1

About the Author

Patricia has a medical background having worked as a

practice nurse for many years. Her love of the countryside and
animals is strongly portrayed in this novel. She frequently
uses this as a backdrop in another of her hobbies which is
photography. Patricia is also a keen supporter of musical
theatre.

Dedication

I dedicate this novel to Trevor as without his suggestion and

belief in me it would never have been written.
I would also like to thank Trevor for his painting of the front
cover, from my idea.

Copyright Patricia Rose (2015)

The right of Patricia Rose to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the
publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims
for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British
Library.

ISBN 978 1 78455 1 940

www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2015)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LB

Printed and bound in Great Britain

Quite often she would go to her bedroom to escape the almost

tangible hostility towards her. It was the safest place she
knew, where she would lie prone on her bed with hands under
her head, staring at the blank ceiling with her clear blue grey
eyes. She stuffed pieces of cotton wool hard in to her ears to
drown out any sound from the house and only then could she
begin to relax and concentrate on relaxing her tense stomach
muscles which began to tighten as soon as she left the solace
of her room.
She had come to an argumentative agreement with her
parents, her mother especially, that she kept her room tidy and
left the bathroom clean and they would not invade her private
space.
This was Ebony Swanns life and she had plans to change
it but found it difficult to find a happy way forward. She lay
there on her bed with her deep dark hair flowing over the
pillow; well adorned, her voluptuous feminine body stretched
out on the counterpane with her shapely legs crossed over
each other. As always as she lay looking at the ceiling, she
became deep in thought and wondered what she should write
in her private diary that day.
Ebony had kept a daily account of her feelings for a long
time. She recalled the day that she realized that her mother
had read some of it before she caught her pretending to tidy
her room. It was this confrontation that had led to the hostility
9

between them and try as she would she could not forgive her
mothers prying intrusive eyes. Ebony knew her mother had
lied to her for as soon as she had left her room she opened her
diary and found a slight crease in a page as her mother had
closed the diary too quickly. From then on, still intent on
writing every day she took it on to hide it and put almost
invisible things over the cover to ensure she knew if her inner
most thoughts had again been invaded. Mostly she used a hair
that she had taken from her hairbrush and with careful licking
she had perfected the art of putting it over the closed pages;
with an un-suspecting eye it was a perfect answer to give her
peace of mind.
Having gained good examination results she had been all
but told she should go into banking as her father wished, as in
his view it was a very respectable and reliable job and
although mathematics was far from her heart she had to agree
to an interview, where she was accepted straight away and
with only a few instructions she had been told to start the
following week.
On her first day she was politely introduced to all the staff
and subtly told how to address each one and how to behave;
most of the staff were men and a couple of girls who seemed
to be a bit older than her. It was all very correct and it was not
long before Ebony felt stifled by the strict rules and the
mundane office work she was assigned to and it was not long
before she began to dread going to work and when she went
out with her friends at the end of the third week she could not
help but let her frustrations out. They were very good listeners
and they had all been friends for a long time but Ebony envied
each one of them as they were all in positions that they
enjoyed and had chosen for themselves, unlike her, whose
banking career had been chosen for her as she finally had to
admit she was beginning to dislike it quite a bit and could not
see how she could stay on in the situation.
Almost the last straw came when the hand operated
adding machine finally gave up the ghost. It had been
cranking on for several days and although she had reported it,
10

it had not been mended. After public banking hours, late one
Friday afternoon it had ground to a halt and she was told in no
uncertain terms that she would have to add all the days
transactions in her head, as the paper work came flooding in
and mounted up in piles in front of her. Taking a deep breath
and trying to hide her frustration she began to slowly total up.
It had taken her far too long and at the end of the day
everyone was standing around waiting for her to finish, which
made her very self-conscious and nervous and feeling under
so much pressure she rushed through the last dozen or so of
bills and payments. She handed over the results to the under
manager before being able to grab her coat and with too much
gushing apology, she all but ran out of the door.
She did not wait for her bus but decided there and then to
walk the couple of miles home with every intention of getting
rid of the frustration and embarrassment she felt. She was so
glad that it was the beginning of the weekend and she did not
have to enter the bank again for a full two days. She smiled as
she recalled her arrival at the house to be greeted by her most
loyal, loving and reliable friend, the beloved family pet
Prince. He was a beautiful cross between an Alsatian and a
Collie. They had had him since he was a few weeks old as the
owners did not want him and a friend of her mothers had all
but begged her to have him and with obvious reluctance she
had been persuaded. Ebony had to admit it was the best thing
her mother could have done. Apart from buying him food
most of the exercise and entertainment was soon taken over by
Ebony who took delight in the responsibility, but she did not
think of it like that as Prince was so adorable and very soon
they were inseparable.
There was no one in the house when she panted in to the
warmest of greetings with his tail wagging so fast it could
hardly be seen as he lowered his head in a submissive mode to
her as she stroked and patted him and told him how much she
loved him. His response, as if understanding her every word
was to lick her face with fast tongue movements. She only let
him do it for a short time before she sat down on the kitchen
floor to catch her breath and to further unwind as she stroked
11

her beloved dog. As an only child and the only dog in the
family, they had a lot in common!
That weekend she continued her driving lessons. Ebony
always looked forward to seeing her driving instructor who
was a solid middle aged man with many lines on his face, and
she tried not to add any more; he had thick brown hair with
only a few flecks of grey showing at his temples. He was very
good and patient with her and although always nervous at first
she appreciated his ability to keep calm when she made silly
mistakes. She drove his Austin A40 well and had quickly
settled in to the strict routine of his tuition. It was after only
four weeks of lessons that Mr Morris suggested she put in a
request to take her driving test. She often smiled when she
recalled his name as cars that looked very similar to her eye
were made by Austin and Morris. He said that her hand
signals were very clear and decisive and her hill starts had
much improved although her reversing backwards round a
corner needed more work but with the few weeks until there
would be a slot there would be time to get them more precise
and her night driving would improve with practice which gave
her more confidence.
After that surprise lesson Ebony had bounded into the
house and first of all told her loyal dog Prince who was
always the first to greet her. She called out to her parents and
eventually found them in the small back garden; her father
digging over a small patch in the vegetable garden and her
mother trying to mow the lawn but she was not making a very
good job of it as she had missed most of the edges. With
excitement and pride she started to tell them that she was good
enough to apply for her driving test. Her father grunted that he
thought that was ridiculous as she had only been driving a
very short time and her mother smiled and with almost no
passion whatsoever said
Thats good, dear.
It was a surprise to me, too, so Ill ask Sheila if her
brother will take me out for more practise just in case it is
quite soon. May I telephone her please?
12

Having a sudden interest in the conversation her father

piped up
Yes, thats a good idea and ask him if you should pay
him for his time as its his car youll be using
Anything to avoid doing anything for her seemed his
strength.
The weekend had gone quite well and she felt good when
she entered the stout wooden banking doors early on Monday
morning. Everyone greeted each other and repeated the almost
mandatory I hope you had a good weekend or I hope you
enjoyed your weekend never really expecting a reply. There
had been a few almost ritual replies as everyone started to get
ready to open the doors to the public for another busy week
ahead.
Ebony noticed that her corner of the back counter was not
quite how she remembered leaving it, but she did wonder,
recalling the situation she had left if maybe she was mistaken.
She prepared the paper work to receive the transactions from
the front counter staff and as it was Monday there were three
of them. She glanced up at the large clock up on the wall it
read 9.55am. She was almost ready and the few minutes
would allow her to finally prepare when suddenly the under
manager was beside her on the back counter calling her name.
He was a thin tall man and had short blond hair which was not
very fashionable, and she had noticed before when he was
talking to her, his hands were always moving around that
drew attention to his fingers that showed deep stains where his
cigarettes had been almost burning into his skin. Ebony
looked up, startled by his voice as he beckoned to her with a
firm white finger. She immediately stopped what she was
doing and walked over to him.
The manager would like to see you in his office
What, now? Ebony could hear an edge to her voice.
Yes, straight away, as she looked at his stern unsmiling
face as he instructed her
Knock on his door and wait for him to say Enter
13

Suddenly feeling herself shake all over, she carefully

mounted the couple of steps to his office and bracing herself
tried to confidently knock on his door. There was a long pause
and silence and just as she was about to knock again a
booming voice demanded
Enter
Ebony had never been in to the inner sanctum as it was
referred to before, and it was not as she had imagined. It was
fairly small with enormous thick wooden shelves almost
weighed down with what looked like seriously knowledgeable
books. The manager sat on a big old chair with parts of the
arms fraying a bit and his desk was a dark wood, half of which
was piled high with all sorts of paper and some metal stakes
that they had been skewered with. His face was very stern and
appeared uncompromising as he brusquely invited her to sit
down on one of the chairs in front of his desk. His hair was
partly brown and had a long bit that swept up from a low
parting on one side right overhead to give the appearance of
him having more hair than he did. It really did not work as it
did not seem real as there was a small gap that made it look a
bit like a wig. He looked straight at her, cleared his throat
which almost made her wretch as she smelt the cigar smoke
come from his mouth and saw his brownish teeth as he
proceeded to almost bark, possibly due to his smoking.
Now, Miss Swann, it has been brought to my attention
that you have not been pulling your weight in my bank.
Naturally I am aware that you are new to the work but my
colleagues here have reported that some of your work falls
below the expected high standards we have here and we are
very proud of them. The final blow came last Friday when I
am led to believe the adding machine failed and you had to
finish the work with your ability of mental arithmetic. This
proved to be a disaster and if my under manager had not
thought to check your work over the weekend goodness
knows what crisis may have occurred; and taking everything
into account I have to say that I have no choice other than to
let you go as of immediate effect. Please collect any
14

belongings you may have and leave immediately. I do not

expect you to speak to any one on your way out. Your wages
which will include today will be sent on to you by post. I wish
you well in the future but I have to add that I do not think that
banking is your way forward. Good day Miss Swann.
There was no opportunity to reply at all. He did not even
shake her hand as he stood up as a sign that the interview was
complete, so she got up from the chair and without a word she
left his office.
As she lay on her bed recalling the situation she gave a
shudder. The only consolation was that she had tried to do
what her father had wanted her to do. Shortly after breaking
the news to her parents who were predictably upset another
new situation was proffered to Ebony.
A close friend of her mothers had a son in the motor
trade and needed a secretary and her mother had suggested
Ebony would be ideal for the situation. When her mother was
telling Ebony of the possibility of a new job she added, with
obvious delight, that the family were well known and
recognised as a good well established reliable business and
not short of a bob or two.
The following week she had been introduced to Will who
was quite tall in his early thirties and slim and his thin hair
was almost going grey. He was very polite and willing to
answer any questions that Ebony could think of which made
her laugh. He was very smartly dressed in a suit as he was the
chief car salesman of the fast expanding business. Will had
given her the job details and asked her to start the following
Monday at 8.30 a.m. She would have to travel a short distance
by train as the garage was situated right next to the station
which was very convenient for her. She didnt mind the
journey as it gave her time to consider her day. She suddenly
remembered one distressing incident when she was sitting
opposite a rather scruffy middle-aged man who kept on
staring at her and she did her best to avoid his penetrating
gaze and took comfort that it was not long before she reached
15

her destination, when suddenly he opened up his dark brown,

heavy coat to reveal his total nakedness and his engorged
penis pointing right at her. In shock, all she could do was to
temporarily freeze as she watched him move to touch himself.
Gathering up all her energy she got up as soon as she could to
stand ready to get out and looking around her the best she
could she realized no one else had noticed.
On her first day she was greeted warmly and introduced to
the other women she would share the office with. Penny was
about ten years older than Ebony and had a lovely smile. Her
wavy long brown hair was very smartly cut and framed her
face beautifully and she had long red nails that matched her
lipstick. The two of them got on immediately; Penny offered
to help her settle in and explained how the firm worked and
how Will, with his new ideas, was intent on making his mark
in the family business.
Ebony did not recognise herself as a proficient typist and
very soon realized it was her main work in the office which
involved typing out invoices for customers for services, parts
and most important was the car sales.
Will was again very helpful and explained to her with his
unrestrained exuberance that a very new car had been
designed and he was one of the first fifty salesmen to have it
delivered in the showroom. It was the highly advertised
version of a compact car to rival the now very popular mini. It
was called the Wolseley Hornet. When Will showed it to her
he stroked it just like she did with Prince. It certainly was very
small and an unusual shape and as she carefully mentioned it
he verbally defended it from her lack of one hundred percent
enthusiasm.
Ebony learnt a lot from Penny about the family business
they both worked for, as Ebony plonked away at the
typewriter with diminishing enthusiasm for she knew she was
not doing a very good job and as the weeks dragged by she
wondered how long she could keep doing it.

16