E’volvo’lution Chapter 7

There were four applications in the ones that Berget had given me so I looked through them while having a hot drink. The extra supplies, a kettle and a small fridge had been put into the office just after I arrived, and I was getting quite comfortable.

I would have to ask about a computer and then thought that, with the resources at my disposal, I didn’t need one yet.

All of the latest applications were in our age range and had some driving experience so I went about ringing them up, one by one. All were surprised that I had got back to them so quickly; all were happy to talk to me, and all answered yes to both questions.

I told each one to expect something in the post. With eight in the final mix I had enough to organise a day of interviews. I wrote out a letter telling them where to come and when to come and took the pile to our typing office.

While there I saw a pile of the magazines so grabbed a few for myself; I hadn’t had a good chance to look at it yet but knew that collectables should be acquired new and stored correctly so put these into a folder to take home.

The office girls told me that they would have the letters ready for me to sign after lunch and I could tell that they were getting very interested in what was going on. Back in my office I rang the number that Q had given me and spoke to a very nice officer from the Transport Division.

He told me that they had found eight drivers who fitted the details he had been given and that he would like me to set a day to come to the base and interview them. I said that I would see them next week. It would be the day before my interviews here. He would send the details about getting on the base by email to my office.

I had hardly put the details in the new diary that Berget had supplied, and made another drink, when my phone rang. As it was the first time since I had moved in it startled me.

When I answered, Berget said, “There is a call for you on line six, Miss Berg.” I pressed the button for line six and said, “Lundin Transport, Miss Berg here, can I help you?”

There was a laugh from the other end, “Q here Miss Berg. I’ve called about your visit to the base next week. I’ll be there to open up the interview session in proper army fashion. I want you to attend in full army kit. These girls are army so will appreciate the proper way we do things. It will be a big shift for them if everything works out.”

“Later in the year I’ll want you, and all the civilian girls you select there, to attend a one week course at a place I‘ll let you know about. One of the things that came up in discussion is that the top brass wants you all to have a rank in the army so that you can stay on bases and fit in. There’s nothing that upsets bases so much as having pretty civilians wandering about.”

“By the way,” he continued, “It was a bit cheeky going through the Oblast on the way home. You could have been searched and held for attempted spying if they’d found your kit. I didn’t want to say anything in front of Felix but don’t do it again, young lady!”

After a bit more chat I finished the call and sat back. I picked up my diary and added ‘kit’ to the entry for that day. I then decided that I needed a walk and went to Berget and picked up a radio, telling her that I was going to explore.

I went out to the yard and had a good look at what we had around the place. I knew that if I was going to make it all work I would have to know what was available and what we may need to buy.

In the yard I saw single articulated trailers, some with turntable rear wheels so they could turn into doubles and some with towing hitches so they could have a second ‘proper’ trailer behind them. There were a few that were just the framework type for container carrying. The yard foreman saw me and came over for a chat. He was, of course, interested in what was going on. I was able to calm him without divulging anything.

I then, for the first time, ventured into the realm of the brothers. Bjorn was welcoming and showed me around his workshop where he had an electric with front end damage after another truck had backed into it while it was at the airport waiting to unload.

The centrefold was pinned to the wall and he got me to sign it.

Greger welcomed me with open arms, and I mean that literally. He showed me some better drawings of the ‘Maidens’ concept and said that it would allow him to have a truck that the masses would like for the first time. He, too, had the centrefold on his wall. This was crazy.

We sat in his little office and he got serious. “Antonia. No, I’m now talking to Anton. I want you to know that I was very attracted to you at first but realised that I’m not gay. I have gay friends, true, but the thought of sex with another man isn’t one I want to embrace. I will now say that as Antonia, I love you to bits as you’re a very attractive woman and a strong one as well. I’m glad to see you get together with Berget. I guess that she knows your secret as she would never go with a girl.”

I admitted that I had already guessed his thoughts and that I had been very attracted to him at first. We agreed to be good friends.

“My father is absolutely certain that you’ll be the catalyst for this company’s success for the next few years. He has you pencilled in as an executive in the new premises. This will mean less driving and no time in the workshop except to supervise. You have the skills to be good doing that and I have no problems with it. I’m very happy doing what I do as I love painting.”

My radio crackled and Berget said “Antonia, our cars will be ready this afternoon.” I thanked her and said I was coming back for lunch. Greger and I walked back into the main building.

We were joined at our table by Anders who told us that he, Greger, Bjorn and I were invited to the ministry tomorrow to be shown the contract and to do the signing. He said that I was to be in my army kit as I would be signing on behalf of the military.

“I guess no-one else wants their name on it in case it goes bad,” he joked.

That afternoon I went to the typing office where I signed the letters over my new post of ‘Antonia Berg, Project Manager’. Berget then drove us to the Volvo yard where we were handed the keys to our new vehicles and shown all of the things we needed to know.

They both had up-to-date GPS systems, “The same as the trucks,” and CB radios to truck standards as well;, neither had been specified. Well, they were company cars so I guess that the company called the shots. It made the dashboard look like a set from ‘Star Wars’.

Before we were allowed to leave I had to sign the centrefold in their service department and pose with the guys for a picture.

On the way back to the office I turned on the CB and listened to the chatter, having a laugh when I heard a driver comment on the “Blonde babe in the blue Volvo’.

I picked up the mic, “I heard that, buster, thanks for the babe bit.”

Then another driver said, “That’ll teach you to be sexist, Sven, not all blondes have a CB. I bet that’s Antonia”

“Spot on, drive happy.”

“Sure will, I’ve a centrefold to look at.”

When we got back to the yard and parked, Berget got out with a smile on her face, “I had the CB on and heard that conversation; it’s a big world out there, isn’t it?”

We went back into the office and finished up with our jobs. I organised for Ludvig to give Berget a full run-down on CB and GPS use tomorrow while I was in the city.

“We’re that close to having a new life, Antonia,” he mused, “We need everyone at the pointy end to have everything at their fingertips. Being able to call either of you on CB will be a step forward.”

I drove home and suddenly thought that I had been multi-lingual since the language school. Felix had spoken to me in German, which I had studied in school, the CB chatter and other conversations I had had were in Estonian while a lot of the talk in the yard was in Swedish, seeing that this was one of their policies when hiring.

That evening I sat down and had a good look at the magazine. It was a revelation as I was featured on several pages.

There I was, on the front cover, with ‘Answer’ from the show on the Sunday, as well as there being other pictures of the crowds around the truck. There was a picture of the two of us on stage getting the trophy and I thought that I looked good enough to eat. They had added a picture of us at Kroonprint with the comment that even the ‘Truck of the Show” has to earn a living.

The article about the company gave a lot of history about Anders starting it with one truck. The overhead of the whole staff by the trucks was set vertical so you had to turn the magazine to look at it. The centrefold was something else again and one of the best I’ve ever seen.

I’m not saying that because I was in every shot. No, it was brilliant in its own right. The actual centrefold picture was me, in a short red dress, and the truck. I had wondered about it when it was taken as I had thought that it would be a bit plain. The final result had been heavily worked on and was stunning.

They had obviously taken a time-lapse picture of the truck with the running light show flashing while I was off changing. My dress had been covered in sparkly stones and my stockings had been shiny as well. The screen at the back, as well as the floor, was a bewildering array of stars and planets and the ‘simple’ shot had been taken through one of those lenses that make everything shiny look like stars.

The halo of gold around the head of the painting had been enhanced and there was another, photo shopped, around my head as I emulated the pose in the picture. The picture was titled “Antonia comes to earth with her Answer.”

The other side of the centrefold was a group of pictures that had been taken with me in the other costumes. I had wondered why there were so many as the big one would do.

They had got me to stand on a mark that they measured out on the tray as soon as I had arrived, in my driving gear and hi-vis. I was told to look stern and macho with my balled hand on my hips.

Then, when I had been given a pair of bright red skinny jeans and a hi-vis crop-top, I had done a couple of poses with the truck and more in the driving seat before standing on another spot with my hands still on my hips but flattened out and more forward.

The next outfit was a long red skirt and a silvery blouse. I had sat on the cab bed and in front of the truck before I went up on the truck bed to another spot and stood leaning towards the front of the truck with my arms half bent.

The next had been a red leather skirt and black bra under a red leather biker jacket. I had stood with my hands on my hips with a big smile in front of the truck. There had been another set of pictures taken with me in the driving seat again, followed by another shot on the truck bed with my arms more stretching forward and my head looking as if I was peering at something.

After the main centrefold shot I just had to get back up on the truck bed with the final dress on. It was a very short red one, similar to the one I had worn at the show. I had one hand on the back of the cab with the other as if I was making an offering, all the time leaning forward.

One side of the reverse had three pictures, the one with me sitting with the long skirt on the cab bed, one with me in the red leather jacket and black bra showing in front of the truck, and one with me in the red pants and crop top sitting in the driving seat.

The other page was again vertical and you had to turn the magazine sideways to properly look at it. It was a picture of the truck and five versions of me standing on the flat bed and it looked like those cartoons of ‘Evolution of Man,’ but the caption underneath read, in bold lettering ‘The E-Volvo-lution of Antonia” I loved it.

The following day I wore my full army kit with my lanyard and drove to the yard. When I parked and got out there were some odd looks as I went into the office, especially from Greger and Bjorn when they saw me in kit for the first time.

We got into a car that Anders had organised and the driver took us to the ministry again. This time the private on guard saluted me when he saw my lanyard and I gave him one back.

When we were shown into the meeting room I saw Felix rise so I stood to attention and saluted him. He gave me one back, “Stand easy, Antonia. This isn’t the time for ceremony. I do appreciate your correct response to a superior officer.”

The Minister welcomed us and introduced a couple of guys who were there to oversee the signing. Erik stayed behind as the Minister apologised for other commitments and left the room.

We were all given a drink and, surprisingly, a plate with a biscuit assortment. My father had always told me that when the administration wants your co-operation, they’ll offer you biscuits. He had said that it was some unwritten rule that diplomats are told about.

We had several copies of the contract, a set of Estonian, Swedish and German language ones but they all had the same eye-watering numbers in them.

I looked through the one I was given and said, quietly, “This is more than three, or even six trucks could manage”.

There was a list of supplier factories that we would be picking up from and another, very long, list of places we would be delivering to.

Felix nodded, “You’re correct, Antonia. When we actually sat down and thought through this plan, we discovered that it will be a lot bigger than we had anticipated. I think that you’ll need at least ten trucks to make this work and they’ll have constant business. You see that we get supplies, all non-military, from most of the EU countries. We also buy from the UK, Norway and Sweden so there’ll be trips to and from those as well.”

Anders noted, “I see that you’re willing to pay us ten million Euros up front to get this on the road and the rates you’ve put as payment by distance are well up to industry best. There’s a paragraph here, now let me find it, yes. There will be a bonus payment for non-standard loads. I gather that we’ll only know we’ve made one of those trips is when we get some extra payment.”

Felix smiled, “That line is ambiguous, I admit. There’ll be times when a non-standard load is not, shall we say, sensitive. You may be required to move heavy equipment around, such as our larger trucks, earthmoving equipment and the like. When it comes to the other loads, your army drivers will know exactly when they are carrying those because there will be a level of extra security around them that a soldier wouldn’t miss. Oh! If you look further down we will pay another ten million on the completion of the first month of operation.”

I looked over at the brothers as they read the contract.

Greger had such a look of wonder on his face I thought that he deserved a hug.

Bjorn saw me and gave me a wink. He was the more grounded of the two and I was certain that he had already considered the ramifications of what he was reading. I knew that we were getting into very serious business here, and was in wonder with my small part in it.

Once everyone was happy with it there was the signing to go through. The Lundin family went first, signing all three copies of all three contracts. Then it was the turn of the Estonian Government and Erik signed for them.

Then it was the turn of the military and I saw that I was listed as Captain Berg.

I looked at Felix and he nodded, “It’s purely ceremonial, my dear. We have your new uniform and ID waiting for you to take home with you.”

I signed for the Estonian Army and then Felix signed for NATO, putting the seal on the business.

There was a period of handshaking after that, and the aides went off with the paperwork to get the Ministers initials on them.

Erik laughed, “Now I’ll really have to salute you.”

Felix took me to one side, “Really, Q should have been here as it was his baby to start with but he was needed elsewhere.”

I chuckled, “But if he signed anything they would have to add ‘his mark’ to the line where he puts Q”.

Felix hooted, “I’ll tell him that when I see him next, although you might be seeing first at some interview session, I believe.” He then got me to sign his centrefold!

Before we left Anders was given one copy of the contract in Swedish and instructed to put it into safe deposit as soon as he could as the wording could be misconstrued by an unscrupulous enemy.

The list of suppliers and delivery points were OK, though. In the car it was very quiet as the family made notes from our copy and I was given the destinations list to hold on to.

This I put into the big camo bag that held my new kit. We stopped at the bank on the way back and Anders went in with the paperwork.

Bjorn turned to me when he had left, “I wondered when my father told me that this morning would be earth-shaking, but I think the earth truly shook.”

Greger nodded, “What they say about the butterfly in the jungle is right. If I hadn’t spoken to Antonia at the show this would never have happened. We have a lot of work ahead of us, my brother.”

When we got back Anders called a meeting of all of those in the yard and we gathered in one of the big truck sheds. There must have been fifty or more of us with all the mechanics and office workers. Anders got up unto the back of a truck and called for quiet.

He raised his voice, “I know that the rumour mill has been in full swing this week so I am going to now tell you what’s happening. This morning we met with the Government and NATO and signed a contract to supply non-military transport services to NATO. These will be within all EU countries as well as some trips into non-EU countries.”

There were whoops and applause at this.

“Because of this I am putting into motion a plan build another transport hub on a property we have near the airport. I originally thought that we would use this yard for storage and maintenance. The scope of the contract will mean that we will still operate our normal business from here and use the new facility for NATO work only.”

Again there was applause.

“NATO has requested that we have a team of female drivers at the start and Antonia is in the process of recruiting those. This is because they want to show that they are not all macho bully boys and now know, after a run that Antonia did to Germany a few weeks ago, that women can do it as well as the men and, usually, with less moaning.”

There was a moan from the guys and a cheer from the girls.

“This afternoon I want everyone to have some thoughts and to see me or my sons if you have any questions. Or else you can talk to Antonia; she’s the one trying hide behind that camo jacket.”

I quickly went off to my office but not before Berget gave me a big hug. That triggered a whole bunch of hugs, mainly from the office girls.

In my office I pulled out the new lanyard and ID and there it was, Captain Antonia Berg of the Estonian Army Transport Division. There was also another that had me as member of a NATO Logistics Group, they were covering every base but one.

How about the little boy, Anton Berg, who wants to run home to mother and jump up and down with excitement?

It looked as if my recruitment work would be taking a lot longer than I thought unless the army came up trumps next week. For the rest of the afternoon I had a small stream of guys at my office door, some just to congratulate me but others, who had suspected something was up, wanted to really tell me I was the best. The garage foreman asked me if I would go and talk to his team and answer any questions they had.

In the garage I got them around me, “Now, you all heard the boss today. We’re going to be doing something big. NATO has insisted on female drivers for the bulk of the work and we’ll be getting a fleet of new trucks. These will be Volvo heavy duty models, all ten by six with a D16 motor and up to double the pulling power of the Globetrotters we use now. I’m sure that some of you may be picked to go to the factory and learn some new skills but you’d better brush up on your technical Swedish if you want to get in on that. “

“Next week I’ll be interviewing some army drivers and other girls who want to be part of this so there should be a few good – looking babes around the place soon.”

Someone asked why I had an army uniform on and I explained,

“One of the riders on the contract is that, as we will be regular visitors to army bases, sometimes overnighting, all of our drivers will become members of the Estonian Army so that they’ll get issued with kit like mine. It’s just as upsetting in an army camp to see a civilian woman walking about as it would be here if a babe in a bikini walked in.”

After I had signed about twenty copies of the centrefold I left them smiling.

We worked the week out with a lot of smiling faces around the place. I had planned to take Berget to the pictures but Anders, being Anderly, decided it was time for a celebratory dinner on him; so Saturday night saw a big table with the usual suspects, plus Gustav and Ludvig and their partners, as well as Agnetha and her partner.

Agnetha got me to go off to the ladies to powder our noses and, when we were at the mirror freshening up, she asked, “We’ve just had Fashion Week. I’ve a friend who is a designer. She wants to put on a display of ‘Working Girls’ outfits and she asked me if I could talk you into walking the catwalk for us. I know it’s a bit much, seeing how busy you are, but think about it and tell Astrid your answer. She’ll get back to me. The final outfit will be a red dress like the one in the centrefold and there will be others that are more fun than working gear.”

When I told Berget after dessert she laughed, “Why don’t you, you can add it to your CV – Biker truck mechanic, Army Captain, truck driver, centrefold babe and fashion model is a heady mix.”

I told Agnetha to send me the details via Astrid and I’d put it in my diary.

I had spoken to Berget about a place together and, when we were outside, kissing goodnight off to one side, she said, “I’ve thought about a new place, and I’ve decided that I want to live with you so we can spend more time together.”

“I’ve been getting hints from my folks that I should be getting out so we can do a bit of house-hunting. I’ll get onto the computer during the week and see what’s available near the airport site.”

Marianne Gregory © 2022