Oh yes, Jennifer Turnbull-Smyth was posh. Which is unsurprising as her parents were posh, at least her mother was, and they had seen to it that she went to a posh junior school. From which at her father’s expense she had attended Lady McTour’s very expensive senior girl’s, live-in only, educational establishment reserved for the upper classes.
However her real education began when to her father’s intense relief she won a scholarship to a city university. She was there to study of all things science and mathematics.
You may guess, and you would be right, that living in the city would be something of a shock to Jennifer Turnbull-Smyth bringing to her attention as it surely would aspects of life that her loving parents had shielded her from as best they could.
It is sad to relate that she had become an adult without developing even the slightest sense of humour. In the company of her peers the jokes and witty remarks simply went over her head. She learned to laugh when the others laughed and to look offended when they looked offended. It seemed to work, but it always left Jennifer Turnbull-Smyth somewhat bewildered.
But what made life even more puzzling for her was that she was drop dead gorgeous. Her figure was registered on the memory of every red blooded male in college. Long brown hair surrounded a perfectly sculptured face, which often bore an attractive expression of worried surprise.
In spite of her lack of worldly experience she was bright, and I mean bright. Her mind uncluttered with the usual mixture of relationship related issues was concentrated on the world of muons and quarks and the like. Her secret ambition was that one day she would work on the LHD, the Large Hadron Collider. But her main interest was space. By which I mean all that out there—planets, the cosmos, and the universe. Yes it can be said that Jennifer Turnbull-Smyth thought big, very, very big, as big as it gets.
Her father who had made his enormous pile of money trading in scrap found that when they met he could hardly understand what his beloved daughter was on about—but he was inordinately proud of her.
Did I say he was rich? It was an understatement he was loaded as we rough types say. It was he who would provide her with the ultimate satisfaction of her ambitions.
When working on some esoteric computer model Jennifer Turnbull-Smyth was happy and she would spend all her waking time doing just this if she could.
But she could not avoid the persistent attentions of the male students, and this aspect of life caused her much worry.
There were just two front runners for her lasting affection, although there were a score or more hopefuls.
These two had very different reasons for wanting to capture the affection of such a lovely and intelligent woman.
Take her most dedicated hanger-on Richard, Dick, Ballaird. Dick came from a rough background, he was the seventh of seven children born to a father who was unemployed and unemployable. An un-repentant alcoholic his father gave him very little of his time, in fact he was hardy ever sober and often got his son’s name wrong. So Dick had to fend for himself and learned the hard way that he would have to fight for every thing he wanted. And fight he did.
He had a natural intelligence backed by a prodigious memory which attributes won him a free place at the same college as Jennifer Turnbull-Smyth. Dick had a keen interest in the financial world its machinations and its opportunities. He already knew that he would have to use financial guile to make enough money to give himself all those acquisitions that the very wealthy enjoy. Fast cars, a big house, holidays abroad, endless leisure, and independence especially from his decadent family—he already had one brother in prison for theft, and a sister who took in men.
Reading the financial news, one name came up a few times and rang a bell in Dick’s mind was that of Turnbull-Smyth. He noted that he was always referred to as a technological millionaire. He made discrete enquiries and discovered that Jennifer was in fact the daughter of one of the richest men on the planet. To make her his wife then became his top priority. He did not care what she looked like or whether or not he liked her just as long as she remained her father’s favourite little girl. With her money he reckoned he could go places.
And to his surprise she was very presentable.
So he determined that she should marry him at all costs. It should be noted that he had no interest whatsoever in the sciences, nearly all of which he failed to understand.
He did not care about his appearance—it was he thought an irrelevance, he was however acceptable in a rough kind of way. You would not pick a fight with him if you had any sense. Recognising Jennifer’s keen interest in the wider universe he tried to learn something of the objects in space that so fascinated his desired objective, but he had not the faintest idea what he was talking about and was constantly getting it wrong. Seated next to Jennifer at a lecture on the speed of light. Turning to her he said, `This is nonsense how can it have speed—it’s there the instant I press the light switch.’
Overheard by nearby students, he was puzzled by their laughter as they thought he was joking.
He was also unhappy that Jennifer favoured him with a look of disgust.
Mars for him was a chocolate bar, and Pluto a Walt Disney character.
And that was suitor number one.
* * *
Number two was very different. In fact he fell in love with her without realising it, the very second that he saw her. When I say in love, I mean the desperate kind. He was unaware for some time as to what his feelings meant and it took him a while to realise that he would do anything for her—absolutely anything.
Not interested in her wealth, he was fascinated by her love of all things to do with the cosmos.
Peter Wall, keen on sport especially rugby, was at college to obtain a degree in space technology which of coarse gave him something in common with Jennifer. He was quite bright and with a vague ambition to visit the international space station.
These two were thrown together naturally by their common interest in all things scientific. They had not as yet wakened up to what they were coming to mean to each other.
A three day conference was to be held in the city some considerable distance away—its title was the intriguing one of “The Future of Space Travel”. All three of our friends applied to attend. Feelings were beginning to show themselves between the two men. Poor Jennifer, un-worldly, as she was had no idea how to handle the situation. In addition she liked both would-be suitors for very different reasons. Dick she found to be different from anyone else she had met, exciting, hard drinking, he made her feel that she was the centre of his whole life.
She was ill equipped to discover that it was not she that interested him but her money. And in this Dick was determined to succeed.
His first move was to take Peter aside and pushing his face right up against his opponent said through gritted teeth—
`Now look here just between us Jennifer is mine, so you just keep your distance if you want to continue in good health.’
Peter had never before experienced anything like this and was speechless.
Dick took this silence for acceptance, but Peter was just beginning to realise what he felt for the girl, and dashing Dick’s hands off his person said very quietly, `Don’t you think it might be up to Jennifer.’
`You’ve been warned,’ replied Dick and drew his finger across his neck before striding off.
Throughout the rest of the conference Dick missed most of the discussions during the day preferring his own company at the bar getting suitably drunk.
Peter on the other hand enjoyed Jennifer’s stimulating conversation when they attended every lecture, and fell deeper in love. A love to which Jennifer was beginning to respond. The trouble was that Jennifer’s lack of experience of the broader world prevented her from showing Peter how she felt. In fact this applied to Peter as well.
Dick on the other hand had no such handicap and was with Jennifer all the time when they returned to college. He saw to it the Peter did not get a look in.
But he mistook Jennifer’s natural politeness as a sign that she was falling for him. He could think of nothing else but all that lovely money her old man wielded. The palms of his hands itched with it.
In time all three graduated. Dick by means of a little subtle cheating and some not so subtle bribery.
Jennifer returned home and set about applying to several of the teams involved in space exploration by means of one or other of the giant telescopes. This was much against her father’s ambitions for her. `There’s no money in it.’, was his mantra.
Dick duly arrived at Jennifer’s home determined to obtain the support and blessing to marry the daughter of the richest man he knew. It was clear that the two men spoke the same language—dosh, moolar, cash, stock, profits, you name it. If it was about money it was on their agenda. Her father used his influence as `Sir’ Roderick Turnbull-Smyth self made millionaire, to obtain employment for Dick in a financial firm in which he had control.
None of this appealed to Jennifer who had come to disliked Dick and had no intention of marrying him. In fact whilst visiting one of the universities engaged in looking for black holes she re-met Peter. There interest held them together and on one long night as the computers were engaged in deep scanning a small portion of the sky Peter, after much shy hesitation, told Jennifer how he felt for her. And it came as something of a shock for him to learn that she felt the same way about him.
So for several days space took a second place to romance for both of them.
It was on Jennifer’s return home that it all started to go horribly wrong for her.
She told her parents about Peter.
The result was shocking.
`What are his prospects?’ Her father wanted to know. `What does he earn? Has he money of his own? If so how much?’
He put his legal team to find out, and was horrified at the result.
Never had her father been so angry.
`The man is in poverty street. He has no money and is paid a pittance. I warn you that if you continue with this foolishness you will not get a penny from me, either now or when I’m gone.’
Then before Jennifer could react, he put the knife in—
`I want you to marry Dick, with my backing he has good prospects, and your children will also have my support. I don’t want that pauper Peter as a son in law and I shall do my best to prevent you from engaging with him. I have spoken to our vicar and I have provisionally agreed a date six months from now for your wedding. It can’t be sooner you mother wants time for dresses and to organise a suitable reception, and all that. I think that you are a very lucky girl.’
Jennifer was horrified, and tried to see Peter—but her father was a powerful man and her way was blocked whatever she tried.
Then out of the blue came an invitation that Jennifer could not but accept. It was a chance in a lifetime and she was thrilled to be chosen.
She had been asked to join a small international team of potential space scientists on a trip to the International Space Station.
Nervously she told her father that she had accepted and she would need to postpone her wedding for a whole year.
To her surprise her father was so proud of her having been chosen that he readily accepted the new situation. He did of course use his influence to check on the list of others on the trip to ensure that Peter was not included—he was not on the list. Jennifer’s parents saw little of their daughter during the run up to the take off—she spent a considerable time in America training. So strict was the routine that parents and friends were discouraged from travelling until take off time. For Jennifer it was a two-fold advantage as in addition to the trip it postponed that wedding.
The work to take off demanded a full time regime, and Jennifer found the need to concentrate all her facilities one hundred per-cent plus. The days were hard and very long.
The dedication was so demanding that each of the team had another as a stand-in, and least one of the original four had to be replaced at the last minute.
Came the day of the launch.
Jennifer was constrained to concentrate everything on the task in hand. She said goodbye to her parents and left in the wagon to get suited up, like the others she had a place of her own in which to do this with the help of a ground crew team with whom she had become good friends. Fully prepared she shook hands with the crew and thanked them for all they had done for her, and she made her way down the ramp and into the special bus which took them one at a time to the shuttle.
Now her intensive training took over. Concentrating on the job she was third on board and took up her allotted position and tried to relax. It was not time to put their helmets on as the last passenger climbed aboard to take the position next to hers.
As she turned to speak to him she got the shock of her life—she was looking into the smiling eyes of Peter.
He was the last minute replacement crew.
She could not hide her pleasure and found it hard to concentrate on the job.
Jennifer had yet to experience Peter’s resourcefulness.
On board the space station there was enough to do to keep them fully occupied. The sheer thrill of being there in space able to look down on old earth gave Jennifer a renewed strength to defy her father.
But it was on the final day that something absolutely unique happened. A double space first.
Peter proposed to her and she accepted.
And they were married via the on board visual communications, then and there on the International Space Station by an appropriate man of the church at the base.
The crew were delighted to act as witnesses and on their return they found that they were now international celebrities.
Jennifer’s father had no choice but to congratulate Peter and in front of the whole world’s television and to recognise him as his son in law.
Much later Jennifer found that Peter had arranged the whole thing when he had been chosen as the replacement crew, and had found out that Jennifer was one of the other crew members.
It is not recorded what her father really thought, but they did not really care.
JML
19/8/2011