The Clippie Girls by Margaret Dickinson Read Free Book Online

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    The following morning’s tuition began with a brief recap of the rules, over which Rose had pored the previous evening sitting beside Myrtle at the table, much to the younger girl’s amusement. Rose had never been the studious type, but here she was burying her head in the rulebook and murmuring aloud. Myrtle grinned. ‘Want me to test you?’ she asked facetiously, but Rose nodded and said seriously, ‘Yes, please, Myrtle. Would you?’
    Myrtle blinked and teased her no more. Now she realized just how serious Rose was about her new job. And when Bob called to take Peggy to the cinema later that evening, he sat down and gave Rose some valuable tips.
    ‘Mind you get on good terms with your motorman, or motor men , because you might not always be with the same one. They’ll help you. They’re a good bunch.’
    Rose nodded and swallowed hard. How she wished it could be Bob who’d be her driver.
    Now, as the trainees assembled once more, she sat beside Alice again. After they’d read through the rule-book yet again, Mr Marsden handed out a black box and a bundle of different-coloured tickets. ‘Familiarize yourselves with the different tickets and remember you must call out all the stopping places as you approach and also the end of each stage.’
    Rose’s hand shot in the air. ‘I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t understand what you mean.’
    ‘You call out the name of the stop,’ Mr Marsden said patiently, ‘and the end of the fare they’ve paid. For example, “End of one penny stage.”’
    ‘Oh, I see. Thanks.’
    ‘Don’t mention it,’ he murmured, giving one of his rare smiles. ‘That’s what I’m here for.’ He addressed the whole class. ‘Don’t be afraid to ask questions.’
    ‘You’re very patient,’ one of the older women ventured and Mr Marsden’s smile broadened. ‘As must you be with your passengers. I’ve had plenty of practice.’
    After hearing about bell pulling, emergency brakes and fare stages, there followed a session of ticket punching, which left the class in hysterical laughter. Mr Marsden calmed them down by having each one of them read aloud one of the rules from the book. ‘You have to get used to speaking loudly and clearly.’
    Rose read with confidence, but Alice was timid, her voice barely above a whisper.
    ‘We’ll work on it,’ Rose promised.
    Alice smiled weakly. ‘I’ll never manage all this. I think I ought to give up now.’
    ‘Don’t you dare,’ Rose said. ‘We’re in this together.’
    At the end of the afternoon, the trainees trooped to the clothing store, where a woman measured each one of them for their uniforms. Now they began to feel like real clippies.
    ‘Isn’t it funny,’ Rose remarked, as they once again found their way to the canteen, ‘how a uniform makes you feel the part? It gives you confidence, somehow, though I don’t know why it should.’
    ‘Maybe it’s because it gives you a certain authority. People know you’re the one in charge. Most people will accept that, though a few won’t, like Mr Marsden warned us.’
    ‘You’ll be all right, Alice.’
    Alice bit her lip. She wasn’t so sure. There was so much to learn: how to fill in all sorts of forms and reports and even how to read the duty boards on the walls of the depot, put up every Thursday night, which would tell them what their journeys and break times would be for each week.
    ‘It’s not a journey they call it, is it?’ Alice said worriedly. ‘What is it?’
    ‘A detail.’
    ‘Oh yes, that’s it. And a break is a “relief”.’ She giggled. ‘I expect it’s called that because it will be a relief if you’re having a bad day.’
    Worst of all for Rose, though, was to learn that should there be any short-fall in the money handed in at the end of the day, the clippie had to make up any difference. ‘I’ll be paying them to come to work,’ she moaned. And now it was Alice’s turn to do the comforting. ‘You’ll be all right, Rose. You came out