Even for you, Sidney.’
‘Well how was I to know the girl was Connie’s cousin’s daughter?’ moaned Sidney. ‘She’ll put toilet bleach in my tea after this.’
‘Connie’s right,’ said Gerry. ‘It’s no laughing matter bringing up a child without a father. It’s a real struggle. I should know.’
‘And why should you know, my dear Geraldine?’ I opened my mouth to try to head Sidney off but I was too late. ‘Don’t tell us that you have a love child.’
‘Well, yes, Sidney, actually I do.’
‘Good God!’ exclaimed Sidney and, for once, was completely lost for words.
‘It is perhaps not the most brilliant time to tell you but I have a little boy called Jamie. He’s three. Jamie’s father is married and has a family. I guess I should have told you.’
There was what seemed like an interminable silence. It was broken by Sidney. ‘Well, Gerry, I… er… congratulations! I mean about having a little boy, not about… er… his father…’
‘Stop digging while you can, Sidney,’ advised David. ‘The hole is becoming a bottomless pit.’
‘I really am sorry, Gerry,’ said Sidney, giving her a pathetic hangdog look. ‘I didn’t know… You are quite right. It’s… it’s no laughing matter.’
‘Actually, your Delores story was quite amusing,’ said Gerry, smiling, ‘and you weren’t to know.’
‘But why didn’t you say anything?’ asked David. ‘I mean, I know it’s none of our business, but you surely didn’t think that we would think any less of you? That we wouldn’t be supportive.’
‘No,’ replied Gerry quietly, ‘I never thought that. I suppose I was just afraid of the gossip, what other people would say. It was rather silly of me to keep it a secret.’
‘We all have skeletons in our cupboards,’ announced Sidney, now recovered somewhat from his earlier embarrassment.
‘Some more than others, I guess,’ remarked David, looking fixedly at Sidney. Then he turned his attention on me. ‘You are pretty quiet, Gervase. Aren’t you surprised? Ah! Perhaps you already knew.’
‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘I met Jamie on Friday night when I took Gerry home when her car broke down. A smashing kid.’
Gerry threw me a grateful glance. There was no point in letting on that I had known for months.
At that moment Harold breezed in. ‘Sorry, sorry I’m late. I was tied up at County Hall with Mrs Savage and just could not get away.’ He smiled indulgently at David and Sidney who were chortling like schoolboys. He placed himself at the head of the table, pulled out a wad of papers which he placed before him and rubbed his large hands vigorously. ‘Well now, colleagues, I’ve got some rather interesting news.’
‘This seems a morning for revelations,’ remarked Sidney.
‘I’m not sure to what you are referring, Sidney, and much as I would like to hear about it,’ said Harold, ‘there is really something of great importance that I must impart.’
‘Don’t tell us that you are running off with Mrs Savage,’ said David.
‘No, no, God forbid,’ said Ha
rold, clasping his large hands in front of him and leaning forward over the desk. ‘Listen, let us be serious for a moment.’ He took a deep breath, gave a great toothy smile and announced, ‘I am staying on for another term, maybe two.’
‘You are what!’ we all exclaimed.
‘Staying on,’ repeated Harold, grinning his big toothy smile. ‘Dr Gore has asked me to withdraw my resignation for the time being and hold the fort until my successor has been appointed.’
‘But your successor has been appointed,’ I said. ‘Or have I missed something?’
‘Mr Simon Carter, as you correctly point out, Gervase,’ explained Harold, ‘was indeed appointed but has unexpectedly resigned.’
‘He’s not coming, then?’ announced Gerry.
‘Exactly.’ There was a distinctly gleeful tone in Harold’s voice.
‘He’s really resigned?’ cried Sidney.
‘Yes, he has decided that the job is not really quite right for him,’ continued Harold. ‘He has been having certain reservations. If truth be told, I think he found the prospect a little too challenging. He has decided to return to management consultancy.’
‘Well, he certainly knew all the buzz words,’ said David. ‘He seemed to have memorised all the catchphrases and clichés there are. I for one am delighted he is not taking over. It has lifted a great heavy burden from me.’
‘This is great news indeed, Harold!’ exclaimed Sidney. ‘Carter promised a great deal which, to my mind, signified very little.’
‘But is he allowed to break his contract?’ asked Gerry. ‘He accepted the position, didn’t he?’
‘You are perfectly right, Geraldine,’ Harold told her. ‘He would, under normal circumstances, be required to honour the contract he signed but Dr Gore has spoken to members of the Education Committee and sorted all that out. He certainly would not want a Senior Inspector whose heart was not in the job. I have to say, he was secretly very pleased, very pleased indeed, when Mr Carter asked for an interview and requested to be released from his contract. He had become increasingly unsure about the man. He found him very intense and tiring and had also received numerous complaints about his abrasive manner. And that is even before he has started. Evidently Mr Carter, on his several visits to the county, has trodden on a great many toes. He has already managed to upset the resource manager, the principal architect, the chief psychologist, the principal school librarian, various councillors and members of the Education Committee and then it came to a head with Mrs Savage.’
Head Over Heels in the Dales Page 29
