I need you now.
Need. The word was sweet. I dont know. Ill think it over again, anyway.
Well, thats something I suppose. He rufled his thinning light brown hair and rubbed his hands down over his face, his skin itching with tiredness. Sandwich?
Thanks. I took one. Ham, with French mustard, made in their bungalow by Toms capable wife Janie, not from the airport canteen. The ham was thick and juicy, home cooked in beer. We ate in silence and drank the hot strong coffee. Outside the glass-walled high up square room the sky grew a thick matt black, with clouds drifting in to mask the stars. The wind was slowly backing, the atmospheric pressure falling. It was getting steadily colder.
Bad weather on its way.
Tom checked his instruments, frowned, leaned back on his chair and twiddled his pencil. The forecast was right, he said gloomily, snow tomorrow.
I grunted sympathetically. Snow grounded his planes and caused a hiatus in his income.
Have to expect it in February, I suppose, he sighed.
I nodded in agreement. I wondered if Stratford races would be snowed off[158] on Thursday. I wondered if weather interfered much with Yardmans trips. I reflected that Janie Wells made good coffee, and that Tom was a sound sensible man. Untroubled, organised surface thoughts. And it was the last night I ever spent in my calm emotional deepfreeze.
The sky was a sullen orange-grey when we took off at eight the next morning from Gatwick, the as yet unshed snow hanging heavily as spawn in a frogs belly. We were carrying eight brood mares in an old unpressurised D.C.4, flying away from the incoming storm, en route to Milan. Timmie and Conker were back, to my relief, but neither had had a scintillating holiday, by the sound of it[159]. I overheard Conker, a much harassed small father of seven large hooligans, complaining as he loaded the cargo that hed done nothing but cook and wash up while his wife curled up in bed with what was, in his opinion, opportunist malingering influenza. Timmie showed his sympathy in his usual way: a hearty gear-changing sniff. A thick-set black-haired square little Welshman, he suffered from interminable catarrh and everyone around him suffered also. It had been his sinuses, he unrepentantly said after one particularly repulsive spitting session, which had stopped him going down the mines like his pa. The February holiday, Timmie agreed, was not much cop[160].
How many holidays do you have? I asked, fixing chains.
A week off every two months, Conker said. Blimey mate, dont tell me you took this job without asking that.
Im afraid I did.
Youll be exploited, Conker said seriously. When you start a job, you want your terms cut and dried[161], wages, overtime, holidays with pay, bonuses, superannuation, the lot. If you dont stand up for your rights, no one else will, there isnt a union for us, you know, bar the agricultural workers, if you care for that which I dont. And old Yardman, he dont give nothing away you know. You want to make sure about your weeks off, mate, or you wont get any. Im telling you.[162]
Well, thank you, Ill ask him.
Aw, look man, said Timmie in his soft Welsh voice, We get other times off too. You dont want to work yourself to death. Mr Yardman dont hold you to more than two trips a week, Ill say that for him. If you dont want to go, that is.
I see, I said. And if you dont go, Billy and Alf do?
Thats about it, agreed Conker. I reckon. He fitted the last lynch pin on the last box and rubbed his hands down the sides of his trousers.
I remembered Simon saying that my predecessor Peters had been a belligerent stand-on-your-rights man, and I supposed that Conker had caught his antiexploitation attitude from him, because it seemed to me, from what theyd said, that Conker and Timmie both had free time positively lavished upon them. A days return trip certainly meant working a continuous stretch of twelve hours or more, but two of those in seven days wasnt exactly penal servitude[163]. Out of interest I had added up my hours on duty some weeks, and even at the most they had never touched forty. They just dont know when they are well off, I thought mildly, and signalled to the airport staff to take the ramp away.
The D.C.4 was noisy and very cramped. The gangways between and alongside the horses were too narrow for two people to pass, and in addition one had to go forward and backward along the length of the plane bent almost double[164]. It was, as usual, normally a passenger ship, and it had low-hung luggage shelves along its length on both sides. There were catches to hold the racks up out of the way, but they were apt to shake open in flight and it was more prudent to start with all the racks down than have them fall on ones head. This, added to the angled guy chains cutting across at shin level, made walking about a tiresome process and provided the worst working conditions I had yet struck. But Conker, I was interested to notice, had no complaints. Peters, maybe, hadnt been with him on a D.C.4.
After take-off, the horses all being quiet and well-behaved, we went forward into the galley for the first cup of coffee. The engineer, a tall thin man with a habit of raising his right eyebrow five or six times rather fast when he asked a question, was already dispensing it into disposable mugs. Two full ones had names pencilled on:
Patrick and Bob. The engineer picked them up and took them forward to the pilot and co-pilot in the cockpit.
Coming back, the engineer asked our names and wrote us each a mug.
There arent enough on board for us to throw them away every time, he explained, handing me Henry.
Sugar? He had a two-pound bag of granulated, and a red plastic spoon. I know the way you lot drink coffee. The skipper, too.
We drank the scalding brown liquid: it didnt taste of coffee, but if you thought of it as a separate unnamed thirst quencher, it wasnt too bad. In the galley the engine noise made it necessary to shout loudly to be heard, and the vibration shook concentric ripples in the coffee. The engineer sipped his gingerly over the scrawled word Mike.
2
to be done out of an earldom (разг.) отобрать вожделенный графский титул
3
age had nothing to do with wisdom возраст не имеет ничего общего с мудростью
4
at arms length (зд.) на расстоянии
5
comfort took over from barracks (разг.) царил казарменный комфорт
6
A short head (зд.) Отстал всего на голову
7
All the same if it had been ten lengths (разг.) Ничего бы не изменилось, отстань я на десять корпусов
8
robbed of a cricket blue (зд.) его не включили в команду по крикету (голубой цвет спортивной формы Кембриджа)
9
the barbs were securely in (разг.) колкости достигли цели
10
ult сокр. от лат.ultimo, прошлого месяца
11
Your pigeon (сленг) Это по вашей части
12
a prim, dim, sexless nothing (разг.) надутое, скучное, бесполое ничтожество
13
Not my day (разг.) Не везет мне сегодня
14
Hospitals? (зд.) Больницы проверили?
15
the Serpentine (зд.) цепь прудов в Лондонском Гайд-парке
16
steeplechases лошадиные бега по пересеченной местности (с препятствиями)
17
Im fed up with it. (разг.) Я сыт по горло.
18
while we are at it (зд.) раз уж мы об этом заговорили
19
You can count me right out. (разг.) Можешь на меня не рассчитывать.
20
to put on a plushy front (разг.) создавать видимость приличия (процветания)
21
I came as near to unbending with him as with anyone (разг.) с ним мне было общаться проще, чем с кем бы то ни было
22
a bit of globe-trotting (разг.) мир посмотреть; попутешествовать
23
was earmarked (разг.) был на счету
24
taking him in (разг.) приглядываясь; рассматривая его
25
was a foreign country (разг.) был для меня загадкой
26
but thats not the point (зд.) но дело ведь не в этом
27
a travelling head groom (разг.) старший конюх-транспортировщик
28
Worth it to them in terms of trade (разг.) Им это выгодно в деловом отношении (с точки зрения бизнеса)
29
when the brood mares come over (разг.) когда надо перевозить племенных кобыл
30
Can I have the job? (разг.) Так вы берете меня (на работу)?
31
A job is what you make it. (разг.) Работа это то, что ты из нее делаешь.
32
had coveted the promotion (разг.) мечтали о продвижении по службе
33
I had a fall and a winner (зд.) я один раз упал с лошади и один раз выиграл
34
aeroplanes being entirely against nature and usually fatal (разг.) аэропланы были ошибкой природы и потому смертельно опасны
35
may be the top thing next year (разг.) может войти в моду в следующем году
36
You wont stick it (разг.) Ты долго не продержишься
37
I do all the spade work (разг.) Я делаю всю черновую работу
38
Youre a rum sort of chap (разг.) Странный ты парень
39
Not a murmur. (разг.) Ни звука; ни словечка.
40
he might have wanted to duck someone (разг.) может, он хотел от кого-то спрятаться
41
Thats the size of it (разг.) Ну, в общем, да
42
for a bit of a giggle (разг.) для развлечения