Chapter : 5 Driving with Duckies
Getting a complimentery copy of her new novel, "Driving with Duckies", caused Elizabeth to chuckle thinking about her pet name for Margaret.
Mrs Flanagan had been hired as the family's new housekeeper shortly after the previous one had been fired for not keeping a close eye on toddler Elizabeth. There would be no such problem with Mrs Flanagan because she brought her own toddler, Margaret, with her. Mrs Flanagan had been in sudden need of supporting herself and her daughter after her husband had been killed in the fighting overseas. When Elizabeth saw her for the first time Margaret was just growing back her shaved off hair after getting some gum stuck in it. Elizabeth had just learned one of her first words two days earlier when they had seen some baby ducks. When she saw Margaret's fuzzy yellow head she yelled out "Duckies". Everyone laughed and made such a big deal about it that she repeated it as much as possible. Pretty soon Margaret was know in the family by her new nickname. This lasted until Margaret went to school when she insisted that they call her by her "real" name. Elizabeth still called her Duckies sometimes but only when they were alone together.
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From the beginning the girls became inseparable and they were raised the same. The Spencer's made sure that Margaret had the same schooling and lessons as their daughter Elizabeth. And when Mrs Flanagan had Margaret do chores Elizabeth helped. So the girls had a broad education that included ballet lessons and soccer and dusting dining room table and chair legs and learning to cook by helping in the kitchen.
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They told each other everything.
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But all that started to change after Tommy Hayward was hired.
That late night call from Margaret got Elizabeth feeling nostalgic. She went digging through her shoe box of old photos looking for the one of the household taken at the end of summer right before senior year when Tommy Hayward had been hired.
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Left to right: Mrs Flanagan, Margaret, Cedric and Cynthia Spencer, Elizabeth, Tommy Hayward and Becker.
The Spencers lived in an average sized house that had 2 double car garages attached and a separate garage with living quarters above for Becker, their main chauffeur, and Tommy Hayward who was hired as a handyman and second chauffeur.
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Although Mr Spencer was a car enthusiast he preferred not to have to deal with the down town traffic and parking so had Becker drive him to and from his banking investment office and to any meetings during the day. Becker also drove Mrs Spencer on her frequent shopping trips, she liked to have him carry her parcels, but she often drove herself on her other trips out and about town. Becker also sometimes ran errands and picked up groceries for Mrs Flanagan when she had to stay home with the girls.
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Mr Spencer became governor about the same time he got a fixer upper car that need extensive work done on it. The girls seemed to have more soccer practices and games and more dance lessons they need to be taken to and from. Also someone would need to teach them to drive. So Tommy Hayward was hired to relieve much of these responsibilities from Becker.
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The girls particularly noticed such a good looking and charming man around the place who wasn't but a couple of years older than they were.
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And he noticed them.
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Tommy seemed taken with Margaret at first until he met them and found out Elizabeth was the daughter of the house.
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Both girls developed a secret crush on him and suddenly had to be taken on various errands.
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Of course each girl arranged for Tommy to teach them to drive. The girls referred to him that way as Tommy even though the rest of the household called him Hayward.
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Although Tommy did spend time teaching them to drive, quite a bit of time was also spent parking. Either Margaret picked up driving very quickly or Tommy didn't spend as much time parking with her because she learned to drive and got her license and Elizabeth did not.
Now that Margaret could drive she took them both to school and all their lessons. The girls also went on excursions into the surrounding countryside which Elizabeth liked to refer to as "driving with Duckies". It was the last of their innocent and carefree times together before they each discovered how romantically involved Tommy was with the other.
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Near the Christmas break Elizabeth's parents found out what was going on. They fired Tommy on the spot. Since Elizabeth had enough credits to graduate come June they got permission to take her out of the private school the girls attended and to send her off to finishing school. A rift developed between the girls that only widened with separation. During the spring holiday Elizabeth went to a house party at a new friend's house where she met an older man who was just finishing up his surgical residency, William Rothman. When Elizabeth came home for her graduation William came with her.
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Margaret and Elizabeth mended their rift but they were never quite as close as they had been.
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William got her parents reluctant approval (he was so much older than their daughter but he could have been worse). William proposed and he and Elizabeth seemed very happy with each other.
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First came the girls' graduation.
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Then in a couple of months the wedding. A surprise visitor showed up for it, Tommy. Mr Spencer didn't want to cause a scene so allowed him to stay if he behaved.
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It was a beautiful ceremony held in the back yard.
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Elizabeth was no longer fooled by Tommy's charming flirting but she could see that Margaret was still under his spell.
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William and Elizabeth moved to Laguna Coast so he could start his new position at the hospital there. Their wonderful baby boy, Wolfgang, was born after a year. Margaret went away to college with financial help from the Spencers. Tommy Hayward joined the military and was stationed overseas. After a couple of years Elizabeth learned that Margaret and Tommy were married and expecting a baby soon. When Kathleen was born Elizabeth went to her christening to stand in as godmother. Although she and Margaret wrote each other that was the last time they visited. Margaret could not travel because she had no one to take care of the children while she was away and Elizabeth did not feel comfortable around Tommy's continual flirting. In spite of all of that Elizabeth and Margaret retained their strong friendship, if from a distance.
