A Regimental Affair (6 page)

Debbie pushed the bottle of Beaujolais across the table to Ginny. ‘Help yourself.’

‘Cheers.’ Ginny upended it and poured the last of it into her glass.

‘I’ll get another,’ said Richard.

‘Not on my account,’ said Ginny. ‘I think I’ll have to go in to work tomorrow.’

‘Not going to Alice’s coffee morning?’ asked Debbie.

‘I’m not qualified. I’m not one of her wives.’

‘Lucky you,’ muttered Debbie. ‘With the men away I can see it’s going to be such fun here having Alice in charge. It almost makes me want to rush out, find a childminder and get a job.’ Richard cleared his throat to get Debbie’s attention and frowned at her. ‘What’s that for?’

‘Well …’

‘Oh don’t be such a stick in the mud,’ said Ginny, who understood exactly what was going on. ‘We all know that Colonel Bob might be the best boss in the world, and I know you’re the most loyal adjutant ever, but it doesn’t stop his wife from being a royal pain in the arse.’

‘Hear, hear,’ said Debbie. ‘And Ginny hardly has any dealings with her, so if she thinks that …’

‘How are your folks these days?’ said Richard, deliberately steering the conversation a new way.

‘Dad’s still working for the Foreign Office and Mum is still trailing around the world after him.’

‘Where are they at the moment?’

‘Australia. Mum loves it because the sunshine suits her rheumatism. I get the impression Dad is a bit bored. I think he’d like somewhere more challenging.’

‘Like?’

‘Moscow or Beijing, that sort of place. The worst diplomatic crisis in Oz in recent years was when their prime minister put his hand on the Queen. Hardly major league stuff.’

‘And your sister?’ asked Debbie.

‘Oh, Netta doesn’t change. You know her. She’s either just given birth, just about to, or announcing she’s pregnant.’

‘I remember,’ said Debbie. ‘How many kids has she got now?’

‘Four. Number five is due around Christmas.’

‘Good God. How does she manage it?’

‘It’s being stuck in the Isles of Scilly. I don’t think she’s got anything else to do except shag.’

‘And change nappies,’ said Debbie with feeling. ‘Five. And the oldest can’t be more than six.’

‘She will be seven when the baby is born.’

‘There you go, Debs,’ said Richard. ‘You ought to take Netta as a role model and give Danielle a brother or sister or two.’

Debbie gave Ginny a sideways look of faintly amused horror. ‘In your dreams, sunshine. One more is my limit.’

‘Well, that’s an advance,’ said Richard. ‘A couple of months ago it was still “never again”.’

When Bob walked into the mess bar a few days later it was crowded. Perhaps not surprising, considering that it was nearly time for dinner, but normally it would not be quite so packed. The single officers would often book out from the evening meal in order to go into the nearest town to see a film, catch the train up to London to go to a club or just stay in their rooms to watch TV. However, he had warned the regiment that he was going to call a snap twenty-four-hour exercise within the next few days and effectively all leave had been cancelled until it was over, thus gating all personnel, including the single officers. It had caused some rumblings throughout the barracks but, even if the wives remained unhappy about the forthcoming tour of Kosovo, there was mostly a buzz of excitement amongst the officers and men alike. The thought of going somewhere in the world where they would be operating for real, not just going through the motions, had given them all a very real sense of purpose. As one had put it, ‘It’ll be nice to stop rehearsing and get on with the performance.’

Silence fell when the men noticed the colonel.

‘Carry on,’ he called to them all. ‘Don’t mind me.’ As he walked to the bar and began to write out a chit for cigarettes, the noise began to climb back to its previous level. He was aware that Ginny was sitting at a table on his left, surrounded by a small group. Without looking in her direction, he consciously began to eavesdrop.

‘I still say that as soon as the exercise is over we ought to go. We’re bound to get a couple of days off and Alton Towers will be almost empty. The public schools have broken up but the state schools haven’t.’

‘But it’s for kids,’ said one of the group.

‘You obviously haven’t been on any of the rides,’ retorted Ginny. ‘I tell you, there’s a couple there where you are seriously advised to wear incontinence knickers.’

The colonel turned away slightly to hide a smile. Ginny was still as outrageous as she always had been.

The group dissented and made excuses about duty trips to parents and time to be spent with girlfriends.

‘But if you lot don’t go I either have to go on my own …’ she noticed the ironic grins. ‘Yeah, I know. I’m really sad. Billy No-mates,’ she chanted in a sort of sing-song. ‘Or,’ she continued, ‘I have to stay here because I really haven’t got anywhere else I can go. You lot can all piss off to your relations but mine all live too far away.’ One of the young officers mimed playing a violin. ‘Oh, naff off,’ she said good-naturedly. ‘Just because you lot are a wussy bunch of losers who get scared.’

The steward handed the CO his cigarettes and Bob left.

‘Bye, sir,’ a number of his subordinates called after him. Bob gave them a cheery wave and went home to put to Alice the idea that had been forming in his head.

‘No,’ Alice said. ‘I really don’t think it’s a good idea at all. Besides which, those awful rides’ll make Megan sick.’

‘I think she’d love it. Why don’t we ask her?’

‘Because if we do … well, I just don’t think we should.’

‘What you mean is that if we ask her and she wants to go, you really haven’t got a leg to stand on.’

‘Nonsense.’ Alice saw the look on Bob’s face. ‘Well, not nonsense. I would just rather she didn’t go.’

‘Why, for heaven’s sake?’

‘I’m sure the place will be full of dreadful people and if she doesn’t enjoy it she’ll spoil Ginny’s fun. Anyway, I can’t see Ginny wanting to be saddled with a thirteen-year-old for the day.’

‘I don’t think she’ll mind. I expect she’ll be glad of the company.’ Bob sensed that Alice was running out of ideas as to why Megan shouldn’t have a day at a theme park. He knew that she didn’t want Megan to go because she was a snob and didn’t approve of such places. More than likely she would have them filed in the same category as holiday camps, bingo halls and coach tours. ‘Why don’t I ask her? She can always say no.’

Alice was a poor loser. ‘OK,’ she said tartly. ‘I can see that you’ve made your mind up regardless of what I think. I don’t know why you bothered to ask my opinion. You obviously don’t want it.’ She gave him a cold stare and returned to the kitchen where she banged about noisily as she finished preparing dinner.

Bob went into the hall and phoned the mess.

When the steward told Ginny it was the colonel on the phone she assumed it was something to do with work, although she was puzzled that he’d said nothing when he’d come in for his cigarettes. She took the call.

‘Look,’ said the colonel, ‘I hope you don’t mind but I heard you were planning to go to Alton Towers.’

‘Yes,’ said Ginny slowly. She didn’t have a clue where this was leading.

‘And you thought you might end up going on your own.’

‘Yes,’ even more slowly.

‘Well, I think Megan might like to go, and I’m really too tied up here to think about taking her and …’ Ginny heard the colonel pause. ‘And I don’t think Alice would really want to drive all that way.’ Ginny translated that as ‘Alice would rather die than go there.’

‘So would you like to take Megan? We’ll pay for her, of course, and go halves on the petrol,’ she heard him add quickly. ‘Be honest though,’ he said. ‘I really don’t want you to feel obliged to take her just because it’s me asking.’

‘You mean I shouldn’t feel intimidated by your rank, Colonel,’ said Ginny with a chuckle. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not.’ But all the same she wasn’t sure what to say. On one hand she really wanted a day at Alton Towers, but on the other hand she didn’t want to go on her own. But was Megan the company she wanted? The impression she had got from her one recent encounter with the teenager was of a sulky, monosyllabic weirdo. Still, if Megan wanted to go, the chances were she was going to try and enjoy herself and consequently she might turn out to be good fun. And surely it would be better to go with Megan than go on her own – or stay in the mess.

‘Do I take it from the pause that it’s a no?’

‘No, not at all. I’d love to take her. I’m not sure she would want to come with me. She doesn’t really know me.’
A bit of an understatement
, thought Ginny.
She doesn’t know me from Adam
.

‘I don’t think that’ll matter. I haven’t said anything to Megan yet. Of course there is the possibility that she has got other plans.’

‘You mean, that she wouldn’t be seen dead in the company of someone as ancient as me.’

‘Not at all. And as for ancient – hardly.’

‘Flatterer.’ Ginny took advantage of their informal conversation to ask a question that she could not have done under other circumstances. ‘So does this mean the rumour, that the exercise is tomorrow, is kosher?’

‘You might think that but I couldn’t possibly say,’ said the CO, doing a very passable imitation of a well-known TV villain. ‘And please don’t say anything to anyone else – whatever your suspicions.’

‘You can trust me, Colonel.’

‘I know.’ There was a pause. The silence extended another couple of seconds. Ginny got the distinct impression that the colonel was about to say something else and had thought the better of it. The CO cleared his throat. ‘Yes, right. I’ll go and tell Megan and let you know her answer.’

She wondered what he had really been going to say.

Ginny wandered back into the dining room to continue her meal. She felt ridiculously pleased that the colonel trusted her so much that he was happy for her to look after his only child for a whole day. What was it about the man that with just a few words he could make you feel so good?
He’s always been able to do that
, she thought. He had a knack for making the person he was focusing his attention on feel special. It probably explained why he was now the rank he was, unlike many of his contemporaries who were still majors.

‘What’s your map reading like?’ Ginny asked Megan, who looked more normal now her hair was back to being auburn. The grapevine had passed on the news that Alice had been less than thrilled by her daughter’s foray into home hair colouring and Ginny had wondered how long she would take to get it sorted. The answer, apparently, was next to no time.

‘Dunno,’ said Megan.

‘Well, you’re going to have to learn on the job then.’ If Megan was coming along she could make herself useful. ‘Here,’ said Ginny as she pushed the road atlas on to Megan’s lap. ‘Watch and learn.’ Ginny traced the route from the barracks up the country to the theme park with her finger, reading out the road numbers and the major towns that they would go through
en route
. ‘OK, got that?’

‘Think so.’

‘Now you show me.’

Megan obediently did as she was told.

‘Good. I’ll be all right until we get past Birmingham, then you’ve got to take me across country.’

‘I think I’ll be able to do it.’

‘Good,’ said Ginny as she turned the key in the ignition and slipped the car into gear. She turned the car round and headed out of the barracks. Once she was on the main road she felt she could attempt a conversation with her passenger. ‘So, how are the holidays going?’

‘OK, I suppose.’

‘Got to be better than school, surely?’

‘Anything’s better than school,’ said Megan with vehemence. ‘Our head is called Miss Pink and …’

And what followed was a long spiel about the unreasonableness of the school, the regime, the rules, the teaching methods …

‘So do I gather that you don’t much like it there?’

‘Haven’t you been listening?’ shrieked Megan in indignation.

‘Joke.’

‘What?’

‘I meant it as a joke.’

‘Oh.’ Then, in a quiet voice, ‘Sorry.’

‘Don’t worry about it.’

‘I just thought you were like Mum. She never listens.’

Ginny didn’t know quite how to respond. Part of her, the part that remembered Alice’s many subtle social cuts, longed to know more about the home life of Alice, but part of her felt she shouldn’t encourage family disloyalty.

‘I’m sure she does really.’

‘You don’t know her.’

‘True. I expect she’s very busy, though.’

‘Busy climbing the social ladder.’ Ginny pretended to be too busy overtaking to answer. She felt she was getting into dodgy territory. ‘She wants Daddy to be a general.’

‘Your father is perfectly capable of becoming a general by himself,’ said Ginny a touch brusquely. Wanting the dirt dished on Alice was one thing, but Colonel Bob was off-limits, even if he
was
Megan’s dad.

‘That’s as maybe, but Mum isn’t taking any chances. She’s been at it ever since they got married. There’s never a weekend when she isn’t throwing some sort of party or dinner. I’m sure Dad must hate it. It’s not his scene at all.’

‘I’m sure your father would say so if he didn’t like it.’ Whatever else Ginny thought about Bob, she was sure he wouldn’t put up with things he hated, just for a quiet life.

‘Huh.’

Ginny decided to change the subject. ‘If you look in the glove compartment you’ll find some CDs. How about some music?’

Megan opened it and rummaged. ‘Hey, you’ve got Nelly Furtado’s latest. Great!’ She slotted the disc into the player. Ginny smiled. The subject of Alice was closed, but fancy Alice being such an ambitious schemer. Maybe she wasn’t so icy after all.

‘Did you have a good time?’ asked Bob when Megan finally arrived back at about eight. The way she tumbled through the front door meant that the question was pretty well rhetorical. Ginny, following more sedately behind, looked shattered.

‘It was
so
wicked. Honestly, the best fun ever!’ She turned to Ginny. ‘You enjoyed it too, didn’t you?’

‘It was brilliant. We had a great time.’ She suppressed a yawn.

‘Come on in, Ginny. You look beat. Have a drink to unwind after the long drive.’