THE PRICE Part 1

The day was cold and windy, usual for the north of England. Wrapped in the traditional college scarf and warm coat Jean walked briskly down the lane leading from the university. It was usual for students to break their studies in such a way and Jean today was more than usually engrossed in thoughts of completing her latest assignment. The landscape was hilly, not barren, but windswept. The roads were narrow and the grass verge impossible to walk on. On turning a corner she moved towards the centre of the road to make sure there was nothing coming in her direction and it was at this point that she heard the screech of brakes.

"Get out of the road you idiot!"

She turned and for one moment was going to offer a swingeing reply when she recognised the occupant of the car. A member of staff, she had seen him around the campus
"Little upstart" she thought.
"You bloody fool", he continued, "you might have been killed"
"I'm sorry" she muttered reluctantly.
"Where the hell do you think you are going, on a day like this?"
"I was taking a break, she retorted. "Needed to get some air into my head."
"Get in" he replied and flung open the door of the car.
She did as she was bid, more from surprise than anything else and once inside he shot off in his brand new sports car and they raced down the road.
"I'm going into town to get some shopping for my wife. Shan't be long. The ride 'll do you good!"
He drove silently towards the town and parked in the car park.
"Be back soon"
She sat and mused quietly. What a strange character. Impetuous and direct. She watched the people come and go towards their cars, glad at any rate to be away from the hothouse environment of the university. She loved the life and the people but the intensity of living was at times too much to take. She needed to drift down to town and mooch round the large stores as it had a soothing effect on her, brought her back to reality and the banalities of living. Jean came from London and although she missed the life of the big city, the cosmopolitan nature of university somewhat compensated for the lack of population and excitement. True there were not many theatres but the university did have its own theatrical side and there was a local group to which she went regularly.
Her parents were the solid, hard-working kind, with little excitement in their lives but they were pleased that Jean had made it on to the wrung of academic success. But in some ways she was lonely. She missed the warmth of home life and although she had made a great number of acquaintances, she had few close friends. This man who had brought her to town was typical, she thought of many that she had encountered. She knew little of him other than that he worked in the Economics Department.
He returned at this point and eased his way into the low seat of the car.
"By the way", he said, my name is Dave Stevens. What's yours?"
"Jean Taylor", she retorted, "second year Politics".
"How 'd you find it?"
"OK. Lots of reading on the wretched short loan system,but otherwise all right."
"Did you get your shopping?"
"Yes, all in order, off we go".
He drive out too fast for comfort and joined the traffic trying to get out of town. Once the road was free he eased the car into top gear and they sped out towards the university.
Academics Jean had discovered were not ones for polite tea time conversation and he concentrated on driving and said nothing. As they entered the long drive in he turned to her and said "If you're doing politics you should go to the talk next week at the History Society. There's a good bloke up from LSE giving an expose on South Africa. If you decide to go I'll see you there and we'll have a drink afterwards."
He opened the car door as they parked, and gestured to her to get out. He did not wait for her to reply and merely removed himself from the vehicle and walked off in the opposite direction.