Going Underground

Chapters Sixteen to Twenty

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

KEEP MOVING                                             

                 Not only does it have to be said that the classic mini wasn’t exactly built for comfort, thought Tracey.  But its creators certainly didn’t have heavily pregnant women like me in mind when it came to its design process...  And although with a little help from the other two she’d just about managed to shoehorn herself into the back seat, she couldn’t help but feel she’d been paying for British Leyland’s lack of foresight ever since.

                 On top of that, it’s not enough that I can feel every lump, bump and dip in the road, she continued to complain.  Thanks to one very careful owner and some rather over cautious driving, we haven’t even topped thirty miles an hour since pulling out of the garage. A rate that didn’t just mean were they never going to catch up with Jonathan, The Ace Face and Mickey P., she calculated, but that their other halves were no doubt going to make it all the way down to Brighton and back again, before they’d even crossed over the Lancashire border. 

                 Another quick glance out of the back window, however and she could at least console herself in the fact that she wasn’t the only one struggling with their current lack of progress – it appeared the numerous people in the mile long tailback behind didn’t appreciate their meandering along like elderly Sunday drivers either.  Not that Megan seemed to care about this ever growing queue of impatience, Tracey noted, leaving her wondering if it might be an idea to intervene. 

                 Of course, she didn’t want to step on their Chief Navigator’s toes and in coming to the conclusion that the job of chiding their driver along also fell within that particular position’s remit, she discreetly tapped Andrea on the shoulder by way of a prompt.

                 “As lovely as this is,” Andrea tentatively ventured, mercifully for the mother-to-be having taken the hint.  “I don’t really think the scenic route’s such a good idea, do you, Megan?”

                 “Well having never driven on a motorway in my life,” she replied.  “I don’t really think now’s the right time for me to be starting...”

                 Definitely not the answer Tracey had been hoping for and she gave Andrea another prod, instructing her to try again.

                 “You’ll be alright in the slow lane,” Andrea patiently continued.  “You just won’t be as slow as this.”

                 Patience, however, was something that Tracey, herself, was fast running out of and thanks to Megan’s clear refusal to budge on the matter, she decided maybe she should take charge of the situation, after all. 

                 She leaned forward in her seat accordingly, ready to take a more direct approach.  “In case you haven’t noticed,” she calmly yet sternly pointed out.  “One of us is expecting a baby in the next seven days.  Now call me daft if you will, but we really do need to be there and back before the actual birth...”