Random reminder

Press, 8 December 1978, Page 18

Random reminder

AS THROUGH A WINDSCREEN DIMLY

i the M.D. called him by name, asking I him to sit next to him at the top I table. And even further shattered by I the important announcement saying ! that the special party had been : arranged in honour of Mr Joseph j Smith: he had. it was revealed, driven! i the company’s vehicles over half-1 j a-million miles without a single | ' accident. The M.D went on and on, a little! unnecessarily, thought Joe. but it did I give him a little time to recover I something of his breath and his I composure. Suddenly, all the stuffing! II was knocked out of Joe as he heard | I the M.D. calling upon Mr Joseph | >iSmith to tell the assembly how he had! >achieved such a magnificent record.! ; All were agog; that is, al! except Joe! > who had lost not only the ability to | . speak, but the ability even to stand I 1 up. li With friendly encouragement from! j those at the top table, and a little j ■ I gentle physical assistance, Joe was on I his feet, but with sadly sagging jaw.: I After much cajoling from the M.D.,! J and many assertions quietly to Joe! ; that he must have some very valuable I advice to give his fellow drivers, Joe’s ] jaw came slowly to life. “Well” he said. “I, er, suppose er, I; ■ always think the other fellow might be ias stupid as I am.”

Why did they ask ME to theiri special party, he asked himself. He! was just one of their many drivers, he | told himself, always a little dim and: now growing a little old as well.] Strange, he felt, that the managing' director has signed his invitation, and; only his, adding in his own j handwriting a special request that he. ■ Joe. would be able to be present\ because, he said, he had an important announcement to make which would interest Joe particularly: RSVP. All very peculiar. Joe told his mates; his mates as usual ribbing Joe with gloomy conjectures and I prognostications. However, now he was here at the! party. Joe felt rather more at easel again, especially with his mates! pulling his leg and taking the Micky' as they always did: his slow un-ruffled replies to their quips, his stolid 1 preference for only soft drinks, and j his puzzled bewilderment all helped. , Eventually, silence reigned as the i great M.D. stepped majestically on to the platform, presumably to make the I important announcement. Joe,] considerably more relaxed settled: himself comfortably, having persuaded I himself that' the important announcement couldn’t really be of much interest to him. His ease was rudely shattered when i