A Good Runner: Part Five

~ beetleypete

This is the fifth part of a fiction serial, in 746 words.

Diane White.

Once the funeral was over, and the life insurance had paid out, Edna reckoned she could just about manage. Brenda would be leaving school in eighteen months, so more money would be coming in after that. Mike’s boss had been very kind. He arranged to have the car driven back and parked outside the house, and the men gave Edna a brown envelope with fifty pounds inside, money that had been collected by donations from all of Mike’s colleagues.

The car had been outside for just two days, when Don Cullen knocked on the door. “I was wondering about the car, Edna. I could take it off you hands if you want. Not as if you are going to drive it, is it? I can give you cash, how does three seven-five sound?” Edna hadn’t been interested in the car, but she did know how much Mike had paid for it, as she had to add some of her own small savings to make up the total.

“That’s not enough, Don. It was almost seven hundred, and that was at the end of last summer”. Don nodded. “Okay, but think about it. Like I said, I have cash”.

The next Saturday, Edna took the bus to the Ford dealer, and asked if they would buy the car back. The man was nice, and told her the truth. “New cars lose a lot of money in the first year, Mrs Hollingsworth. I know how much your husband paid for it, but I couldn’t offer more than four seven-five I’m afraid”. Edna nodded. That was considerably more than Don had offered. “Okay, I am happy to take that, as long as you can collect it”.

Two men turned up at three that afternoon. One handed her a cheque for the agreed amount, and she gave them all the paperwork Mike kept in a kitchen drawer, and both sets of keys. As they were leaving, one of them turned to her. “Sorry to hear about your husband, madam. Don’t forget to cancel the insurance”.

Diane White was a modern woman. She had completed her teacher training at the end of nineteen-sixty, and after three years of teaching in a school in London, she wanted to buy her own house. Prices in Essex were more reasonable, so she had applied for a job at a school in Colchester, and been successful. Once she had her starting date, she put down a deposit on a two-bed cottage near Fordham, then decided she would need a car to travel the ten miles each way to school. Despite passing her test when she was twenty-one, she hadn’t had enough money to buy a car, and hadn’t driven since.

She saw the half page car dealer’s advertisement in a local paper, and it included a car that seemed ideal. ‘Ford Consul Cortina. 1963 model, four doors, low mileage, Green. £600’.

Being a teacher was a the sort of job that allowed her to get credit, and she had enough for the deposit in her savings account. The salesman treated her like an idiot, but she was used to that. So she wiped the smile off his face with an offer. “I will give you five-fifty for it, and take your credit payments scheme. I know you make money on that, and I can give you a cheque for the deposit now. Say no, and I will walk away and buy a Vauxhall I was looking at earlier”.

They shook on the deal.

When the finance had been approved, Diane was able to collect the car the day after she moved into her new house, and four days before she started at the new school. It was a lot nicer than the car she had learned to drive in, her dad’s old Standard 8. On the way home from Chelmsford to Fordham, she really enjoyed the easy steering, and smooth gearchange. And now the bad weather had passed, it felt great to drive around the country lanes on that bright morning in late April.

The first day at her new school, a few heads turned to see the young woman get out of the smart green car in the car park. In the staff room, it was mentioned by all the male teachers that she was the only female teacher with her own car. Even the headmaster had something to say.

“Well well, our new English teacher has her own car. Times really are changing”.

39 thoughts on “A Good Runner: Part Five”

      1. my eyesight is not good enough to make out the details of the badges, 30 could mean years, then there is lots of time for a junkyard. It took how many episodes to kill off the first owner . . . . WArmest regards, Theo

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        1. I can’t see it either, but the photo can be enlarged enough for me to read detail.
          Yes, 30 years is still long enough for a junkyard, and would make it 1993.
          Then again, the badge might be 20 years old when the photo was taken. 🙂
          Best wishes, Pete.

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  6. (1) Mrs. Hollingsworth didn’t get her money’s worth out of the car.
    (2) Diane likes the new Fords. But she can’t a-Fordham.
    (3) Diane enjoyed teaching math: 2-bed cottage + 4-door car = 6-feet under.
    (4) If Diane White drives a green car, what color car does Eva Green drive? (I’m asking for a friend of mine here in Sin City.)
    (5) “The salesman treated her like an idiot, but she was used to that.” Getting used to being called an idiot is child’s play. Now she’ll have to get used to how her students treat her!
    (6) Idiots in the News: “Ms. White drives smart green car. Assigned to teach Drive’s Ed.”
    (7) Bad citation: “The first day at her new school, a few heads turned, including Regan MacNeil’s.”

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    2. God forbid I would do something like that! 🙂
      Mind you, it is said that green cars are supposed to be unlucky. I have had three green cars, and they coincided with relationship break-ups. So who knows?
      Best wishes, Pete.

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