"I still think of 'Ace' as a male name," said a girl with bright red lipstick and brown hair in a vintage pin-curl style.
"Well in this case it isn't!" her companion, a short girl with darker brown hair in a ponytail, said.
"I know, I know," the girl with the 1950s' vibes replied. "I get that your Ace is very definitely a 'she'; it's just the name I guess."
"It's a unisex name - much like how Alex can refer to either Alexander or Alexandria," the shorter girl explained. "Whoops, sorry!" she exclaimed as the wheelchair she was pushing went over a pothole.
"It's fine!" her companion, who was the one sitting in it, answered, recovering from the sudden jolt. "Honestly, it's kind of you to push, and you're much better at it than Rosehip or Roselle; they just want to go at a hundred miles an hour, regardless of my comfort or safety! Gloriana knows how many times they've accidentally rammed my leg into a wall or doorframe!"
"You St. Gloriana girls and your tea names!" the girl pushing chuckled, rolling her eyes slightly. "It's still weird to think you were introduced to me as 'English Breakfast'. Honestly, I didn't even know that was a type of tea! I had eggs and bacon in mind!"
"It is a bit odd," the girl in the wheelchair agreed. "Some of the girls love it, but I am happy to use 'Sarah' whenever possible with friends," she concluded.
"Yeah, I can see why. People also like shortening others' names too. It might be a pet peeve to some on the receiving end, but of course, you know I like being called 'Lou'," the darker brunette said. "Anyway, I don't mind pushing you. Thanks for the help with carrying all that stuff!"
"Don't mention it," Sarah said. She was, as alluded to, quite laden with items. In her lap was a heavy can of olive drab paint, a bag with paintbrushes, rollers and two cans of red oxide primer, another bag with a pair of coveralls, plus her school bag and a pair of crutches, which were secured to the back of the chair.
"Are you sure you'll be alright though, with your leg and all?"
"Yes, yes," Sarah said, brushing off her friend's concerns. Sarah wasn't the sort of girl to let a little thing like her leg being in a plaster cast get in the way of helping a friend.
They were heading towards St. Gloriana's tank sheds, which were currently playing host to some extra metal monsters, in the form of a whole host of Shermans from Saunders. The Saunders team had come over to the Ark Royal that day for a long-planned practice match. Lou was one of the Saunders tank commanders and, unusually, had her own personal tank. Whereas almost all the tanks used by Saunders were possessions of the school, Lou's tank - called Ace - was a family heirloom and had been in the Tuckerman family since WW2. Although in the strictest legal sense Ace was now owned by the Saunders University Corporation, there was no doubt that she was Lou's tank in every other way.
It was to Ace that the pair were walking (and rolling), as the tank in question was in need of a bit of care. The match, although friendly, had been close fought, and at one point Lou in Ace had been defending a gully against three Matildas from the St. Gloriana team. In the exchanging shots of the firefight that had ensued, Ace had been struck by two two-pounder shells, one of which had scored a long gash through Ace's paint along her right side; the other had ricocheted off her turret leaving another similar gleaming metal scrape. Neither hit, however, had been enough to trigger the onboard computer that would have disabled Ace and caused her white flag to pop. Ace had not been immobilised during the match and had fought on to the end, although it had not been enough to prevent the St. Gloriana team from taking out Saunder's flag tank and winning the match. There were, however, no hard feelings from the losing team and everyone was looking forward to spending some down time with their friends from the opposing team.
Sarah, for obvious reasons, had to sit the match out, but had been an enthusiastic supporter from the stands. Like Lou, she had the unusual position of being a personal tank owner too. Her A30 Challenger, called Goldeneye as she was a big James Bond fan, had been a gift from her brother, who was also called James. Goldeneye had not taken part in the match either and was currently resting in the same tank shed as Ace.
It was, of course, the scratches in Ace's paintwork that had caused the pair to make the journey over to the hangars. Lou didn't feel that she could leave her family treasure in such a state, and Sarah could fully understand this, hence her offer of help. While an evening of painting a tank might not seem to hold much attraction to a pair of schoolgirls, for these two tank nuts it was quite the opposite and something they were looking forward to doing. A quick trip to a hardware store and then to one of the many shops on Ark Royal that sold tank-related products had furnished them with all they needed.
They entered the hangar via the huge, concertina front doors and threaded their way through the parked tanks, passing little Izumi, the Saunders M5 light tank, as they did so. They also skirted around Indefatigable; the grey Crusader crewed by the famous, or infamous, depending on your point of view, Rosebush, as that particular quartet of St. Gloriana girls were known. Further back was Paladin, one of the St. Gloriana Matildas and one of the three that had been sparring partners with Ace earlier that afternoon. To the two girls, it seemed as if they could almost feel the energy radiating from the infantry tank, as if it was still buzzing from the adrenalin of the match.
Finally they arrived where Ace was parked up, near the back of the hangar and near a convenient workbench. Lou took the paint and bags from Sarah and deposited them on the bench and then got the coveralls out of the bag. She chucked one over to Sarah and then stepped into the one she had retained for herself. It was about four sizes too big and far too long in the arms and legs, but once she had rolled up the hems several times it was not a problem. Of course, she looked somewhat ridiculous, but this was not a fashion parade and practicality was of far greater importance to her than looks! Lou then assisted Sarah with getting into her overalls and then helped her to stand. Sarah also produced a scarf from her school bag and used this to tie her hair up.
"Heh, you look like Rosie the Welder!" Lou teased, referring to the wartime poster character that had inspired women to take up work in the shipbuilding yards in America.
While Lou used a long screwdriver to prise the top off the tin of paint, Sarah got her crutches secured under her arms and hobbled off a short distance to where Goldeneye was patiently waiting. She put her hand on the front glacis plate, feeling the cold, hard metal.
"Soon… soon," she said to the tank. "I've still got another few weeks in this…" She lifted her plastered leg. "...but then we can have our turn in matches again!"
She paused, perhaps as if waiting for a reply from the machine, but Goldeneye was unsurprisingly silent, with a possible air of aloofness emanating from her. Sarah shrugged, shuffled round, and slowly limped her way back to where Lou was stirring the paint with a convenient piece of dowel. Sarah opened her school bag again and rummaged in it, finally producing a small speaker and her music player.
"A little music to work to?" she suggested to Lou, setting the device up on the workbench. Without waiting for a reply, she hit play and a track by The Beatles filled the air.
"Do you wanna do the turret or the side?" Lou asked.
Sarah raised an eyebrow. "I don't think climbing is my strong point at the moment, so you go up there and I'll stay down here," she replied.
Accordingly, armed with one of the two cans of red oxide spray, the short girl scrambled her way up onto Ace until she was standing next to the turret. Sarah, meanwhile, with one crutch in one hand and the second can in her other hand, approached the flat flank of the Sherman. After agitating the can for several seconds, she began to spray the dull reddish-brown paint over the large scrape, and Lou did likewise on the turret.
Something deep in Ace's engine gave off a 'tick', as if the warm metal was still contracting as it cooled, even after all that time since the match.
"I know… I know," Lou said in a quiet, soothing voice. "I know it stinks, but there's nothing I can do about that!" It wasn't clear if this comment was addressed to Sarah or to Ace herself. Lou was soon finished with the turret while Sarah, having a much bigger scrape to cover, was still spraying as Lou slithered down the front of Ace to the ground.
Once she had finished, the two girls retreated away from the smelly stuff.
"It's quick drying," Lou said. "It should be dry in about ten minutes."
"Enough time for a cup of tea!" Sarah said, although there was, sadly for her, no kettle or beverage-making facilities on hand.
Lou just gave a giggle and a slight roll of her eyes. "You Gloriana girls…!"
Sarah sat herself back down in order to rest her leg and Lou perched on the edge of the workbench. In the absence of tea, the pair just chatted, joked and laughed while listening to Sarah's playlist - all music from the 1950s and 60s - as they waited for the primer to go off.
"Should be done now," Lou finally said, stirring up the green paint again and dolloping a load into a plastic tray. Sarah struggled up out of her wheelchair and armed herself with a roller and a large paintbrush which she tucked into the pocket of her coveralls.
Once again, the shorty had to scramble up onto her tank while Sarah tackled the side.
"I think the fresher paint will show if I just cover this scrape," Sarah called up to Lou. "I might as well do this whole side."
"Yeah, that's fine!" Lou replied, starting to apply the green over the dusky red primer on the turret.
They worked without talking for a few minutes, just listening to Sarah's tunes, until the slow 'Earth Angel' by The Penguins came on.
"Sorry, it's on 'random'," Sarah explained as she hopped back to the work bench. "I think we need something a bit more upbeat than that!" She skipped the track and soon 'Back in the USSR' by The Beatles was blaring out to accompany their work. Sarah, although restricted in her movement, bopped and swayed in time to the lively beat.
"I'm all done!" Lou announced from atop the tank, having completed the paint job on the turret.
"You can lend a hand down here then," Sarah, who was still only partially through painting the whole of Ace's right flank, replied. The darker brunette clambered down to join her companion on the ground. Sarah had started painting from Ace's rear, and had covered less than half of the side in fresh paint.
"You work from the front, and we'll, kind of… meet in the middle?" she suggested to Lou, who nodded in agreement.
The music changed to the romantic 'Put Your Head On My Shoulder' by Paul Anka, and Sarah turned and wobbled back to the player to skip it in favour of something more rigorous. She certainly got what she was aiming for, as the speaker exploded with 'Surfin' Bird' by The Trashmen. Sarah and Lou both gave a laugh and Sarah hopped back to Ace, swaying as best she could in time to the beat as she did so.
The lively song meant the painting progressed fast, with both girls dancing away. Anyone looking on would have seen a pair of girls facing a tank, with their rear ends shaking first left then right in unison as the player cycled through various tracks. With Lou starting at Ace's front and working left, and Sarah working right from the opposite end, the two dancing and working girls got closer and closer until they were finishing off the final bit side by side.
The music changed again, this time to 'Sway With Me' sung by Bobby Rydell.
"You can do a bit more of a Latin dance to this one," Sarah commented. "Like side to side… I can't at the moment, obviously," she blushed.
"Like this?" Lou suggested, doing some little shuffling steps and swishing her hips left and right.
"Like that!" Sarah replied. Still with one crutch under her arm, she mimicked Lou's hip movements while balancing on one leg.
They both turned to face each other, and in the close confines of where they had been working, their bodies were almost touching.
The rhythmic song continued to play and they both drifted forwards until they were pressed together; the wet blobs of olive drab paint on their coveralls making mirror images of themselves on the other person's clothing. Neither said a word, but even so, messages seemed to be flying back and forth between them as they drowned in the pools of each other's eyes. Without realising it, they had their arms around each other, and even the clatter of Sarah's crutch falling to the hard concrete floor didn't break their concentration. Sarah's head moved ever closer to Lou's upturned face until finally their lips met, gently at first, but then with more vigour as they escalated to a clumsy yet passionate teenage kiss, which seemed to go on for eternity.
...
"Ahh! I think that's her first kiss!" said Ace.
"I always said that olive drab paint was romantic," Paladin chimed in.
"Be quiet Pally!" Goldeneye said. "Ace - you set that up! You were messing with Breakfast's playlist, weren't you?"
"I might have been, Goldie, I might have been…" Ace replied innocently, with what would have to be described as a tank-shrug and, if tanks could smile, a wide tank-grin.