Chapter 7

Christopher woke at his normal time of six-thirty and lay on the sofa bed orienting himself. It did not take long and he listened for any noises of movement elsewhere in the flat. He decided to use the bathroom while he could. It only took him twenty minutes. He was as quick and as quiet as he could be. He hunted round in the kitchen and without a problem found all he needed to make some coffee. He found a large and a small cafetiere and decided that the large one would be a better idea. The smell of coffee would probably draw the girls. It did and they both wandered in together in their nighties.

Their reactions were opposite. Bea gave a gasp, clapped her hands to her mouth and ran. Jenny moved to Christopher and gave him a gentle kiss.

"What a well brought up and considerate young man you are," she teased.

"Mostly selfish," he replied as his arms subconsciously went round her.

"Affectionate too."

"The effect of your kiss."

She smiled teasingly at him although he detected some warmth. "That'll teach me to be so forward but I do tend to react without thinking when I'm still wuzzy and coffee is the one thing on my mind."

"I embarrassed Bea though. Sorry."

"Rubbish. She's very shy. Forget it."

They were both drinking coffee when Bea re-emerged fully dressed. She did not say anything but smiled shyly at Christopher and helped herself to a cup of coffee. She sat down at the table with them and took a sip of her coffee.

"Jen," she said, "you're going to need a full breakfast because I know you won't eat anything else before your swim except an energy bar.

"What about you, Christopher?" she added shyly.

"Bacon, eggs and fried bread would go down very well, Bea, if that's all right."

Bea actually smiled. "Easy," she said. "Jen will be having all that plus some sauté potatoes and baked beans."

Christopher was unable to restrain a chuckle. "Jet powered swimming," he grinned.

Fortunately he was not within Jenny's reach and was merely the recipient of a raspberry. Bea giggled.

Jenny's first race was not until two-thirty but they left home at twelve-thirty arriving at Richmond half an hour later. Jenny left them and Bea and Christopher were early enough to find some good seats, on the finishing line and in the front row.

Bea smiled shyly at him. "Sorry," she said, "but Jenny's always like this and gets all hyped up. Apart from clocking in and changing I've no idea what she does for two hours before her first race."

"A bit of 'Hwang Foo Chung' or whatever," grinned Christopher.

For the first time since he had met her Bea laughed naturally. "I won't tell her in case she bops you."

"I'm bigger than her."

"Yeah but it could still hurt!"

They both laughed and Bea's reticence seemed to disappear.

"Anyway," she went on finally, "I've got a picnic for us."

"When did you do that?"

"While you were being a good boy and tidying your bed away."

They chatted on and Christopher discovered that she and Jenny both worked in the same branch. Bea had arrived and Jenny had taken her under her wing to teach her about the branch and to settle in. She had quickly discovered that Bea was living in a hostel and invited her to join her in her flat. Her previous flatmate had recently left on marriage.

"You were both taking a bit of a chance, weren't you?" observed Christopher.

"Yes, but in the first few weeks at work we found we got on so, certainly as far as I was concerned, it was a chance worth taking."

"And it worked."

Bea nodded enthusiastically.

"I've met your sister," she said.

"At Sally's?"

Bea nodded. "Only once but I liked her. She's fun."

"Yes," replied Christopher dolefully. "She's responsible for Jenny and me meeting. She called us the Two Incredible Hulks."

Bea laughed. "Together you could be a bit intimidating."

"We, or certainly I, never mean to be. I'm sorry, Bea, I hope I didn't intimidate you. I promise I never meant to."

Bea looked down. She shook her head. "No, not really. It's just that I'm over-shy." She looked up again. "Sorry. I've come to realise that you're actually very gentle."

"Except on the rugby field."

"You're expected to be a ruffian there."

They both laughed companionably and Christopher was delighted.

At two o'clock the races began, the first two being for men. Christopher found that it was rather like watching television again, beetles battling through the water.

When Jenny appeared she was totally focussed. She did not even glance at Bea and Christopher. Her face was set determinedly and she flexed her arms and legs as she moved to the start.

Her first race was a hundred metres freestyle, two lengths. She won it by a clear two seconds. Christopher found this was different and he cheered her on loudly and excitedly.

Whether it was that the first race was over or that she had won Christopher was unable to decide but she ran over to them and kissed them both delightedly before dancing away to go to the podium.

Bea smiled at Christopher. "That was a good start, wasn't it?"

"You bet!"

"Now she'll go back into her own little private world again."

She was right. As soon as prize-giving was over Jenny disappeared. There followed a number of other events which once again Christopher found boring. Bea noticed.

"It's not very gripping, is it?" she smiled.

Christopher shook his head. "But worth coming for Jenny's sake."

"Yes. She's only doing two today. The next is the two hundred metres which she finds the most difficult. The four hundred suits her strength and stamina but the two hundred is more than a sprint and less than an endurance test."

Christopher nodded. It was clearly going to be Jenny's big race of the afternoon. In due course she reappeared clearly in the same robotic mindset.

There were four competitors. Only three actually were in competition and they swam the first three lengths virtually level. In the fourth Jenny and the girl in the neighbouring lane started to pull ahead albeit not by much. They both further accelerated twenty metres from the finish but Jenny just had the extra power.

Christopher and Bea were almost hoarse from cheering her on. They saw her hand touch the wall a fraction of a second before the other girl and joyously fell into each other's arms.

"She did it! She did it!" they chorused and then Bea pulled back abruptly.

"Sorry, Christopher," she said. "I got over-excited."

"Don't worry one bit. We both did."