CH 19

19 – Broken Tram

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As Scarlett descended the stairs, Andrei spoke without sparing her a single glance. Just as she knew he would.

“Go to jail instead of dealing with fines. I need my salary.”

“No matter how you phrase it,” Scarlett felt pitiful, but she was confident that Andrei would never breathe a word about this.

As usual, carrying her tool bag, she took each of the children’s hands and entered the garage where the trams were kept.

When she appeared, the pained expressions of the tram drivers brightened.

“Dad! I brought Scarlett!”

As the siblings ran away, the children’s father, Mr Powell, became angry.

“I told you not to call a noble by their first name! Call her Madam!”

Even if Scarlett asked them to be comfortable with her, Mr Powell said he could never do that. However, the children had a different opinion.

“Hey, Scarlett isn’t mad!”

“Right!”

The siblings chatted lively and ran around the tram.

“I’m so sorry. I’ve been indebted to you every time, Miss Scarlett,” Mr Powell said with an apologetic expression.

“This is really the last time.”

“Yes! I promise!”

“Then everyone except Susan, please turn around. “

With the exception of the little girl, everyone turned at Scarlett’s words. 

She took off the casual dress she was wearing and crawled under the tram in her work jumpsuit.

“Mr Powell, spanner.”

“Oh, yes!”

Mr Powell quickly opened the toolbox. Charlie promptly grabbed the spanner, crawled under the tram, and handed it over.

“Scarlett, what else would you like me to bring?” Charlie crawled on his stomach and asked.

“Bring each type of pipe wrenches and nuts.”

“Alright!”

Charlie responded and quickly crawled out, looking at Mr Powell.

“Dad, where is the pipe wrench? Where are the different types of nuts?”

“It’s over here.”

Charlie didn’t have the strength to lift both, so he grabbed the nuts first, brought them over, and returned with the pipe wrenches.

Scarlett worked there for a while and finally came out after checking the steam engine under the tram, the wires, and the steering wheel.

“Try to start it.”

“Yes, it’s working, Madam!”

One of the drivers hastily climbed into the driver’s seat.

Meanwhile, the other drivers brought the coal and started the steam engine. They were nervous and sweating profusely despite it being winter, but they shouted excitedly when the engine started safely.

“It’s working, Madam!” 

“Oh my, I thought it was really broken this time!”

All the drivers cheered at that. If one tram broke down, two tram drivers lost their jobs. Seeing the people thumping their chests and feeling relieved, Scarlett couldn’t help but laugh.

Susan sprinted over and tugged at the sleeves of her clothes. 

“I’ll wipe your face,” Susan offered.

“Thank you for your kindness. I’ll go and wash up instead. You’ll be scolded if your clothes are dirty.”

“No, I won’t get in trouble for wiping Scarlett’s face,” Susan spoke zealously. Scarlett shook her head and wiped the soot from her face with her sleeve. Suddenly, people burst into laughter.

There’s more!” Susan exclaimed while pointing her finger at Scarlett’s face

“Really?”

Scarlett glanced at a mirror in embarrassment. A driver who was watching the scene from outside rushed in.

“They’re coming!”

“What, what? Hide Lady Scarlett! Quickly!”

As soon as he shouted, the drivers grabbed the jackets that had been thrown and hung them all on a hanger. They hid Scarlett’s dress in an empty coal sack. She put it in her luggage box and tucked it behind the hanger.

Almost immediately after hiding Scarlett, the police entered. 

“Why did you come here? Everyone is busy,” Mr Powell asked with a grim face.

“I got a report that the tram had stopped working. I came by to check if it was broken,” the police spoke as if interrogating. 

“It ran out of fuel and stopped. It’s fine after refuelling, but someone reported without knowing?” Mr Powell shouted indignantly. He’d prepared just in case he got caught.

Scarlett, hidden behind the hangers, waited for the police to leave. She was tense. Her fingers felt numb from the lack of blood circulation.

Mr Powell grumbled as the police checked the tram.

“There are no technicians in the country that can fix the tram in the first place.”

“That’s true.”

As always, they pretended in moderation to know what they were doing. Most of the technicians who could fix the trams had died anyway, as Mr Powell said. Even if the police saw the machine, they had no way of knowing whether it was broken or lacked fuel. Still, a report had come in, and the police were pretending to check all the trams.

“Hey, what are you looking for there? You will only find stinky clothes.”

The urgent voice of a driver echoed loudly in the garage.