Chapter 17

And with that comment he was off home, probably to a wife and children. It is amazing how little we pupils know about our teachers except for school activity. In the same way, the teachers know less about us than they think they do.
Congratulations, he said! I got out a pair of my Mum’s big scissors and opened the tall brown envelope. It contained a large sheet of stiff paper with a list of my subjects and the rating achieved for each. I was elated that I had done so well in everything except Latin. That was barely a pass in the Lower category that I had tried for. I now had enough good results to apply to university if I wanted, but to what end?

I recalled my musings on that subject at the time I first realised I could be one of the idle rich, but the idea of being idle did not appeal to me. Living a life without purpose was a waste in so many ways. Family life was an encouraging thought, but even then I wanted to do something useful for society instead of being a house-husband.

I was sure there were occupations where you did not require a three or four-year degree to start doing. I was happy to see my Sandy gaining a business degree, as she would be able to handle all our finances in future with that hard-won knowledge. Georgina could make up her own mind about work and motherhood, and we could adjust to whichever direction she chose. The matter of Janet would be one we could look at, when and if she decided she wanted to become a mother in Sandy’s household. Financially, it would be a good deal for her, and if she could get along with the girls it could be emotionally satisfying as well. I had the impression that love was a distinct option between me and Janet, and hopefully between her and the girls. Certainly for a stable future, love can be a great asset, though I suspected that often you had to work to reach that target. I was willing; we would find out from Janet whether she was also keen on that effort.

By Thursday I had relented on taxis, and booked one to take me to school and drop me off discreetly, and come back for me at leaving time on Thursday and Friday. My parents were coming to grips with the idea of their elder son having money, so I had no complaints about a taxi ride to school. When I was dropped off at the school gate, only a few of my classmates saw me, so I made an effort to hobble as if my ailment was still a problem. During the day I had trouble maintaining that fiction, so I pretended that the pain came and went at indeterminate intervals. That excuse went over fairly well, so I would use it for the two days. My teachers also treated me with care, though by now we had stopped learning by necessity and only learned what we wanted to learn, which surprisingly was what all of us top learners wanted to do. At the lunch break I was approached by two girls in my year, with a question.

“What were you doing in Gourock, having lunch with two women? We were there to have a look round the shops, and when we went into the Cafe Continental for a snack, we saw you over by the window with two women; and to top it all, the waitress looked like she was fawning over you! What was going on? It WAS you, wasn’t it?”

I confessed to the deed.

“Yes, I was there with my girlfriend and her older sister for lunch. The service there is always very good, that’s why the waitress was looking after us well.”

“We noticed, but we didn’t like to interrupt in case you had two girlfriends to lunch!” One of the girls giggled at the idea, and the other shushed her.

“Stop it, Jeannie,” said Senga. “This is Bob! I am surprised he even has one girlfriend. I have never heard of you having a girlfriend before. When did you meet her, Bob?”
“Just recently; she is after my money, I think; doing a university degree, she says.”
“What? An older woman? Yes, she did look older. And we know your dad is an engineer at the shipyard, Bob. You don’t have money for her to be after you like that.”

“Ah, well she must love me, then. Thank God for that.”

“Love? What do you know about love, Bob? What is she teaching you?”

I glared at her, and took the offensive. “You expect me to tell you, Senga? And how would you know? Are you taking a course in that subject?”

Senga looked nonplussed at my attack. Jeannie came back with, “Love is a difficult subject, Bob. None of us is an expert. Care to tell us what you are picking up?”

“Apart from her kissing? She has lovely breasts with that attractive dark circle round the nipple; what do you call it?”

“Areola,” said Jeannie. “Men have them too, even though they have no function in men.”

I enquired, “What is their function in women, apart from looking attractive?”

Senga was horrified that Jeannie was so forthcoming about girls, but Jeannie was in full flow and continued, “They provide lubrication when you are breastfeeding a baby, of course.”

I told her, “No ‘of course’ about it, Jeannie. Boys don’t get told such details in out health class. They talk to us about boys’ parts but almost nothing about girls. I am of the opinion that our male teachers expect you girls to fill in for that lack on information. Are you volunteering to assist?”

Jeannie was taken aback, while Senga was almost apoplectic, as I was more or less inviting them to expose their breasts to me. Senga grabbed Jeannie by the arm and almost dragged her away leaving me to my lunch in peace.

I resumed eating my meal, such as it was; pretty basic school lunches, not a patch on the food in restaurants and hotels. Still, it was cheap; you get what you pay for.
After finishing my meal, I was heading out the door of the lunch room when Jeannie reappeared at my side.

“Bob, did you feel your girlfriend’s boobs?”

This came over as a genuine question, so I answered, “Yes. They were fairly firm, but yielding. Rather wonderful, and her nipples got hard as well. It took us all of our efforts to stop there. She wants to be a virgin...” I stopped suddenly as I was getting into too much information for Jeannie, but she took that leap of logic.
“At her wedding? Bob, did you ask her to marry you?”

I merely nodded non-commitally and left it at that, but she wandered off, stunned, still pondering the awesome thought of being engaged at seventeen/eighteen. She had neglected to check if I had an engagement ring, but I didn’t have one, so such a look would not have helped her. I had the option of denying it to everyone for the moment, and as far as school was concerned, that might be my best option. School would soon be all over bar the presentation of prizes. I had no idea where I ended up in the hierarchy for each subject. Such minor achievements no longer had much value to me.

I may not have said anything in words, but Jeannie started the rumour train going and by the end of the day I was getting looks that ranged from the awed to the astounded, from the regretful, to the wonder at not seeing what some girl saw in me. I was being watched by more students than normal, so when a taxi rolled up and I climbed into it, this event added more grist to the rumour mill, wondering who was paying for the taxi.

Friday was another day of curiosity about me, and I was subjected to a barrage of questions from my classmates and others, as well as the odd quip from a teacher about people who can afford taxis to school. I fended them off as best I could by being non-committal in most cases, and for my closest classmates a partial truth, in that I had a wonderful girlfriend and someone was providing me with transport to school until my foot was fully healed.

Some took this to mean that I was getting some compensation for the accident, or that my new girlfriend was rich, or a combination of the two. I allowed them to come to their own conclusions without confirming any of them. My favourite saying of the day became “I couldn’t possibly say.”

I was surprised at how many girls now found me attractive, now that I supposedly had an older girlfriend. Why that should be, I could not think, but I basked in my new-found notoriety, and maintained my reticence which used to be known as shyness.
I waved goodbye from my taxi as I left from school, and subsided into the comfy seat for the short trip home. My mother was getting over the shock of my quick appearance after school, and I assured her that in a few days I might be back to my bicycle for school, at the rate my foot was healing.
I also informed her that Sandy was expecting me at Gourock on Saturday, so was there anything I needed to do for her before I left for the day? She thought a little, then said she wanted to look at coats and shoes for a forthcoming wedding, so could I get my taxi to drop her off at Shannons the dress shop. I was happy to promise that, and checked to see if she needed some more cash to get these at the high standard I hoped to see her in. When she seemed unsure, I handed her a fifty pound note and said, “Pay for your things out of that, and keep the remainder for whatever else you need. I want my Mum to look her best at the wedding.”

She gasped, “But that is fifty pounds!”

“Why, so it is! Exactly what I thought it was,” I agreed with her statement about the amount, and told her that I had been given several hundred by my benefactor’s lawyer, and it was only right that she benefitted as well. She subsided at that, and I heard no more about it.

Next morning, she was ready to go in plenty of time, so I instructed the driver to drop her off at Shannons’ door, or as near as he could get to it.

“Do I wait for her?” he asked, but I told him she would be in there for ages, and said, “Mum? Get Shannons to call a taxi for you to get home. I can’t wait here.”

Off we went on our diversion to Gourock, and I got him to stop at the agency. If Sandy was ready, she and I could use the taxi to get to our house before I dismissed the driver. She was standing talking to Georgie, so I told her to get to the taxi if she had the house keys, as we were going to our house to move bricks. She knew immediately what I meant, and was in the taxi right away.

I gave our driver the address for our final stop, and in five minutes we were there, and I paid him, having to wait while he found enough cash to hand over the change.

I followed Sandy inside, admiring her rear as I did so. The string bags and the gloves were lying where I had left them on top of the brick pile. Sandy turned round and demanded, “You have to kiss me before you start moving bricks, Bob. It is my fee for allowing you to go.”

Having performed that happy duty, I proceeded to don my gloves and put the first two bricks into their string bags. Sandy set up the controls as I stood there with my hands holding the bags on the floor, and at once I was in the box, ready to drag or carry the bricks to the outer door. There was no sign in the lab or near the door of any sort of disturbance, so I laid the bricks down at the doorway and went back to the lab’s travel terminus for the next load. I had longer to wait than last time, because I was faster at the task, but I was happy to wait patiently.
We again moved six bricks before the controls indicated a reticence to do more. Sandy expressed herself happy with that rate of delivery. “We don’t have to rush, as I judge that you must have arrived just after your visit to the same spot last week, so time is effectively going very slowly at the 2026 end.”
“So that means we have time on our hands and we can play around in the house?”
“You are quick at that assumption, aren’t you, dear? I delivered some decorating materials to the house a few days ago, as well as protective overalls for us, so we can get started on changing the colour scheme to suit my taste. Georgina can decide on her own room when we get around to it.”

“I don’t get a say?” I complained.

“No, you don’t. This is our home, so it is my house to decide on matters such as decoration. Get me, my man?”

I knew when to give in.

“Yes, dear. As you say, dear.”

I was kissed soundly as a reward. I could live with this, I decided, especially as she was happy to allow me two more women in the family.
We spent most of the day on decorating the walls of the rooms with a water-based paint on top of what was already there. The wallpaper was perfectly sound, so that made it an easy and quick task once we had the floor covered with a painting sheet next to the walls. We had one room completed in less than an hour, so we moved to the next one. This was delayed while we covered the furnishings with more protective sheets, but overall we did very well, and not many splashes of paint in wrong places. I liked the pastel colours Sandy had chosen, as they were restful to the eyes.
We needed a break by then, so at my suggestion we stripped off our overalls and stripped a little more to allow for close kissing and cuddling. I could get used to this, I thought again, but when I said it aloud, Sandy commented, “No. After we marry it is much more likely you will want to fuck me and I will want to fuck you; and who knows what else will happen when we are not working on the house and such.”

“Oh.” I fathomed her meaning. “You mean with Georgie and perhaps Janet?”

“Exactly that. You are young enough to have the enthusiasm and stamina to satisfy more than one of us, if we are of the same bent of mind.”
I switched to practical matters.

“I told Mum I would be away all day, so we can eat out for lunch and dinner if you want.”

“Good. I am ready for a good lunch after all that work. Are you able to walk down to town?”

“I should think so. We can always take a taxi back here if you fancy doing more decoration afterwords, or doing more stuff with me.”
We made our comfortable way leisurely down to the agency in time to collect Georgina before sauntering along to Cafe Continental. The minute we walked in the door, Janet was walking towards us, menus in hand.

“Window table for your party, sir?”

“Yes, Janet. Our usual, if it is vacant.”

“I have kept it clear for you, sir and ladies.”

Janet was going all out for us today. I wondered why. She shepherded us to the table and seated us before handing out the menus. As it was lunchtime we skipped the starters. Today’s special was a sirloin steak with Bearnaise sauce, mini roast potatoes and a side dish of Gochujang roasted root vegetables. I took a fancy to that choice, but both ladies went for a simpler dish – courgette gratin.

Janet was delighted with all three selections and promised them as fast as practicable. After she vanished to the kitchen Georgie asked Sandy, “What has got into her?”

Sandy was unable to say, merely pointing out that I was the target of her enthusiasm. They both stared at me for an answer, but I pleaded ignorance. Then I thought of the pair at school who said they had seen me here.

“There were a couple of girls at school on Thursday who said they had seen me here last Saturday with two lovely women, but they didn’t want to disturb me at the time. I said that one was my girlfriend. That led to more questions but I fobbed them off. I wonder if they spoke to Janet last Saturday, asking about who I was with.”
Sandy decided, “I will speak to Janet about that. Leave it to me.”

Once Janet arrived with the loaded plates and deposited them in front of us, Sandy said quietly, “Thank you, Janet. Did you happen to speak with a couple of schoolgirls last Saturday, around the time we were here?”

Janet stiffened, then replied, “I think that there were two girls in then and asked about you. They said they were in the same class as Bob, just finishing their final year. Would these be the ones?”

She answered the direct question but did not explain farther. Sandy was not having that, but I devoted most of my attention to my plate.

“What exactly did you tell them, Janet, for they spoke to Bob a couple of days ago, showing their interest?”

“Oh.” Janet seemed unsure of what to say, then came out with, “They said that they had heard things about Bob, but would prefer to hear the facts from someone who knew.”
“I see. And what did you say you knew?”

“That he was seeing you a lot recently, but that I did not know what your involvement was. I was trying to say as little as possible, Miss.”

“Sandy,” she corrected Janet in what to call her.

“Sorry. Sandy. That was all, except telling them that no-one was wearing rings that would mean anything. That fact doesn’t tell them anything. I hope I was not out of order in what I said, Sandy.”

“No, Janet. You did alright, in what you said. They pumped Bob for more information, but he was equally reticent. You said nothing about Georgina or yourself?”