There was a choking sound from the trooper as the windscreen was covered in the mouthful of tea that he'd just taken.

Mr T picked up a roll of paper towel and tossed it at him, catching him squarely on the back of the head.

"You are going to clean that up, aren't you Trooper." It wasn't a question.

"Yes Staff Sergeant." Suddenly very formal as he started dabbing at the sticky liquid.

"Sorry Drew, but thanks, I've been looking for a reason to get a different driver."

He took the mug and topped it up.

"Here, try one of these." He handed me a green foil pack, it was marked 'Oatmeal Biscuit'. Inside was what looked like a thick digestive biscuit, I broke a piece off, surprised at how hard it was.

"Dunk it first." I must have had a suspicious look on my face as he laughed.

"Go on try it. Anie-frid likes them." I cautiously dipped it into the mug, letting the liquid drain a little before carefully lifting the biscuit to my mouth. I was expecting it to fall apart like a digestive, but no, it was still firm as I nibbled a piece off.

"Wow!" I sputtered, That was awesome, the flavour of honey, it reminded me of the energy bars that I normally carried when riding, but definitely better.

Mr T grinned, as I happily dunked and munched my way through the snack, it took a surprising amount of time for such a small biscuit.

"That was amazing." I told him, as I licked my lips. I was eyeing up a second when he said,

"Not a good idea Drew, you've just eaten the equivalent of a bowl of porridge. Unless you plan on sleeping that is. Compo rations Drew, very high carbo content I'll save a few for you. Tell the girl's if they want any tea they'll have to come and get it, it's bad form to take your own into the pub when they serve their own food."

I stood and started to remove the jacket.

"Keep it on Drew, that kit of yours is alright when you're riding, but it's not up to the job when your hanging round, you lose too much heat."

"Maybe, but that wasn't the plan. I was expecting a ten minute stop, then straight back."

"So, what's the hold-up?"

"We're waiting for another couple on a tandem to meet us."

"That tandem there, you mean?"

I spun round to look and found I was looking at the inside of the hood, after pulling it back, I saw it.

"When did they come in?"

"Ha, they rode past you, when you were standing in the road Drew." Mr T laughed.

"Here use this instead of the hood." He handed me a black woolly hat. At least it's not green I thought as I pulled it on and started toward the carpark, remembering to look this time.

Freddie was waving something white at me as I entered the carpark, so I made my way towards her.

'God, I must look a complete dork,' I thought as I clopped across the car park. The coat looked huge on me, the woolly hat, the way I had to walk with my cycling shoes. Plonker was the word that came to mind.

Walking faster didn't help, as I found out when a car passed me with the window down.

"Ahh, doesn't she look cute..." Argh... I slowed down rapidly, at least I could fake a normal walk that way.

Oh well, I suppose it's better to be cute than dorkish.

"Hey Drew, did you join up?" Maddy laughed. Freddie was sorting feathers on the table.

"Nope, Watcha think of the coat, cool huh?" I gave her a wave with the end of the sleeve that hung below my hands.

"The green doesn't go with the red of your eyes Drew."

"The hat needs something as well, try this." She held up a feather, Maddy grabbed it and stuck it in the hat.

"There you go 'Hiawatha'. Or is it 'Little Plum'?"

I shrugged it off, I had more than enough trouble with names.

"Oh, your dad said there's tea if you want it, but you have to go get it, I'll take you on the bike if you do."

"No its alright, John volunteered to get cokes, Damn, I'd forgotten about the Norwegian's."

"Who?" I asked

"Not who, what. A Norwegian is that thermos thingy full of tea

"Oh, So what's with all the feathers?"

"Aren't they great? They keep geese here, I'm sorting them for fletchings."

"Fletchings?... Oh. Arrows right?" She carefully scooped up a few of the feathers and wrapped them in a tissue. Shovelling the rest into a bin liner.

"Is that all your keeping?"

"Yeah, the others are either too straggly or they're left handed like you Drew."

"What's being left handed got to do with it. HEY I'm not left handed!"

"Oh you are awake then." Freddie giggled.

"If the feathers are mixed then the arrow won't fly properly, it's an aerodynamic thing, by using feathers from the right wing the arrow will spin to keep it straight."

"I doubt Robin Hood new anything about aerodynamics Fred. And I'm not left handed." I huffed

"Well alright. Ambi then, anyway he might not have known about aerodynamics was, but he, his Fletcher and his Bowyer, knew that if they used feathers from the right wing of a goose their arrows flew straighter."

"I could have saved the left ones for you though, sorry."

"Grrr. I'm not left handed."

"Hey you two, here's John with the drinks." Maddy dived in to cool us down.

"What's was that all about?" asked John as he set the tray down.

"Freddie thinks I'm left handed." I explained.

"Ooh that's interesting, so am I." said a voice from behind John.

The "So am I." voice belonged to Marge Sefton, Ken was right behind her. I stood to shake hands with them.

" I've been looking forward to meeting you since we met your mum this summer. When John told us what you were doing we just had to come."

"What I'm doing? I'm just out for a ride."

There was a snort from Maddy.

"Oh, just a ride eh? I think it's a bit more than that Gaby. What do you think girls?"

Maddy and Freddie Both had silly grins on their faces, Freddie's getting wider and Maddy's getting slightly smaller as they both realised what Marge had called me.

"Er the name is Drew actually. Mrs Sefton."

"Oh call me Marge everyone else does Gaby, John told us about your nickname, you don't mind do you? No of course you don't, I was just telling John how proud your mum was, when we say her in Italy, the whole team made us welcome when they found out we were from the same club it was wonderful wasn't it Ken."

Ken just nodded, I started to wonder about her lung capacity 'cause I hadn't seen her breathe yet, perhaps she had gills.

Marge finally had to breathe and John dived into the gap, I still hadn't heard Ken speak.

"I've finished here so I'm going to make a move, Nice seeing you again Ken, Marge. I'll be in touch about the dinner Gaby, but tell your Dad what I said Ok?"

"Ok John thanks for the cokes." John beat a hasty retreat, the word coward crossed my mind.

Marge continued to regale us with stories of their cycling exploits, some of the funniest were from their coast to coast trip of the States two years ago. Pretty amazing really, they both looked to be in there sixties.

"We'd better be making a move Drew," said Maddy, "I never expected to be this late, I'd better ring Mum."

"Oh my, I've been prattling again haven't I, Ken you should have warned me."

Ken smiled indulgently, finally getting a word in.

"Actually Luv, I was just thinking it would be nice to ride back with the girls, then we could have lunch in Warsop at the pub.

"Ken that's an excellent idea, is that alright with you girls?"

"You'll have to give us a start." Laughed Maddy. "Drew's only got half the horses you have."

"That's all right, by the time Marge has said goodbye to the others, you should be well on your way." Ken chuckled.

"Ken. Are you saying I talk too much?" I had visions of an argument starting but they were both laughing.

"Heaven forbid pet, I'm just saying that if they move now they'll have about 5 or 10 minutes start."

Still laughing I made my way over to the tandem, giving it a quick check before bringing it back to the table.

"Mad can you handle these?" I pulled off the jacket and hat and gave them to Maddy.

"We can do that, where do they have to go?" Ken volunteered.

"Only to the minibus." Freddie put in "My Fathers down there."

"It's as good as done, see you on the road girls."

After a quick stop to tell Mr T where his coat was, we were soon bowling down the road, this time it was a group of the soldiers who checked the road for us and we crossed with no problems.

The problem showed up about five minutes later, not with the bike, with me. The mug of tea coupled with the coke were making their presence felt, thinking of the options, there weren't any, I was going to have to stop.

Maddy rolled her eyes when I explained the problem, but she scooted ahead to look for a suitable comfort halt for me.

After what seemed an age of gritting my teeth we caught up with her at an entrance to a field. The farm gate was closed but that wasn't going to stop me. So with Maddy holding the bike and Freddie's crutches helping I got off and scrambled my way over the gate, straight into the stickiest patch of mud I'd ever seen. Not that I cared at that point,

The only shelter was a thicker patch of the hedgerow and I started to curse the bib on my thermals when I had to remove my top to get at the buckles.

There was a howl of laughter as a cloud of steam revealed my hiding place, and as I struggled with the buckles the two of them were making steam engine noises.

The patch of mud decided to eat my shoe on the way back so I spent a few minutes washing them off in a nearby puddle.

Thoughts that Fred might now be convinced of my status were dashed when I got back. Even Maddy's mouth hit the ground when Fred said.

"Great party trick Drew, did you have to practice much?" "Er Fred It comes naturally to him."

"Awe come on it's about time you two stopped messing with my head. Just about everyone we've met today has called you Gaby, if you think that little trick is going to fool me, I've seen it before you know. And to cap it all you're wearing a bra."

"WHAT?"

Angela Peters 28.06.04 © 2004

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