Dianne Bown-Wilson – Benny and Doll's Nice Day Out
The staff at the Bentley showroom were more than a tad bemused by their
latest customers.
Although they didn’t know it yet, the couple that crept in, arm-in-arm,
bent like question marks, were Benny Cunningham, aged 88, and his darling wife,
Dorothy - Doll, 92. They looked unbearably frail.
Young Andy on
the front desk, still quite new to the job, swore inwardly but felt obliged to
offer them a seat. Only a couple of hours until closing on the last day of the
month and he was desperate for a sale. And look who he was stuck with – he wouldn’t
make his bonus from this pair.
Surprisingly,
they got straight to the point. The car they wanted, Benny announced, was “that
one over there” but in navy blue with cream leather upholstery. “Plus all the extras,”
he enunciated slowly in a whispery croak.
There was only
one exception, “No sat-nav.” And one stipulation: “When it’s ready we’d like it
delivered to our door.”
“And will you be trading in?” Andy asked, fighting
to mask both sarcasm and exasperation.
“No,” said
Benny. “Outright cash purchase. And, naturally, we’d like a test drive.”
Andy forced a tight smile, “Excuse me a
moment.” This was getting ridiculous; time to check with Rod, the manager, out
the back.
“Do you think
they’re legit?” he whispered.
Rod shrugged, “Doubt it, but you can never be
completely sure.” Certainly with Benny’s three-piece suit and well-trimmed
moustache and Doll’s high heels and perfectly upswept silver hair, they
presented a picture of decaying grandeur, albeit in a style fashionable many
decades before. On the other hand, their accents were more pub landlord than
public school. Who knew?
***
“Do you do much
motoring?” Andy enquired later, having finally managed to shoehorn them into a car.
It had been an excruciating process; thank God they hadn’t asked to actually drive
the thing.
“Not so much
these days,” Doll said, having adjusted her hearing aid to make out his words.
These young people did so mumble. “But we used to do a lot. Rallying, touring, all
over the world: Africa, India, Australia… Oh, we did have fun, didn’t we Benny?”
Benny smiled
fondly. “Yes, my dear, we certainly did. And we will again; plenty more fun to
be had.”
Andy sighed
inwardly. They were barking mad, completely delusional - the likelihood of this
going anywhere was absolutely nil.
But he was quickly
to be proved wrong. The car evidently met with the couple’s approval and once
back in the showroom it only took a phone call to confirm that they could, indeed,
meet all the purchase criteria. Suddenly - and ridiculously easily compared to
many such transactions - the deal was done!
“I hope you’ll
be very happy with your car,” Andy said when the paperwork was complete. He felt
completely disconcerted, as if he’d just found out he’d won the lottery without
purchasing a ticket.
“Oh, I’m sure we
will be,” said Benny. “It’s our seventieth wedding anniversary soon; we’re
buying ourselves this as a little treat.”
“Fantastic,” murmured
Andy weakly as he ushered them out to a waiting taxi, “Happy driving…”
When he went
back into the showroom, finally closing the doors for the day, he found the
others in stitches although no-one had a definitive explanation. “Maybe they
have a chauffeur,” Ron suggested. “Can’t see them driving themselves – at least
I hope not!”
“Better put the
body shop on full alert just in case,” Simon sniggered, and they all started
laughing again.
***
The day of the car delivery Benny and Doll got up early and packed a
picnic lunch. However, by late morning when the doorbell finally rang they were
exhausted with anticipation.
“Anything you need to know before I leave?” the delivery
man enquired.
“No,” whispered Benny. “There’s not much we don’t know
about cars.”
The man shrugged, disbelieving, but decided to accept
his word.
In the event,
they were so tired that they ate their picnic at the kitchen table then spent
the afternoon napping so it was early evening before they sat in their new
vehicle.
“Beautiful isn’t
it, Benny?” said Doll.
“Nothing too
good for you, princess,” he replied, stroking the pristine dashboard and
inhaling the smell of leather. It was a gem.
“So where shall
we go tomorrow then? Seaside? Town? What
do you think?”
“Wherever you
like,” Benny replied, squeezing Doll’s hand. “The world’s our oyster now.”
And it was.
After a lifetime as a bookie, Benny had recently retired, a wealthy man. He’d sold up reluctantly, masking the pain of
losing his raison d’etre with organising an immediate move to the country. With
most of their old neighbours and friends long gone and their surviving son,
Maurice, a successful businessman in Australia, there was no reason not to. They could please themselves now.
***
These days Benny and Doll go out driving nearly every day. That is,
Benny inches the Bentley round from its garage at the back of their huge Georgian
house to the old carriage turning circle at the front from where the vista
stretches right down to the sea.
There, for hour
after hour, they sit in the stationary vehicle re-living past journeys, recalling
the route, the scenery, the people they met, for their memory for long-ago events
is still as strong as sunlight.
“Bit different
from the old East End, isn’t it?” Doll often says and invariably, Benny chuckles.
Every fortnight, one of them – for they take
it in turns - chooses a postcard from the collection amassed through their
lifetime of travelling, and pens a few lines to Maurice.
“Dear Son, We hope this finds you well. Nothing much
to report here, as all is good with us. The weather isn’t too bad. We’ve had
another nice day out in the car.”
Back at the
Bentley showroom Andy thinks about mystery shoppers and assumes he passed the
test. After hours of wondering, he can find no other explanation.
No comments:
Post a Comment