Moving to the Suburbs

This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between characters in this story and any person, living or dead is purely coincidental. I swear. Would I lie???

Apart from the mention of Oggbashan - he's real, and I wrote this pastiche of his "Car Maintenance" story to commemorate his volumes of excellent work, and his humour and guidance on these pages.

A side note. Ogg writes for the third puffin over there by the sixth rock. Without really thinking about it, I wrote this story for his friend two puddles over munching on a herring. You know, the one with the webbed foot and leg fetish...

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Tony looked up from his book as the commuter train pulled into the station, late as usual. This was a major transport interchange and a significant number of commuters pushed their way off the carriage so they could either push their way on to a connecting bus or push their cars nose to tail out of the car park. He watched the crowd leave with no real interest. It was just part of the day. Every bloody weekday. He slowly looked around at the remaining passengers, more to give his eyes a break from staring at the paperback than to see who was there. He recognised most people. He didn't really know them, and the unwritten commuter protocol was you didn't even acknowledge the other person's existence, even if you have been catching the same train as them for the last five years.

He sighed and thought "A total of ten years in the same fucking job. How's that career ladder working for you?"

Now the crush of people had eased, a lady sitting diagonally opposite caught his eye. Tony hadn't noticed her before today. Probably early-twenties, short curly red hair, round freckled face, dressed in a blue corporate uniform of some sort. Cute. The thing that actually grabbed his attention was she was reading a book as well. That was pretty unusual in the time of e-books and listening to Spotify. It looked like it had a dragon on the cover, but he looked away before she noticed him watching. Protocol...

Four stops later, they both got up and moved to the carriage door. Tony stood behind the redhead and watched her slip the book into her handbag. He was impressed. There were dragons on the cover. Dragons of Pern. Anne McCaffrey was one of his favourite authors. His eyes flicked up as she turned slightly, sensing him staring. Looking out, the winter darkness had closed in and it looked like rain. Again.

The train slowly halted at the platform and the impatient passengers hauled the door open, then bolted to the station exit. The redhead turned left to the buses, and Tony went right to the car park. He risked a quick glance in her direction, but she was lost in the misty rain that had started. He quickly walked towards his car, trying to dodge the puddles that had formed in the unsealed section of the parking area. Development at the station lagged years behind the explosion of housing, but if you wanted a relatively cheap house, you put up with the inconvenience.

He saw the unmistakable silhouette of his car right where he left it. All curves at the front, then a box at the rear. A 1963 Morris Minor panel van. Tony wasn't too worried about someone stealing it. Very few of the local yobbos would know how to drive a car with a manual gearbox, and as for starting it...

He opened the door and tossed his briefcase onto the passenger seat. He deeply inhaled the typically British car scent of leather seats and leaking engine oil. Smiling, he pulled out the choke, turned the key, and pulled the starter cable. The little engine coughed, then crackled to life. Lights and wipers went on - neither really doing the job they were supposed to, into first gear and out to the queue for the exit. Driving past the bus interchange - that was a laugh - he saw the redhead standing miserably in the rain, along with a few other poor sods.

"Poor girl. Bet she missed her bus." Tony thought. Along with the rubbish car park, connecting buses were practically non-existent. Their timetables hadn't caught up with the population explosion, and the public transport authority hadn't gotten around to installing shelters either. Tony pulled up to the carpark's intersection with the main road, pushed the choke in, and after a couple of blips on the throttle of the transplanted MG engine, pulled out and headed for the twenty-minute drive home. Tony furrowed his brow and sighed. Spag Bol for dinner. Again. He really needed to learn some new dishes.

He saw the redhead on and off over the next couple of weeks. She seemed to have settled on the same carriage as him each way but got off three stops earlier in the city. She was pretty cute. Seemed slightly lost though, as if she wasn't sure of her place in the boonies. Tony had the suspicion that she wasn't used to the long commute. It took him a fair time to get used to the mind-numbing grind after working for five years so close to home. Then the promotion, well, the relocation to head office. That was a disaster in more ways than one. 'Don't dwell on the past. Not worth the pain,' he chided himself.

One particularly trying day took a nice turn. He had a meeting with a grumpy client at the other end of town, near where his normal commuter train originated from. He got into a practically empty train and found a nice corner seat which he could wedge himself into, and promptly fell asleep.

He awoke about halfway home and felt someone leaning on him. Annoyed, he looked over at the space invader, only to see the redhead asleep on his shoulder. This was a serious breach of commuter protocol, but Tony just smiled and went back to sleep. His fleeting thought before he dropped off was 'She smells nice.'

He woke up again four stops from home. The redhead was awake and flicked him an embarrassed look. He nodded at her, smiled, and shrugged. She, in turn, went red.

Pointing to her book Tony asked, "How many have you read of hers?"

She looked closely at Tony, decided he probably wasn't a good looking closet axe murderer and turned the book over. Looking at the dragon clad cover she said "Twelve, I think. I started reading them when I was in high school, and I decided to give them another go when I started catching the train."

"She's a good writer. I've read most of her stuff," Tony opened his briefcase and pulled out a copy of 'Dinosaur Planet'.

The redhead looked impressed. "I haven't read that one yet. I'm still with the dragons."

Tony laughed "That's not a bad place to be. Tony." He held out his hand.

"Hi. Vicky." She awkwardly juggled her book and handbag and shook his hand. Tony's hand completely engulfed hers, and he felt like he was holding a little, very fragile bird.

Tony released her hand, smiled, and turned slightly to look out the window. He really could only see reflections back into the carriage. Vicky was looking at her book but occasionally flicked a glance at him. The little looks made him feel good. It had been a long time since he had anyone take an interest in him.

The future had looked so bright at University. He'd taken up a Bachelor of Business scholarship, majoring in accounting. Was offered a job at a prestigious firm, initially close to home. Met a gorgeous fellow accountant, and after a short but intense romance, married - to the confusion of friends and family. They didn't see them together for any length of time.

Liz was wonderful, but apart from a shared interest in financial systems, they really had nothing in common. When Liz, who also worked at the same firm, got a promotion overseas that pretty well ended their time together. All the discussions about communication strategies and the declarations of love meant nothing when the reality of dealing with an extremely long distance relationship bit hard. It slowly just shrivelled up and died, leaving memories and a large home loan debt for Tony. And then he was transferred to Head Office. Promotion his arse...

The lights of their station slid into view, and the two moved to the door with the rest of their fellow commuters. Tony stood behind Vicky, towering over her. She looked up at him, smiled again and said, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"More than likely," he replied, stepping onto the platform. Looking up, the sky was relatively clear for winter. "Have fun on the bus."

Vicky went out the exit gate and turned towards the buses. He could just hear her say, "Horrible things. Bye!"

He walked to his van with a bit of a spring in his step. He didn't even mind spag bol was on the menu for dinner. Again. He again thought that he really should figure out something new to cook.

Another week of routine went by, with the occasional word or just a nod from Vicky the highlight. The small interactions helped lift his whole attitude to the world. Tony had even started cooking slightly different meals. Minced beef and tomato risotto. He knew it was only bolognese sauce cooked in rice, but it was a start. He started ironing his shirts again, instead of just letting the creases mostly drop out, his personal hygiene got a lift, and all the takeaway wrappers in the Morry were disposed of. He'd even booked a haircut at a real barber, not just getting a shearing by his mate's mum who happened to own a set of clippers.

Vicky noticed the small changes in him. She had casually glanced at him practically from day one of her commutes and tried to sit somewhere she could watch him. Apart from his height, the book he was reading had caught her eye. He was also pretty easy on the eye but didn't seem to really be aware of that. She thought that was charming, and when the opportunity came to grab a seat next to him, well, no little old ladies were going to get in her way. Falling asleep on his shoulder was completely unintentional and very embarrassing, but nice. He had a gentle masculine odour, mixed with an old woollen jumper smell. He was a very conservative dresser, and Vicky guessed he was either an accountant or doing some other computer-based admin job.

One wet Thursday morning Tony was barreling along the road to the station when he saw a small, despondent pair of navy pants hiding under a very large golf umbrella at a bus stop. As he whizzed past he noticed it was a glum-looking Vicky. He shook his head, did a quick U-turn followed by another one at the stop.

He leaned over and wound down the passenger's window. "Hi, Vicky? Ummm, you're going to be waiting a while - the buses are on strike."

A shocked freckled face appeared from under the umbrella. "Seriously? That's just fucking wonderful!" A hand shot up to cover her mouth "Shit. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to swear... Oh..."

Tony laughed and pushed the door open. "It's fine. Jump in and toss your brolly in the back."

Vicky splashed her way to the car and slipped into the passenger seat. She closed her umbrella, gave it a quick shake and slid it into the little van's rear. "Thanks for the lift, Tony. I didn't know the buses weren't running at all. I thought it was just really late." She looked around the cab, taking in the unfinished interior. "Cute car. A work in progress?"

"Yeah. It's a bit hard to restore it when I have to drive it every day." He glanced across at the quite good looking redhead sitting beside him and gave a silent thanks to the striking bus drivers. "Didn't you hear the buses were going out? It's been in the news for a week."

Vicky sighed. "I forgot. I'm not used to having to rely on the occasional bus. I grew up in the inner city where there were more transport options."

Tony nodded, concentrating on watching the road through the slowly operating wipers. "Yeah, nah, you really need a car out here. Don't you have one?"

Vicky cleared her throat, and said in a small, embarrassed voice, "No. Not really. I don't even have a licence. I've only recently got my learners, but I'm having a hard time getting my 120 driving hours up. I just can't afford that many lessons."

"Hmmph, that's not good." The rest of the trip was in relative silence, both feeling a bit awkward but happy to be near each other. Tony wheeled the van into the railway car park, thinking about Vicky. And her lack of wheels. Just her lack of a vehicle. Nothing about what was hiding under her coat, or what her legs looked like under her slacks. Tony shook his head at the stray thought and fished around in his briefcase. He handed Vicky his business card. "Let me know what train you're catching tonight, and I'll give you a lift home."

She gratefully took the card. "Are you sure?"

Tony nodded.

"Thanks. I really appreciate it. My friends all work around here, so I'm sort of stuck for a lift to the station unless I'm desperate. They're also on their P-plates, so I can't get them to teach me to drive either."

They walked quickly to the platform and jumped on the train when it slid into the station. Vicky spotted a couple of seats together in a corner and made a bee-line for them, calling out to Tony to follow. They soon were pressed together like sardines, but neither really minded. They made a bit of small talk, compared notes on the books they were reading and settled in for the hour-long commute.

As they approached Vicky's stop in town, she smiled at Tony and patted his knee as she stood up. "Thanks for the lift. I'll send you a text this afternoon with my train."

He smiled back. "No worries. Have a good one." His heart had been hammering in his chest since he first saw her that morning at the bus stop. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled as he watched her leave the train. He'd been furtively glancing at her for most of the trip, trying to figure out her figure. So to speak...

Vicky wasn't a big girl. Petite would be the polite description. About 4' 11", maybe 100 lbs, and looking like a strong breeze would lift her and her umbrella away. He was glad that he had a few stops left to go because her knee pat had caused an unexpected reaction. He looked out the window and concentrated on tonight's culinary delight. Minced beef tacos. With homemade salsa. His mind drifted, wondering if Vicky liked Mexican. 'Come on, Tone. Get it together. Relax. Geez...' he angrily thought to himself.

All day, whenever his phone made a sound he quickly picked it up hoping to see a message from Vicky. He tried to deal with the interruptions as quickly as possible, hoping not to miss her call or message. He really hoped it would be a call. Eventually, at 4.38 pm the phone went 'Ping!' and a message from an unknown number appeared. It just said "Hi! 5.02 from my station. Usual carriage. Bye!" And a smiley face emoji.

Tony's number crunching mind went into overdrive. He quickly called up the train timetable off the Transport Department's website. He groaned in frustration. He had hoped to catch a train to Vicky's station and meet her there so he could sit beside her, but there wasn't time to make that happen. Ten minutes walk to his station, six minutes to travel between the two stops... Not going to work.

He shut down his computer, grabbed his briefcase and bolted to the lift. No way was he going to miss this meeting. Tony made the walk to his station in record time and proceeded to pace up and down along the section of platform that would cover the door Vicky normally got on. Two trains went past, not the right ones but they helped him shorten his pacing to match the door opening.

The next train came into view, along with the normal, garbled loudspeaker announcement. He stopped pacing and anxiously looked at the train's interior as it slowed. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Vicky waving wildly at him. Tony wrenched the door open and shoved his way through the crowd to where she was sitting. The other commuters glared at him for this breach of protocol, but he didn't give a damn.

"Hi, how's it going?" he wheezed, trying to sound casual. Vicky had managed to nab an aisle seat, but Tony had to stand beside her.

She looked sideways at his belt, blushed, and dragged her eyes up to his face. "Not too bad, considering how the morning started." Vicky gave a nervous giggle as her eyes flicked down and up again. "Sorry I couldn't get two seats together, but I didn't have a big enough stick to scare people away."

Tony laughed. She was cute and funny. Liz had definitely been the former, the latter - not so much towards the end. She had lost herself in work, and her wicked sense of humour had got lost as well. He still missed her, but time had rolled on and she wasn't coming back.

"It's ok, I'm used to standing most of the trip," he replied. "I'll just lean here and read." He pulled 'The Death of Sleep' out of his briefcase and settled back to read, but mostly watched Vicky.

For her trip, Vicky pulled out 'Dragonsinger' but mostly watched Tony's crutch just beside her right ear. Normally she'd try and ignore a man's penis so close to her head, but she was intrigued with the owner of this one. He was a bit of a mystery to her, but she liked him. He was friendly and seemed kind. She needed that. She really wanted that.

About three quarters the way home Tony managed to get a seat next to Vicky. He squeezed in beside her and smiled. "Finally." He wiggled on the seat, feeling her hip push against his. "Where do you live? I'll look it up so I have an idea of where to go."

She gave him the address, which he quickly found. As he suspected, Vicky lived in one of the new housing estates.

"If it's out of your way, I can get one of my housemates to pick me up."

Tony looked up from his phone and grinned at her. "Not a drama. I practically go past your door. Maybe a five minute detour. Besides, I can't leave you standing in the rain again. You looked so sad this morning."

Vicky leaned over and bumped her shoulder against his arm. "Thanks again. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't stopped. There's not a lot of taxis out our way either." She looked out into the pitch black night and shivered. "Not having a car is starting to really suck."

Tony gave a non-committal "Mmm." He really liked Vicky, and he was trying to think of a way to see more of her - without appearing needy.

He was still mulling over options when they got off the train. Tony strode off to the Morris and left Vicky to scurry after him. He looked around and stopped to let her catch up. "I'm sorry, just habit."

Vicky grumbled "I know I'm short, but geez. You're a bloody giraffe."

Tony chuckled and walked at a more casual pace. "I'm usually in a hurry to get out of here, and I'm never with someone else."

Vicky noticed his voice trailing off, and he slowed down even more. She decided to risk a bit of intimacy and slid her arm through his. "Come on, let's go. I'm getting cold."

Tony had been thinking about Liz. He hadn't really thought about her much over the last six months, but for some reason being this close to Vicky had stirred up memories. He wished they'd stayed buried.

"Hang on a sec," he told Vicky as they got to the van "I have to get in and open your door from the inside."

She looked at him like he was crazy. "Seriously? Ok, that's just weird."

Tony shrugged as he unlocked the door. "Just the way it was made. No idea why." He got in and reached across to the passenger door and carefully pushed it open. He'd hit more than one person with the door, and he didn't want to knock his new friend over.

Vicky got settled and Tony fired up the van. "Sorry, I don't have a heater in here. They originally didn't come with one, and I haven't got around to installing one." he apologised.

"It's fine. I really appreciate the ride. You have no idea how much I hate catching that bus. It's awful." She patted his hand, which was on the gear shift. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat at his reaction to her touch, then headed to the exit.