Chapter 2

Michael and I drifted apart when at sixteen he left home to work on a cruise liner. I knew for a long while before then, that he was unhappy working for his father. "I'll never earn more than a pittance and always be under his thumb," he told me one day. I wished that I could escape the clutches of my father as easily.

I still went and helped his dad and when I was due for a week's work experience at school I phoned Mr. Weeks. He was most helpful and got me on to a site they were preparing for a new block of flats. Roy, a charge hand about 30 years old, was detailed to take charge of me and to see that I got to see and try as many aspects of their work as possible in the short time. They had far more machinery than Bert and Harry and before the end of the week I'd driven a dumper truck and one of the smaller bulldozers. This was a totally new experience for me, and one that I enjoyed immensely. I loved the sense of power in being able to control such a large machine and get it to shift tons of earth without breaking my back. It was then that I resolved that I would train to be a heavy machinery driver when I could. Mr. Weeks turned up one morning when I was driving the bulldozer and asked Roy how I was getting on. He gave me a glowing report. "She's learned how to control that machine to do simple jobs in less than an hour whereas most men take a whole day or more," Roy told him.

"Get yourself a driving license as soon as you're allowed and then come to me and I'll see if I can get you on a day release course at the building college. Do you think your prison school will agree to that?" he asked. I laughed at his remembering my term for the school and said I would see what I could do.

Many of the lads flirted with me and I was invited to the pub on most nights but I declined these invitations. Some of the boys were very blatant in what they wanted from me and used the crudest language in their invites. One even cornered me on my own and took out his prick and offered to give me 'one helluva good time' if I would go back to his flat. I almost said yes, but decided not to. I guess that the sight of so many good-looking lads working shirtless and in shorts was turning me on. However, when Roy asked if I would like to go for a pub meal after work on my last day I agreed. He'd done a lot for me and I thought I could give him something in return if he wanted it.

We met at the pub. He looked so very different in his best clothes and I must have done so too because his first remark was, "God, there is a beautiful woman under those overalls. I never would have known." We laughed and talked and when the meal was over I went to his home and spent the whole night there. I found him to be very experienced at making love and he had me climaxing over and over again. It was he that introduced me to fellatio for the first time. I was reluctant but he'd given me such a good time that when he couldn't get it to rise for one last fuck he suggested that I suck him to hardness. I did and once he was hard, he didn't seem to want me to stop so I didn't and tasted male sperm for the first time.

Auntie Laura gave me a little lecture when I got home in the morning but it was more to make sure I knew the dangers that I might get myself into. She didn't say whether or not she approved of my actions. My parents didn't even realise that I had been out all night.

As soon as I was seventeen and old enough to take driving lessons, I booked to take an intensive course over the Easter holiday period. Uncle Joe had already given me some basic tuition at driving around private farm roads and on a disused airfield so I had the basic skills before I started the course. It was then more a case of learning road skills and dealing with traffic. At the end of the holiday course, I booked a test and three weeks later passed first time. Fortunately, I was financially able to buy a car and thus I was mobile and didn't have to rely on the bus or Laura to get me around.

Mr. Weeks was as good as his word. He enrolled me on a civil engineering course at the building college for two days a week starting in September. "When you tell your prison governess that you're on the course, make sure you emphasise it's a Civil Engineering course. That sounds so much grander but in reality, it is building but on a bigger scale. As you know my firm does both. We have the civil engineering side which builds roads and puts up blocks of flats or shopping malls like the site you worked on, and there the other side which restores old buildings. What you learn at the college will put you in good stead to do either." I found later that I was put on the payroll of Hanson and Weeks as an apprentice for those two days of the week and they even paid me a small wage.

The problem was not so much getting the school to agree to my taking the course but getting father to agree to it. It was Auntie Laura that finally persuaded him. "If she does another full year at that girls school, what will she end up with? A handful of low grade GCE's? If she goes to the college she could get a good NVQ in whatever subject she takes. She's no interest in the work at the school whereas she would be super keen to do well at the college. In any case if you don't let her go now, she will when she's eighteen and doesn't need your permission." For a housemaid, Laura put my case extremely well until finally and reluctantly he agreed with the proviso that I was to continue with my school studies for the remaining three days of the week.

The college work was pretty hard. Yes, I learned to drive the big machines but there was also a lot of theoretical work too. In a way I was fortunate to be at The Agnes Willishaw School because the staff seemed only too willing to help me with the work. Miss Sawtry was particularly helpful and taught me a great deal about the maths behind weight loading problems. She seemed to ignore the fact that I was on a GCE course syllabus. After a couple of terms at the college, I opted for the crane driving module. The only other girl on the course opted for the surveying module so I didn't see her so often. She already had A-level maths so it suited her better than manual work. In general I was the only woman amongst a group of thirty men and boys. Having been on building sites for some time, this didn't worry me but I did get plenty of offers to be taken out. I accepted a few but, apart from an occasional fuck that didn't do much for me, they didn't lead anywhere.

The first crane driving module was on mobile cranes and several times I got to take one out on the road with my instructor and learner plates on, to do a charity jobs. It felt so different to handle after my little car but it had the advantage that other motorists kept well clear of me! The first time went well and my instructor, Dave, praised the way I lifted the load, a Portacabin, from a low loader over a hedge and on to a prepared base. I too was pleased with the way it went. We had to wait for a short while when I had placed the cabin, for them to make some adjustments to the base before we could remove the slings and I remarked to Dave that I would like to drive one of the big tower cranes. "I'll see what I can do," he said after I reassured him that I had a good head for heights and he remembered the church tower article. "It's a specialised thing and we don't get many wanting to try it." I knew that and I knew that Hanson and Weeks only had two local tower crane 'operatives' as they seemed to like calling them.

My next outing with a mobile crane got me into the papers for all the wrong reasons. I had to deliver it to a small site where the local scouts group were erecting a new hut, lift a couple of girders into place and return to base. The whole job should have taken less than an hour. However when I made my way down the busy main road in the rush hour, just before the turn into the site, the builders had parked a full skip. That in itself wouldn't have been a problem except that a Landrover was parked on the other side of the road some three feet out from the kerb. It seemed that the woman, yes it was a woman, couldn't get into the space left between two cars so she left it. It was causing a lot of congestion before I got there. I couldn't get through between the skip and the car so traffic backed up behind and in front of me. Soon I couldn't move in either direction. Gridlock, which slowly spread to the nearby roads resulting in traffic chaos. Quickly the police arrived on the scene and found the owners address and from her husband learned she was at the hairdressers! She was most indignant at being brought out to move her car and even more so when she saw a parking ticket on it.

Dave must have put my request through because two weeks later I had to report to a big building site where they were erecting a huge tower block of flats. It was to be a kind of work experience mainly to see if I could withstand being in a cab on a swaying steel column and still operate the machinery. This one had a lift and soon I was ensconced in a small corner seat while Graham sat at the console. I know he looked at me several times half expecting me to be sick but when he saw I really was interested he explained everything to me and even allowed me to do some simple manoeuvres. It seemed a bit strange after the mobile cranes, not to see the load and only to work by radio contact instructions from the ground or visual signals from a man standing a hundred feet away. I really enjoyed being up there and looking down on everything going on below me. He gave a good report to Dave. "I've had some trainees that didn't dare to look out of the window, let alone watch the load and follow signals from below. Debbie showed none of this and could make a good tower crane operator," he wrote on my report sheet.

The next step was a two-week course on a training site in the Midlands and I had to wait some months before a place became available. I told the school and Auntie Laura that I would be away but not my father. I doubted he would notice anyway. Miss Sommerville complained that I should be revising for my exams, which were only a few weeks away, but I pointed out that, in my view, the crane course was far more important for my career. She already knew of my being employed by Hanson and Weeks, the firm that was building the gymnasium because I had been reprimanded twice for visiting the site when it was out of bounds to us. Mr. Weeks must have sorted the problem out because it was never mentioned when I subsequently visited the lads or worked there on Saturdays. I know several of the girls, including Miranda recognised me when I drove the huge HiJack crane through the main yard to get to the site and they watched as I lifted the large pre-formed concrete slabs from the transporter to the roof of the building. It impressed some but others looked down their noses at what they saw as a common manual work. Miss Dodds, my science teacher saw me too and made me give a short talk on it during our next lesson and I had to try and explain how the various angles of the jib determined the maximum weight the crane could, or at least, should lift. Something Miss Sawtry had helped me with months earlier.

The accommodation at the Midlands site was rather primitive and catered mainly for the 99.9% male student intake. In fact I was only the second woman to attend. The dorm block had single rooms and there was a single toilet for ladies but the main washroom and combined shower room was communal. There was a bolt whereby I could lock the door from the inside but with eleven men wanting to use the room as well, that would have held up everyone or I would have to wait ages for them to finish. The first day was mainly theory and safety but in the afternoon we walked around the site and had to climb into several different types of crane. It was a hot summer's day and by the time we finished, I was soaked with sweat and my bra showed clearly through my shirt. The lads had long since removed their shirts and several suggested I did the same but I politely told them to get stuffed. I think some of the climbing to view the cranes was to see if we were fit enough to do the job and to see how we reacted to the height. One lad, Jake, looked distinctly uneasy but pluckily kept on. He was with me for the second crane climb and I had to keep encouraging him but he made it to the cab and said, "Thanks. I'm told you get used to it after a bit. I hope so. I could do with the extra money for operating one of these things."

"Jake, I know the usual advice is not to look down but in this job you have to. If the tutor sees you shaking and looking up at the ceiling, you'll be off the course. Come to the window with me and see what's going on below." I took his hand like an old mother even though he was some years older then me, and made him watch the groups moving around. They seemed very small. Gradually his shaking subsided and then I spotted our tutors bright red coat heading our way. "Here he comes. For now we'll seem to be interested in the controls but if he points out anything on the ground, just imagine you're only a few steps up a ladder and they are only toy soldiers." We were asked about things on the ground but I managed to side-track him by asking things I learned from Graham while on work experience. Going down is always more difficult that climbing up. The tutor went first because he wanted to get to the next group. I told Jake to follow. "You can then get a good view of my arse," I joked. The tutor grinned. Jake knew that it was to keep him looking upwards and that he would have to keep moving otherwise I might tread on his fingers.

Knowing there would be a rush to take a shower before dinner and that I definitely needed one, I quickly stripped off in my room and put on a robe and headed along the corridor. I met Jake in his shorts, as I left the room. He was heading for the showers too. "You going to shower with us?" and when I nodded he asked, "Aren't you afraid of being..."

"Not with you to protect me," I joked. Two men were already under the showers so there was one head free, two more were drying themselves so I got a good look at them. All stared at me when I shucked off my robe. "Okay boys, you can look but no touching. Same thing applies to me. If you can't control your pricks and get a hard-on, don't worry about it, but you'll have to go elsewhere to relieve yourselves. That okay with you?" They all murmured something resembling a yes, so I went on, "In any case, I've got Jake here to protect me." That caused some laughter, as Jake was the smallest one in the class.

Colin, a burly but jovial Welshman quipped, "I've eaten more than him for breakfast!"

Although I knew they were all looking, I did nothing to hide my body. Jake stepped under the shower when it became free and I noticed he started to get a little hard and that, for his size, he was pretty well equipped in the prick department but I didn't comment.

After dinner most of us adjourned to the local pub. I drove Jake. We seemed to hit if off well and he could carry on a conversation without too many swear words. I confined myself to soft drinks and Jake only had one beer when I suggested we returned, the others, noticing we were leaving, started teasing us with ribald comments. "Remember what she said Jake. No touching!" "If you get a hard-on you have to go elsewhere to relieve yourself." "You using protection Jake? Or does she need protection from you?"

In my best Agnes Willishaw School for Girls voice I replied. "My good men, I just feel it is my duty to see this young lad is safely tucked in bed for the night so that he is ready for tomorrow's activities." The caused some whoops of laughter and questions as to whose bed I was tucking him in but it was all good-natured and friendly. Jake accepted my invitation to come into my room for a coffee and it wasn't long after before we were naked and in bed together. "I think you're trying to seduce me," he whispered when I rubbed his shaft to full hardness and rolled him on top of me.

"I think you're right but I'm sure you don't mind." He fucked me really hard but he took an awful long while to come, so long that I had my first multiple orgasm. It made me decide that it wouldn't be the only night he shared my bed during the course. Both of us dozed for a while but were woken by the doors banging as the rest of the crowd came in. We wondered if they would realise we were in bed together and try and disturb us, but they didn't. Jake, fully awake again, started to caress my tits and then kiss them; I felt down and found his semi hard prick and gently massaged it until it was ready for use. It crossed my mind that I ought not to be doing it because my cunt was still tender from his previous attack and because we had another full day tomorrow but my horniness from his attentions drove me on and shortly he was inside me for the second time. Once more I orgasmed several times before he shot his load and withdrew.

A noisy bell in the corridor awoke us with a start. 7:00 a.m. Jake had intended to creep back into his room before the others awoke but it was too late now. We could hear movements in the corridor, then a banging on my door. "Come on, up you get Debbie! Push Jake out as well! You can't fuck all day as well as all night!" Colin's loud voice came through the door. I grabbed a robe and Jake put on his trousers and we waited until we thought the coast was clear and everything was quiet. As soon as I opened the door, Colin's head appeared. "Yes, I thought that you wanted to get it off with him. An all nighter at that. Hope you're fit to climb those ladders this morning." He chortled and went off to tell the others.

"I can still race you up and down any of them Colin and still have some breath left," I called after him. He turned and put his fingers up to me but I just laughed. I knew that with all the weight he carried, climbing up to the cabs was pretty exhausting for him. Jake had to put up with a lot of ribbing when he went into the washroom. I did the best I could in the washbasin in my toilet.

Jake did share my bed about every other night during the course. I pretended it was his reward for my help in overcoming his nervousness of heights. He was a very good lover but neither of us could see much future in our relationship. He lived with his mother more than two hundred miles from me and had a good job with a major construction firm who had paid for him to attend the course. He passed the course but not by many marks, mainly because of his nervousness at being so high up. We hoped that would disappear in time. Before our departure we kissed and agreed it was nice while it lasted.

At the final ceremony, the chief instructor gave out the certificates in reverse order of marks. One student failed, Jake received his certificate and gradually I became more and more nervous when it got to the last three, then the last two and finally I learned that I had the highest marks. I just couldn't keep from crying. Colin, who came fourth, made a little speech saying that after all the remarks he made about women drivers, one had beaten him by a very good margin. "And she didn't sleep with the instructor to get the marks either," he added to everyone's amusement.

Miss Sommerville made a little speech when she announced my success to the school at assembly when I returned. "We've had many successes in the past but never has anyone obtained a qualification in Tower Crane Operating. Deborah, I do congratulate you on your tenacity in working your way to the top of your chosen subject." She went on at some length and I had to thank her at the end. The girls loudly applauded me although I knew many of them thought of me as more of a boy in a girl's body and couldn't understand why I chose to do manual work.

One other incident occurred a few weeks before I finally left The Agnes Willishaw School. The shell of the new gymnasium was completed close to the end of the summer term. All that remained was the placement of a little turret with a spire and a clock, a replica of one that had blown down from the original building in 1953, centrally on the roof. The new one was largely UPVC on a metal frame and we had the TV people and dignitaries there to witness the 'topping out' ceremony as it was called. All of us girls were lined up behind a safety tape waiting for the proceedings to begin. I was a little puzzled that the crane to lift the turret was not ready in position but just assumed that it would be swung around at the correct time, when all the speeches were over. Miss Sommerville, the school governors, mummy and daddy because they contributed considerable sums, a mayor and various other dignitaries were all on a little platform with a microphone and I expected it to be a long-winded affair. Daddy had hardly spoken to me since I announced that I was definitely not going to university and that he could do nothing about it. He could have thrown me out of the house but he didn't. Not that I would have worried over much but I would have missed Auntie Laura.

We waited while the TV people finished setting up and then, to my surprise, Mr. Weeks dressed in his best suit, left the stage and headed to where we were all standing. Grinning he fished in his pocket and produced a set of keys; keys that I recognised as belonging to the crane. "Get yourself up into the cab, Debbie." In a daze I dipped under the tape and walked to the gate at the tower base. Someone stopped me and pinned a microphone to my blouse but I hardly realised what was happening. In the background I heard Mr. Weeks' voice coming over the public address system. "Ladies and gentlemen and girls, unbeknown to our guests here, I have asked our newest crane operator to do us the honour of lifting the turret. She's been a pupil at this school for the past five years and recently was awarded top marks on a tower crane training course. I have every confidence that she will place the turret neatly and correctly in position. For your information, the turret weighs..." He went on to give details of the structure.

Meanwhile I arrived at the tower gate. Benny opened it for me. "First time I've seen you in a skirt Debs," he remarked.

"Yeah, and you better keep you eyes down while I climb to the cab. I know what a randy sod you are."

"What and lose about the only chance I might get to look up your legs?" I wondered what the outbreak of laughter was for but I'd already started climbing. I didn't like the way my school shoes didn't grip the steel rungs and cursed to myself but I made it into the cab without mishap. "Better do all the pre-use checks they taught us on the course," I thought. For routine day-to-day work you did them but not out loud like pilots. I put the helmet on with the radio connection to the ground. Benny's voice came through, "White knickers today. Make sure you don't mess them."

"If you're not careful I'll put the hook in your arse and hoist you on the roof instead," I joked back and started to go through the checks. I was only partway through when Benny voice interrupted me.

"Watch what you say Debs. Every word is being broadcast over the PA. They've heard all your last remarks and some of mine."