Chapter 19

Sunday night brought a change in my life that upset my equilibrium and directly led to this tale that you are reading.

We were sitting cuddled on the living room sofa listening to some music when I handed Wishes an envelope.

“What’s this love?” She asked looking at the plain white envelope with just her name written on the front.

“Why don’t you open it and see,” I said grinning as Wishes opened the envelope.

“I don’t understand, what’s all this about?” Wishes said looking at some paperwork from the British School of Motoring, one of the largest driving instructor groups in the UK.

“It’s simple enough love, this is the paperwork for a five day intensive driving course for you, ok.”

“But, what, uh why?” She stammered.

“Darling you are going to be back at the University soon. You would have to catch a bus to Truro everyday or stay down there all week and come home for weekends. I’m selfish, I want you to be at home in bed with me all night every night.”

Throwing her arms about me Wishes kissed me hard.

“Thank you honey, that’s so sweet of you, I want to be with you every night as well.”

We kissed for a while before Wishes pulled back slightly.

“I love you so much honey,” she whispered to me, then sat back and grinned at me.

“I didn’t realise you were so sneaky, when did you organise this?”

I grinned back at her.

“On Thursday when I dropped you in town for you to change your address, remember I told you I wanted to get the tyres checked on the car?”

“Yes,” she said looking closely at me.

“Well I didn’t need to check the tyres, I went to their office in Fore Street and made the arrangements, you start Monday and should have your licence by Friday.”

My mind drifted to when I took my driving test. I gasped and must have gone white as a sheet.

I clearly remembered taking my driving test. I remembered the car, my driving instructor, even my examiner. I could remember how terrified I was as I sat in the car waiting for the instruction to move off. I remembered the incredible feeling of relief and achievement when the examiner told me I had passed.

The trouble was that Graham had never taken a driving test, they weren’t required when I started driving. I was remembering Linda’s driving test, a test which I know had never taken!

“Linda, Linda, LINDA!” Wishes voice finally registered on me. I focused on her worried face and managed a very shaky smile.

“Linda are you okay?” She asked concerned.

“Yeah,” I mumbled, “I just remembered taking my driving test,” I answered in a distracted voice.

“Oh Linda that’s great!” Wishes exclaimed, “Your memory’s coming back, that’s fantastic love.”

Wishes gave me a hug and then settled back into the seat.

“So?” She asked.

“Sorry,” I was beginning to function again although I still didn’t understand how this could possible have happened.

“So tell me about it silly!”

So I spent almost an hour telling Wishes what I knew of my driving lessons around Birmingham. I remembered all the roads I drove around on as I was learning, even though as Graham the only time I visited the city was in 1944 when I had to wait an hour on the station platform for a connecting train.

I described the test day, how nervous I was. I told her how I was convinced that I had failed the test because at one point the examiner had told me to take the next right turn and I had turned left. When I stopped the car at the end of the test he congratulated me on a fine piece of driving and told me I had passed, I had almost argued with him about it.

“But, but I can’t have passed,” I told him, “I took a wrong turn on Symonds Road!”

He chuckled and smiled at me.

“Miss Pearce you signalled a left turn, made your observations correctly and executed the manoeuvre safely. You are not a danger on the road, although you may get lost from time to time. If I were you I would buy a good map, or a SatNav.”

I was still feeling distracted when we went to bed and long after Wishes had fallen asleep I was lying there trying to sort through the mix of memories belonging to both Graham and Linda.

Eventually I got out of bed and made myself a cup of tea. Finding a notepad I started writing down as much as I could remember of Graham’s life. Two hours later I went to bed and snuggled up to my lover, eventually I drifted off to an uneasy sleep.