RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33932, 27 August 1975, Page 20

RANDOM REMINDER

THE WHITE CHARGER

The day for the wedding grew closer and the prospective bride was, of course, in a state of suppressed excitements But she was always in control. She was a lovely young woman who had early in life learned the knack of looking after herself. Her father had died in tragic circumstances before she could remember him but, as the youngest mejmber of the family, she had many loving hands to help her while she was establishing her own resourcefulness. The young bride’s sense of organisation had ensured that, so far as she could influence events, all the preliminaries for the wedding had gone like clockwork. In particular she had provided her very nice mother and her very nice

husband-to-be with, respectively, a son-in-law and mother-in-law of mutual agreeableness. On the afternoon of the wedding the family home gradually emptied as one member or other left by various transport for the church. Among the chaos of preparation there finally stood just the bride and her mother, beautifully and suitably dressed. Time was getting on. Then the mother’s brother arrived in a taxi and that pair left for the church, the bride feeling rather foolish as she held her veil in one hand to wave them good-bye. That left the bride quite alone in the large house, quiet except for the ticking of clocks. Her uncle was obviously late; as the person to “give her away” he and his taxi

were becoming dangerously overdue. The young bride began to do some mental arithmetic. She knew the distance to the church, the time it would take a car to cover that distance and, above ail; the reasonable starting time for the ceremony. At last she made her decision — uncle or not she was going to the church, and she was going at once even if she could no longer hope to get herself there on time. Out to the garage she fled and she crowded herself and her froth of a gown behind the wheel of her mother’s tiny car. She backed out and away she went down the road towards the church, a portion of her veil fluttering out of the window. She always had dash, that girl, and resource.