English Literature Component Form 4 & 5 2010 - Short StoriesScribd Explore

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SHORT STORIES QWERTYUIOP Vivien Alcock Jobs don¡‾t grow on trees, the principal
of the Belmont
Secretarial College was fond of saying.
¡±Be positive,¡± Mrs Price told her departing students,
as she shook them by the hand in turn. ¡±Go out into
the world andwinl I have every confidence in you.¡±
When she came to the last student, however, her
confidence suddenly evaporated. She looked at Lucy
Beck, and sighed.
¡±Good luck, my dear,¡± she said kindly, but rather in
the tone of voice of someone wishing a snowman a
happy summer.
Lucy Beck was young and small and mousecoloured,
easily overlooked. She had a lonely ¡‾O¡‾ level and a
typing speed that would make a tortoise laugh.
¡±Whoever will want to employ me?¡± she had asked
Mrs Price once, and Mrs Price had been at a loss to
answer.
Lucy wanted a job. More than anyone, more than
anything, she wanted a job. She was tired of being
poor. She was fed up with macaroni cheese and
baked beans. She was sick of second-hand clothes.
¡±We are jumble sailors on the rough sea of life,¡± her
mother would say.
Lucy loved her mother, but could not help wishing
she would sometimes lose her temper. Shout.
Scream. Throw saucepans at the spinning, grinning
head of Uncle Bert.
If I get a job, I¡‾m getting out. He¡‾s not drinking up
my pay packet, that¡‾s for sure.If I get a job . . .
Trouble was that there were hundreds after every
VJCUQ; brighter than Lucy, better qualified than Lucy,
Wearing strings of ¡‾O¡‾ levels round their necks like
pearls.
Who in their right minds will choose me? Lucy
wondered, setting off for her first interview.
So she was astonished to be greeted by Mr Its of
Ross and Bannister¡‾s, with enormous enthusiasm.
She was smiled at, shaken by the hand, given tea
and biscuits, and told that her single ¡‾O¡‾ level was
the very one they had been looking for. Then she
was cfed the job.
¡±I hope you will be happy here,¡± Mr Ross ial, showing
her out. There was a sudden doubt in his voice, a hint
of anxiety behind his smile, but she was tpp excited
to notice.
I¡‾ve got the job! I¡‾ve got the job!¡± she cried, runnng
into the kitchen at home. I¡‾m to start on Monday. I¡‾m
to be paid on Friday.¡±
Her mother turned to share at her.
¡°you never! Fancy that now!who¡‾d have thought it!¡±
she said in astonishment.
Lucy was not offended by her mother¡‾s surprise. She
shared it. They never trusted luck, but looked t it
suspiciously as if at a stranger coming late to their
door.
Ross and Bannister¡‾s was a small firm, with a factory
just outside the town, making cushions and duvets;
and an office in the High Street. On Monday morning,
at ten to nine, the door to this office was shut and
locked.
She was early. She smoothed down her windy hair,
and waited.
At five past nine, an elderly man, with small dark
eyes like currants and a thick icing of white hair,
came hobbling up the stairs. He was jingling a bunch
of keys.
¡±Ah,¡± he said, noticing Lucy. ¡±Punctuality is the
courtesy of kings, - but a hard necessity for new
brooms, eh? Youare the new broom, I suppose? Not
an impatient customer waiting to see our new range
of Sunburst cushions, by any chance?¡±
¡±I¡‾m Lucy Beck,¡± she said, adding proudly, ¡±the new
secretary.¡±
¡±Let¡‾s hope you stay longer than the other ones,¡± the
man said, and unlocked the door. ¡±Come in, come in,
Miss Beck. Come into the parlour, said the spider to
the fly. I¡‾m Harry Darke, thirty years with Ross and
Bannister¡‾s, retired with a silver watch, and now
come back to haunt the place. Can¡‾t keep away, you
see.¡± Then he added oddly, half under his breath,
¡±Like someone else I could mention, but won¡‾t.¡±
He looked at Lucy, standing shy and awkward,
clutching her bag and uncertain what to do. ¡±Poor
Miss Beck, you musn¡‾t mind old Harry. Part-time
messenger, office boy, tea-maker, mender of fuses.
Anything you want, just ask old Harry. Mr Ross is
down at the factory in the morning, but he¡‾s left you
plenty of work to be getting on with.¡± He pointed to a
pile of tapes on the desk. ¡±Letters to be typed,
those ;ire. He got behindhand, with the last girl
leaving so quick. Left the same day she came. Shot
off like a scalded cat!¡±
¡±Why?¡± Lucy asked curiously. English Literature Component Form 4 & 5 2010 -
Short Stories
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