Why not? - English

13-20 Pontypandy Pickle Paddle

I had barely arrived at the station that morning when Ben called to ask me, completely panicked, to take a look at Titan too, as the inspector had already unexpectedly announced himself for today and so make the planned inspection 2 days earlier.

These inspectors always thought we had nothing else to do. But somehow in Pontypandy it was never possible to clarify anything private in a timely manner, especially not when it involved Penny and me.

Instead, Ben had been very enthusiastic about everything that Jodie had told him about marine life that he hadn't known yet, while I checked everything and finally tightened all the screws on the dashboard. In addition to the fact that Penny was apparently finally appeased about the rumor, Ben's crush had boosted my mood considerably.

When Penny revealed to us that she was now an inspector because she had successfully passed the exam a few days ago, I also knew what an idiot I really was. She took such almost sarcastic joy in rubbing her new qualifications in our faces by scaring us with the lifebuoys and finally scaring us with the horn of Titan that I couldn't resist being infected by her teasing mood.

Unfortunately, the attempt to scare Penny with the hand bugle had failed, but in the end we got her when she paddled out in the coracle and Ben and I completely drenched her with a U-turn from Neptune and Titan. She took it with humor and by then I knew that we would get our private problem sort out too and everything would go back to the way it was before.

While Penny had gone back to the station to write her first inspection report for Titan and send it to Newtown, Ben and I had returned Neptune and Titan to their positions and unloaded the coracles.

When I finally arrived back at the station as well, I saw Ellie and Arnold disappearing into the door to the staircase, while Penny seemed to be busy working on the closets in the corner. Elvis was nowhere to be seen and I was pleased to see that we were alone in the hall. I did really feel like having a cup of tea, but I was itching to finally clarify things between us and I took advantage of this opportunity when Penny closed the closet door again and obviously wanted to go back upstairs. I crept between the vehicles, grabbed her arm, and pulled her behind Hydrus.

"Sam, what..." she gasped in shock as I stopped again, well hidden behind Hydrus and not visible from the back door, and turned to her.

"I can't wait any longer. I want to talk to you," I confessed to her what was on my mind and took her hands in mine. "I was so stupid, Pen. Please excuse me!" I then confessed to her quietly.

"So was I, Sam," she replied simply, lacing her fingers with mine while giving me a wonderfully embarrassed smile."I'm sorry too."

"I should have known by the time you mentioned Steele that your visits to Newtown had something to do with work, although it never occurred to me that you wanted to add inspector to your long list of qualifications."

"I needed a distraction after our conversation in the training tower and it made sense to me. We're all not getting any younger and this means I can maintain an important position even in old age," she explained to me with a smile, but it made me suspicious.

"Why are you thinking so far ahead? You're still in the prime of your life."

"Maybe now, but what about in 20 or 30 years? Or if I ever get sick or have an accident at work that means I'm no longer fully operational? I became a firefighter because I love this Job. I don't want to be phased out at some point and have to look for an simple office job," she told me, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to think about such a thing. I hadn't done it yet. But I knew how perfect Penny always was in everything. It didn't surprise me.

"You could still go into the administration or become a chief fire officer or station officer," I said with a smile.

"I can't imagine leaving Pontypandy at the moment, so no administration in Newtown. Chief fire officer? You have a lot of trust in me and in order to become station officer I would also have to move to another station. So no. I'll rather stay with a few qualifications in quieter areas of fire service work," she replied with a smile and I was taken aback. She didn't have to give up this town or her work here for each of these positions.