Free Time Goes By by Margaret Thornton Page B

us tonight, Sally, when we’ve finished here?’ asked Phil. ‘I’m hoping it will all be over by half past nine at the latest.’
    ‘Thank you; that would be very nice,’ she replied. ‘Where are you thinking of going?’
    ‘Oh … probably one of the hotels on the prom, the Carlton or the Claremont, maybe. The bars are not too busy out of season and they’re not quite so rowdy as some of the town centre pubs. Us lads don’t mind, but we must consider the ladies, mustn’t we? Some of you prefer a bit more class.’
    Sally smiled. ‘Why? Who’ll be going?’
    ‘Brian and Alan and me, and some of the younger lasses. I don’t know about the older contingent or the married women. We can ask them, but they’ll probably say no.’
    ‘It’s nice of you to include me,’ said Sally.
    The infant teachers were all women, as was the norm. Sally felt that she fell between two stools; they were either several years younger, or older, than herself. Sally was thirty-four and already felt as though she had been teaching for a lifetime; she had been at the same school for all of the time. Fortunately, though, she loved her job.
    Several of Sally’s colleagues on the infant staffwere young women who were quite new to the profession, aged twenty-one to twenty-five. Some of them were already married and juggling the two jobs of looking after a home and husband, and full-time teaching. It was usual, though, to stay at home when the first child arrived. The other teachers were older, fiftyish and sixtyish, with two approaching retirement age.
    Sally felt herself more drawn to the junior teachers, several of whom were of a similar age to herself. She found that the men on the staff – there were five of them, six including the headmaster – added a touch of levity and lightness to the atmosphere. Although all of them, it must be said, were very competent teachers, the men, on the whole, did not take themselves or their profession too seriously, or get as tensed up about it as some of the women did. She got on well with the women, some of them single, as she was, and some of them married with teenage families. She was often included in their outings, usually at Phil’s invitation, and she appreciated it.
    ‘We enjoy your company, Sally,’ Phil replied, in answer to her remark. He glanced across at her and smiled, causing his craggy face to crease into laughter lines around his mouth and his warm brown eyes that always reminded her of those of her gran’s spaniel.
    She knew that several of the staff wonderedwhether the two of them were secretly going out together, but that was not the case. They were, at the moment, just good friends. Sally had discovered that beneath his brawn and his commanding appearance, Phil was really quite shy. He had joined the staff eighteen months ago, but had still not got round to asking her out on her own. Always supposing, of course, that he wanted to do so, and she was not even sure of that. Phil Grantley was something of an enigma. She knew, though, that he was roughly the same age as herself and, as far as she knew, quite unattached.
    It was not far to Sally’s home, and they did not converse very much on the journey, Phil being a careful driver.
    ‘Cheerio then, Sally,’ he said, as she jumped out of the car. ‘See you later … I shall look forward to our drink together,’ he added, almost shyly. Then, ‘Shall I pick you up tonight?’ he asked, as though he had just thought of it. ‘About a quarter to six, is that OK? It’ll save you waiting around for a bus.’
    ‘Thanks very much, Phil,’ she replied. ‘I’d be really glad of that. See you later, then. Quarter to six will be fine.’
    Well, that was a step in the right direction, she thought to herself, although she was not altogether sure, really, about the direction she wanted their friendship to take.
    ‘Hello, dear; had a good day?’ called her mother as she opened the front door. It was her usual greeting and Sally