Chapter 6

At the end of those three years I was the top achieving apprentice and because of that was offered a good position in the prestigious Works Planning Department. I'd already spent a few months there so I was familiar with the work and the personnel. The other thing was that I was given a substantial pay increase which enabled me to buy my first car. I chose an Austin Healey 3000, a beautiful two seater sports car in a light blue and cream. To many, at the turn of a new decade, the car was old-fashioned, a product of the fifties, if actually made up until 1967. The new MGC that replaced it was more angular and 'modern' looking. Give me the big Healey's beautiful soft curves any day. A few, mainly the other apprentices, derided my choice but I didn't care. I loved it.

Not long after I bought the car, one of the girls in our office wanted a ride in it. Being proud of my new toy I gladly obliged, that she was young and extremely pretty helped, though by then I had already given a few of the male staff a ride in it. I may not have wanted to get involved with any other girl but I was not blind and I still appreciated the female form in most of its guises.

Barbara Jenson was just under twelve months older than I was and was one of the department's many clerks. Apparently, her heroine was Twiggy and she always tried to copy the famous model's latest fashion, usually with reasonable success. During the ride she was very tactile and very attentive. I didn't realise it at the time but she'd decided that I was good husband material and that I would be hers. The next few weeks were a blur. I was being led, happily if unwittingly, to the altar, in prearranged steps. On only our third date she took my virginity and allegedly gave me hers; I say allegedly because that's what she told me and it was a good few years before I had the experience to doubt her. Once that was out of the way she told me that we were then 'virtually' engaged and we should make it official.

Apart from the speed in which everything was moving we were not an unusual couple for the time. Even my mother raised no objections and other than advice to slow down a bit she made no real comment. Personally and like many of my peers, I got engaged, not because I particularly wanted to but because I couldn't think of a reason not to and when ten months later in November 1971 we were married it was just the same. Meet girl/boy; court for x weeks; get engaged; wait x weeks; get married. That was the way of the world, at least in our little city.

Barbara was quite intelligent and was definitely attractive. She was also a pretty good cook and was always very attentive. At first we were both really happy but eight months into the marriage one little incident gave me a tiny glimpse into an unsatisfactory future. Bob Jenkins, the manager of our department had a heart attack and was forced to take early retirement. Steve Marshall, the current assistant manager, was the obvious candidate to take over. For Steve's position Jamie Hawkes was favourite to succeed but because Business Administration Apprentices were often fast tracked, so I had an outside chance. Jamie's problem wasn't his ability but his sexuality, he was homosexual, a fact that most of the office knew and ignored. I got on better with Jamie than anyone else, as being ostracised was a guaranteed result of his sexual 'choice' at that time and both being outsiders gave us that common ground. Jamie let me know immediately that he knew I was straight and he never once tried anything, even innuendo. Work-wise, he had far more experience than me and would be well capable of doing Steve's job. Of course I wanted the job but didn't expect to get it. As it turned out, I did get the job after the interviewing board were informed of his homosexuality. The rumour was that one of the female clerks had informed the board. Of course, no one actually admitted that his lifestyle was the reason he didn't get the job.