Drive into danger

a truck without a driver

mark miles and his andy are having a bad morning.
Where's gary? says mark. he isn't usually late. the truck is ready. everybody's waiting.
then gary slater comes to the office. he is ill. I ve got a bad arm, mr miles, says gary. I'm very sorry, but I can't drive today
just then kim parker arrives. she is a student. her father is one pf mark's drivers. she is workingis mark's office in her holiday.good morning. mr miles, says kim. What can I do first?
Can yoy drive a truck? says mark with a little laugh.
I ve got tables in favercham and wine i lyon- and no driver!
Yes, I can drive a truck, says kim. L ve got a licence.
Wonderful! says mark. he is looking happier. have you got a passport?
of course. it's at home. suddenly mark is mush happier.
ok. canyou take a truck to france? here is some french money and these are all the papers- read them carefully.
can i go too. dad?. i can't drive a truck, but i can drive a car and read a map- and i can speack french. perhaps i can help kim.
and you want to go to france. l know ok. you two.
Run home and get your passport, your overnight bags and some sandwiches. there are sleeping bags in the truck,and a mobile phone too. when you come back. go and look at the map with gary. he drives to france every week. he can tell you about it.
get the tables from the slop at faversham. says gary.
then take the ferry from dover to calais. at calais, look for signs to the A26 motorway. it's a good, fast road.
listen- this is very important. all truck drivers must stop for 45 minutes in every 4 hours.ok there are truck stops on every french road. at about one o clock, you need to stop for 15 minutes at his truck stop here. he puts an X on the map.
andy and kim get into the truck and drive away- and gary makes an important phone call.
hullo. gary here. i can't drive today, but tell paul it's ok- the truck stop near reims at one, and dijon at four. look for a girl with brown hair and a boy ina yellow shirt.
the tables are ready. my men can put them in the truck. we can sit in my office and wait. would you like aome coffe? the man says.
they leave the truck and go into the office
kim and andy drive to dover and take the ferry to calais they drive off the ferry and out of calais they find the motorway and a big stop sing .
we need a ticket says andy. he pust his hand out of thewindow to take the ticket but he is too far away and the ticket goes under the truck andy jumps doown and goes to ge it.
ok i ve got it now andy call to kim. but the truck is losing oil. not much but we must do something about it soon.
ok saya kim i can do that at the truck stop.come on let's go.
they arrive at the truck stop near reims at about one o´clock. kim gets under the truck.
´you reright she tells andy. the truck is losing oil. but it isn´t very bad. then suddenly she calls to andy . ´come and have a look at this.
there is a box under the truck. ís it sandwich box. asks andy . perhaps gary puts his sandwiches in it. únder a hot dirty oily truck says kim. nobody does that oh well i need some coffee. she goes to the cafe.
they get into the truck again and drive along themotorway. óur next stop is near dijon said andy. dijon said andy. dijon is in burgundy. they make wonderful wine there.
i don´t want any wine laughs kim but i do want some coffe.
they arrive at the truck stop just before four and sit down in the cafe. suddenly andy says ´someone´s looking under the truck.
through the window of the cafe they see a fat man in a green shirt. he takes something outfrom under the truck and goes to a red car.
í don´t like this says kim quietly. ´let go a few minutes later kim looks in her mirror.
andy she says quietly there´s a red car behind us.and the man in the green shirt is driving. why is he following us. he´s got his parcel.
´no he hasn´t says andy with a laugh. ´he´s got our sandwiches. and i´ve got his parcel.
here it is. he opens it carefully....