“Not Like Normal Folk”
“Laura, are you still home?” Lucy peeked into the bathroom, where her older sister was fixing her hair before work.
“Of course I am! Unlike you telecom lot with your ungodly shifts at seven in the morning, we office workers keep decent hourseight to five, like proper folk.”
“Oh, listen to you’office workers’!” Lucy snorted. “Youre just as much a factory hand as the rest of us! Only difference is you sit around in your lab coats at the design bureau, thinking youre the clever ones.”
“Well, no one stopped you from training as an engineer too!” Laura shot back. “But no, you just had to follow that Jeremy of yours to the telecom college!”
“Oh, give it a rest!” Lucy waved her off. “That Jeremys long gone, done a runner! Now hurry upI need the bathroom before I collapse. My shift was madness!”
Lucy hated being reminded of that old business. Jeremy, her schoolmate, had been devastatingly handsome in her eyes, and shed fallen for him head over heels back in Year Five. He should have been in films, but instead, he chose telecom college. So, sighing in frustration, shed followed. Not that he ever appreciated the gesture. Graduation came, and off he went, married to a girl from his course.
Lucy rinsed off quickly under the shower, pulled on her cosy pyjamas, and shuffled yawning into the kitchen.
“Fancy a bite so I dont wake up starving?”
“Theres half an omelette under the lidI made enough for both of us,” Laura offered.
“Ugh, omelette again! How can you eat eggs every day? Id rather something lighter.”
Lucy grabbed a packet of instant porridge, poured boiling water over it, and stirred lazily.
“Youll be asleep before you finish,” Laura smirked.
Lucy forced down a couple of tasteless spoonfuls, then pushed the bowl away.
“No, Im off to bed.”
She retreated to her room, and soon rhythmic snoring drifted out. Laura checked the clock. “Why did I even get up this early? Another half-hour with my phone, then.” She settled into the armchair that took up a corner of their spacious kitchen and lost herself in her screen.
Thena knock at the door. Laura answered, accepting a New Years telegram from distant relatives who refused to embrace modern communication. “Seasons greetings, health, happiness” She signed the receipt and returned to her warm spot by the radiator.
Suddenly, she heard Lucy shuffle to the loo, then stop in the hallway on her way back and yelp, “Blithering idiot!” Laura listenedLucy rustled shoes, zipped up a coat Then the door slammed.
“Lucy, where are you off to?” Laura jumped up, but her sister was already gone, her phone left on the side table.
“Honestly! Left something at work, did she?”
Laura went back to the cosy kitchen.
***
Lucy raced along the icy pavement, squinting at the backs of workers trudging toward the factory. It was still dark, but she hoped to spot Lauras wool coat. When the telegram arrived, shed been asleep, but the slammed door woke her. The flat fell silent again, and Lucy assumed Laura had left for work.
After tossing in bed a while, she got up for the loo. Passing the hallway, she spotted Lauras factory pass on the side table. “Blithering idiot!” shed gasped, thinking Laura had forgotten it. She threw on a coat over her pyjamas, jammed her feet into boots, grabbed the pass, and dashed out to “catch her sister.”
But Laura was nowhere among the workers. The factory was only ten minutes away, so Lucy reached the gates quickly. No sign of Laura. She approached the security guard.
“Seen my sister?”
He shook his head, baffled.
“Not yet. Its only half-sevenshe usually turns up at five to.”
“Half-seven?” Lucy gaped. “Oh, Im such a fool!”
The guard adjusted his glasses, eyeing her as if she were smuggling artillery.
“Im leaving!” Lucy blurted, then bolted.
Laura would be tearing the place apart for that pass!
Panting, she was nearly home whenwham!her feet shot out on a slick patch of ice dusted with fresh snow, and she crashed onto the pavement.
“Mum!” she groaned as a stranger hurried over to help.
“Can you stand?” he asked gently.
“D-dont think so,” she mumbled and looked up.
A young man in a smart overcoat, a white lab coat peeking beneath, gazed down with tired but kind eyes.
“Whats the rush on ice like this?”
“Long story. Oh, II need to get home, or my sister will murder me!” She tried to rise, then yelped in pain.
The man sighed. “Right, hold onto me. Tight now.”
He scooped her up and carried her inside.
“Which floor?” he asked in the lift.
“Third,” Lucy muttered, flushing.
Never had she been this close to a manlet alone such a handsome one. He smelled faintly of cologne and something medicinal.
At last, they rang the bell.
“Lucy! What happened? Where were you?” Laura gaped as the stranger carried her sister in.
“Evening. Looks like a bad sprain or dislocation,” he explained, heading for the sitting room.
“Laura, Ill explain later, alright?” Lucy held out the cursed pass.
“Oh, there it is! Ive been searching everywhere!” Laura stuffed it into her bag and dashed outthen doubled back.
“Lucy, this a friend of yours? Safe to leave you with him?”
“Perfectly safe,” the man assured. “Im a doctor. Mind the ice out there.”
Laura nodded and hurried off.
“Right, Lucy,” the doctor said briskly, “lets see that leg.”
He eased off her boot and wincedher ankle bulged unnaturally.
“That bad?” she groaned.
“Dislocation. Hospital for you.”
“Oh, must we? Ive barely slept, and theyll drag me through X-rays for hours!”
“You work nights too? Colleagues, then?”
“Hardly!” Lucy laughed nervously. “Telecom at the factory. Round-the-clock shiftsmachines cant be left unattended.”
“Ah. Well An ambulance either way. Needs relocating, and that means pain relief. Ive nothing on me.” He pulled out his phone. “Steve? Got a sprained ankle here. Yes, took a tumble on the ice.” He smiled at Lucy. “Address?” He passed her the phone, and she gave it to the unknown Steve.
Then panic struck. “Mums the wordwhat have I done? What if theyre burglars, and Ive just handed them our address?”
“Dont fret,” the doctor patted her shoulder, seeing her worry. “Thats my shift partnerexcellent with trauma. Hell sort you out.”
“Andand hes good?” Lucy blurted, then reddened.
“Steve? Best in the business. Youll see. OhIm Max. Nearly introduced you to a colleague without introducing myself!”
Lucy shook his hand, her fingers lost in his warm grip. She suddenly wished hed never let gobetter yet, sweep her up again and hold her close
***
That New Years Eve, they all celebrated togetherLucy, Laura, Max, and Steve. They toasted the ice, Lauras missing pass, and the magic of the season that sparked not one, but two love stories.
