Page 54 of The Do-Over

‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea,’ Rebecca says quickly. ‘It looks dangerous.’

‘It’s OK,’ George tells her. ‘They’ll be fine. You’ll be careful and do exactly what I say, won’t you, boys?’

Rebecca and Saffy look on nervously as George carefully guides Rollo and Louis up onto the traction engine, before showing them around and explaining how it all works. I was expecting this to be a ten-minute visit, tops, but George is doing that thing he does so well, which is pitching his explanations at just the right level to keep the boys interested, so nearly half an hour goes by before they reluctantly climb down again. While we wait, I allow my fantasies of George and the traction engine free rein in my head, with the result that I’m feeling nearly as jittery as Rebecca and Saffy by the time they rejoin us, although the reasons are very different. I was right. Seeing George has pushed Alasdair back into his box.

‘That was the best thing I’ve ever seen,’ Rollo enthuses.

‘Say thank you to George,’ Saffy prompts the boys.

‘Thank you,’ they chorus obediently.

‘Ah, you’re welcome,’ he tells them. ‘I always like showing off my engine, so thank you for being so interested.’

‘I bet you’d like to see his engine,’ Rebecca murmurs to me suggestively. ‘Go on, ask if you can climb on top of it. It’s so big, you need a ladder to get all the way up.’

‘Stop it,’ I whisper back before turning to George.

‘It’s certainly impressive,’ I tell him, causing Rebecca to snort with laughter next to me. ‘How many of you are involved with it?’

‘There are four of us,’ he explains. ‘We each own a quarter share and we spend every weekend working on her. The others would normally be here, but I explained I had some VIP guests coming, so they decided to give themselves the afternoon off.’

‘It’s quite an undertaking. When do you think it will be finished?’

‘We’re going as fast as we can. This place costs a fortune, so that’s quite an incentive. We’d like to be ready for the summer show season next year, but a lot of that will depend on whether we can get the remaining parts and the necessary certifications in time. Oddly, you can’t just pick up bits in your local auto centre, and the health and safety people aren’t keen on the idea of a catastrophic explosion, especially if there are members of the public nearby, so she has to pass a boiler inspection before she’s allowed out.’

‘I notice you refer to it as “she”,’ Saffy says. ‘Does she have a name?’

George smiles again. ‘Indeed she does.’ He walks over to a stack of metal sheets leaning against one wall, pulls one out and turns it so we can see.

‘Harriet. Nice,’ Saffy tells him.

‘We didn’t give it to her. It’s the name she came with.’

‘Where do you even go to buy something like this?’ Rebecca asks. ‘It’s not exactly the sort of thing you’d pick up on eBay, is it.’

‘No, but there are online marketplaces for pretty much everything, including traction engines.’

‘Is there a traction engine equivalent of HIBT?’ I ask. ‘I can imagine this being the kind of thing that would attract hordes of Ernests.’

‘There is,’ he says, laughing. ‘But it’s more of a club than anything else.’

‘So they’re advisory Ernests rather than mandatory Ernests,’ I continue.

‘Something like that.’ There’s a twinkle of mischief in his eyes as we banter and he’s grinning. I’m going to need a cold bath at this rate. How does this man manage to have such a mesmeric effect on me?

‘George,’ Rebecca begins tentatively, popping the bubble George and I seem to have found ourselves in. ‘Can I ask you something about the mill, quickly?’

‘I’m afraid not,’ he tells her. His voice is serious, but the twinkle is still there as he glances back at me. He’s definitely flirting.

‘Oh. Why not?’ Rebecca sounds mildly affronted.

‘It’s the weekend. I don’t know anything about mills at weekends.’

‘That’s ridiculous,’ she scoffs. ‘You know about your traction engine during the week. I’ve heard you talking about it.’

‘I always know about traction engines because they’re my passion. But mills are work, so I only know about them during office hours.’

‘OK, how about I tell you something about the mill instead,’ she says after considering his reply for a moment, and I have to admit I’m impressed with her ability to think on her feet. ‘I don’t expect it to make sense now, but it might on Monday morning when you know about mills again.’

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