A Long Way To Go

Reaching their destination now seemed impossible for Linda and Norman . . .

IDO not believe this is happening to us!” Linda exclaimed, leaning back in the car seat. “Don’t worry,” Norman reassured her. “I’ll try again in a moment. The engine must be flooded,

“Flooded?” she repeated. “Of course it’s flooded. You’ve just driven through a ford.

“A ford that had a sign saying, ‘Warning! This ford is only passable at low water levels. Check depth marks before crossing’!” she added pointedly.

Norman pointed out that they had a four by four that was quite capable of crossing even a flooded ford.

He had checked the marks, and it was only slightly above the safe line.

“In any case, we got across, didn’t we?” he added.

“True,” Linda conceded, “but now we’ve stopped, and we’re only a few feet away from it.

“If you’d done what I suggested and gone around, this would not have happened.”

Linda had booked a holiday for Easter week in a country cottage miles from anywhere.

They would be sharing it with their son, Joel, his wife, Rachel, and their two children.

In the back of the car, packed into a cool box, were all the ingredients for an Easter lunch, including a large leg of lamb.

Then there were Easter eggs for everyone, and Linda’s pièce de résistance – a simnel cake.

Linda’s simnel cake was legendary and Easter wasn’t Easter without it.

“The food will spoil if we don’t get it into a fridge in the next hour,” she went on. “Oh, what a waste!”

“I’m so sorry Linda,” Norman apologised. “I really am. Please don’t worry. We’ll get there in time.”

Suddenly there was a knock at the car window.

Norman opened it and a man in a high-visibility jacket rested his elbows on the sill.

“Did you not see the large warning sign that told you to check the water levels?”

“I saw the sign,” Norman replied, “but I misread the levels.”

“Don’t worry; you’re not alone,” the man replied kindly. “The drivers of the other three vehicles that are now at a standstill in front of you also misread the levels.”

“Well, I think there’s a message for you there,” Norman said rather unwisely. “The level marks need to be clearer.”

“Oh, I’m nothing to do with the signs, sir,” the man continued. “I am the mechanic with the pick-up truck that tows away the cars.

“Now, you can ring your vehicle breakdown company and wait, or you can let me look at your car.”

At that moment, Norman noticed a van with a familiar-looking logo on the side driving down the hill towards them.

“Thank you for your kind offer, but I won’t be needing your help. Coincidentally, here is the company that I use.”

The man with the tow truck smiled and nodded.

He sauntered away to the vehicle at the head of the stalled cars.

He hooked the car up, the driver climbed into the passenger seat of the truck and off they went.

Norman got out of the car and walked over to the vehicle breakdown man.

“Good afternoon,” he greeted him. “I am a member of your breakdown company and I seem to have a problem with my car. Can you help?”

“Have you rung the call centre?” the man asked.

“My wife is ringing now, but I thought that, seeing as you are here, you might look at my car after you have seen the other one.”

“The other three,” the man corrected. “And they are all before you. I can’t guarantee when I can see you.”

Dispirited, Norman walked back to the car, where Linda had a face like thunder.

“We have to wait – he said so,” Norman announced.

“Oh, yes, we definitely have to wait Norman,” she muttered. “How long is it since you renewed your membership?”

“I think it renews automatically.” Norman frowned.

“It does not renew automatically,” Linda informed him, “if you untick that particular box.

“According to the very patient young man on the helpline, that’s what you did three years ago.

“We have had no breakdown cover for three years.”

Norman’s face fell, “Oh. Sorry, I must have forgotten. It’s such a reliable car and I regularly have it serviced so it’s never been a problem.”

“It wasn’t the car that was the problem this time, Norman!” Linda exclaimed. “I asked him if we can buy instant cover and he said we can join now, but cover won’t start for twenty-four hours.

“If we want them to look at it now, they will, but it will cost extra,” she added. “Even if we do that, they will have it towed away to a garage by a local tow firm.

“Probably the one the man you dismissed a few minutes ago was from!”

Norman nodded slowly and then slumped over the steering wheel and groaned. Linda looked up the hill. “Well, now is your chance to eat humble pie, Norman, because I spy the friendly tow-truck man returning.

“Off you go and sort this out.”

“Finally!” Linda cried as they reached the front of the local mechanic’s queue nearly two hours later.

Norman popped the bonnet and the mechanic, whose name was Nat, took a look.

“I’m very sorry, Norman,” Nat finally said, “but there is no way this car is going anywhere under its own steam.

“All I can do is tow it to my garage, where it will stay until I can deal with it.”

“And when might that be?” Linda asked.

“Well, it is Easter Saturday,” he replied. “I won’t be working tomorrow or Monday for obvious reasons, so it will be Tuesday that I start back.

“You will have to wait your turn, though. Six other cars are in front of you.”

“Six?” Linda asked. “But our holiday . . . We are supposed to be there by now.

“How do we get there? What about the food?” She burst into tears.

“Now, then, don’t upset yourself,” Nat said calmly. “Linda, is it? I can give you a lift in my tow truck to my garage.

“If you want, you can hire a car when we get there. The local company doesn’t have any left, but you could get a taxi, unless you’ve someone who can pick you up.”

Linda shook her head slowly.

“I’ve tried to ring my son, but he doesn’t seem to have a signal.”

“Not to worry,” Nat reassured her. “Come on, let’s get this sorted out.

“Do you want anything from the car to put in the truck with you?”

“I think we should get the food out,” Linda said.

“How about our cases?” Norman asked, “Will they fit, too?”

“Yes, I’m sure they will,” the mechanic replied, “if that’s what you want.”

Linda opened the back door and pulled a cool box out of the footwell.

It jammed in the doorway, and she had to pull harder.

But she fell backwards into a hedge, the box fell on its side, the lid came off and the contents spilled all over the road.

A large leg of lamb and a bottle of orange juice rolled down the hill and into the ford.

“No!” Linda yelled. “My lamb!”

Norman watched the lamb disappear under the murky water.

The bottle of juice floated on the top.

“That was my favourite orange juice – the one with no bits,” he said sadly.

“Would you like me to get it for you?” Nat offered.

“No, forget it,” Linda told him. “At least we still have the simnel cake.”

“You have a simnel cake?” Nat said. “I haven’t had that for years. My nana used to make one of those for me.”

“Linda makes a brilliant simnel cake every year,” Norman stated proudly, removing the cake tin from the back of the car and carefully opening it to show Nat.

“Linda, that looks and smells amazing,” Nat gushed. “We mustn’t let that fall into the ford.

“Come on, get it into the truck.”

With everything loaded into the tow truck and the car on the back, Nat drove them all towards the town where his garage was.

As they were on their way, Linda’s phone began to ring.

“It’s Joel,” she said. Linda’s happy face fell as she continued to listen to Joel.

“OK, I’ll tell your dad, then. Bye, love,” she finished.

Norman looked at his wife’s dismayed face and she explained that Joel, too, was stuck in a long tailback on the motorway.

There was no way that he could pick them up yet. He was expecting their journey to take at least another hour.

“So how long do you have to wait?” Nat asked.

“At least two more hours,” Linda replied, her voice cracking.

Nat nodded and looked at the miserable couple.

That’s when they finally pulled up outside his garage.

“Go over there and have a cup of tea. They have a café,” he said, pointing to the supermarket across the road, “I might be able to help.

“I’ll ring you to let you know.”

“Really?” Norman replied. Nat nodded again and took Norman’s phone number.

They had just sat down with their cup of tea when Nat rang.

Linda watched anxiously as Norman did a lot of nodding and agreeing.

When he had finished his phone call, he turned to Linda.

“Come along, my darling. We have shopping to do.”

By the time they reached the cottage, Linda was in tears again.

Nat had driven them over to the cottage himself.

In return, they’d agreed to let him leave their car until last.

Joel was going to drive Norman over to collect it later in the week.

“I managed to get everything we need for our lunch tomorrow, including a leg of lamb and your dad’s favourite orange juice without the bits,” Linda told Joel, sniffing and waving to Nat as he drove off.

“And a simnel cake, Mum,” Joel replied. “You have brought a simnel cake, haven’t you?”

“Of course there’s a simnel cake. I couldn’t forget that now, could I?”

Linda produced a box and placed it on the table.

Joel looked at it with wide eyes.

“You bought a simnel cake from the supermarket?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. “I didn’t have time to make one this year, Joel.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make one next year, because we’ll be staying at home.

“I can’t trust your dad not to drive through impassable fords.”

Norman had an apologetic look on his face, but Linda wasn’t paying any attention to him.

Linda was thinking about Nat, who was heading back to his family for Easter with a homemade simnel cake – just like his nana used to make.