The Clippie Girls by Margaret Dickinson Read Free Book Online Page A

top of the class in the mental arithmetic tests.’
    It was true, but the classroom atmosphere was very different to working on a swaying, tram crowded with impatient passengers.
    Two evenings later Peggy asked, ‘So how’s it all going?’
    Rose sighed. ‘All right, I think. Today they took us to get some practical experience. We went up and down this hilly side road – I don’t know how many times. We took turns to stop the car. And then there was the phone to the main office in an emergency and all sorts of things I can’t even remember now. Oh, Peg, I didn’t realize there’d be so much to learn.’
    Peggy laughed. ‘I’ve had it said to me more than once that all we clippies have to do is to punch tickets all day, but I just smile nicely and hold my tongue.’
    ‘I can’t see Rose doing that for long,’ Grace remarked. ‘It won’t be only tickets she’ll be punching if anyone gets awkward with her.’
    ‘She’ll have to,’ Peggy said gravely. ‘The Company puts courtesy towards the passengers only second to regard for their safety.’
    ‘Have you got your uniform yet?’ Myrtle looked up from her homework.
    ‘In a few days, I think.’ Rose pulled a face. ‘We’ve still got a few more days in the classroom yet. How you stick staying on at school, our Myrtle, I don’t know. Not that we don’t want you to,’ she added swiftly.
    ‘I might have to leave,’ Myrtle said, ‘now there’s a war on.’
    There was a chorus of ‘no’ from every member of her family and Myrtle hid her smile; it had been the response she’d wanted.
    Rose came home with her uniform. It fitted her perfectly.
    ‘Oh, you do look smart,’ Mary enthused, and even Grace looked up from her paper and nodded as Rose paraded in front of them in her navy-blue jacket, skirt and peaked cap. She’d also been given a pair of trousers and a thick overcoat.
    ‘Tomorrow we go out on a real live tram – under the supervision of a trained clippie, of course.’
    Peggy smiled. ‘That’ll be me, then.’
    ‘Eh?’ Rose blinked at her. ‘They won’t let me go out with my sister, will they?’
    ‘I asked Mr Bower today and he said he didn’t see why not.’
    Rose flung her arms round Peggy and hugged her. ‘But you’ll have to do everything I tell you,’ Peggy warned. ‘I’m no soft touch.’
    And indeed she wasn’t. The following morning when they reported for duty at the timekeeper’s office, Rose glanced about her. She’d never been to this part of the depot before and the trams looked far bigger than they did out in the streets. But there was no time to gape, Peggy was already showing her how to put the heavy punch over one shoulder, the money bag over the other and then load the ticket rack with the multi-coloured tickets, each one clearly stamped with its value.
    ‘Most clippies wear the punch from their right shoulder across their chest and resting on their left hip and the money bag the opposite way.’ Peggy laughed. ‘I’m awkward. I wear mine the other way on. Just try them out and see which suits you best.’
    When Rose had settled the machine and the bag comfortably, Peggy said, ‘Come on. We’re lucky today, we’ve to pick up our tram here, but sometimes we have to travel into the city to start our detail.’
    Bob was waiting for them by the navy-blue and cream-coloured tramcar.
    ‘Morning, Rose. All set?’
    Rose ran a nervous tongue round her lips. ‘Ready,’ she said, with more conviction than she felt.
    As they boarded the car to begin their journey, Peggy proved to be a disciplined taskmaster.
    ‘First, we make sure that the seat backs are positioned correctly.’ The trams only travelled backwards and forwards – they couldn’t turn round. The motor-man controlled the tram from either end and the backs of the seats flipped over so that passengers could always travel facing forward. ‘And make sure the cleaners have done their job properly.’
    Rose followed Peggy up and down each aisle,