The first time Reggie screamed Georgina was concerned and stopped the bike.
"Are you OK?"
"It's the seat."
"What's the seat?"
Reggie patted the hard pillion seat which was secured to the top of the rear guard and laughed.
"Ever since my menarche, If I sit on a hard motorcycle seat, I come. My race seat was heavily sprung."
Georgina joined in the hilarity. The two girls sounding like scalded cats standing at the edge of the road with tears running down their cheeks.
"We must look a sight," she said.
Reggie just hugged her.
"I'll ride pillion, if I start coming we'll take it in turns."
It took a few more minutes before their mirth was sufficiently contained to allow them to ride.
Reggie rode well, When they neared Cadmore End Georgina shouted in Reggie's ear to stop.
"There is as straight bit here, before Stokenchurch. Do you want to do a ton?"
Reggie opened the bike up, it was the most willing machine she had ridden and she was soon up to eighty miles per hour. She was just passing Stokenchurch when Georgina shouted for her to pull over again. She indicated Reggie should dismount.
Georgina looked Reggie in the eye and said nothing.
"I'm frightened," Reggie said.
She hadn't got the bike above ninety.
Georgina gripped her hand, "If a farm tractor pulls in front of you at ninety, we are dead. If its pulls out while we are doing a ton we will be super dead. Which would you prefer?"
"You can drive."
"I could."
"Fuck it, I'd prefer super dead but what about Roger?"
"I'm only kidding myself, when he knows the truth it will be over. Death might be kinder."
Reggie pulled her close, "Just tell him, don't die!"
Georgina quickly pulled herself together.
"Well drive safely then, it will do one 107mph. If you don't get to one oh five you will have to bathe my stickiness."
"One oh four it is," Reggie said.
They piled back on the bike and Reggie opened it up, there was a slight hill outside of Stokenchurch, she was doing over a ton at the peak. Reggie dropped onto the handle bars, Georgina hid behind her to get out of the air flow. With the reduced drag and the slight grade the speedometer showed one hundred and ten. Despite the buffeting, the wind was unable to steal Reggie's scream of joy.
They were in Oxford in fifty minutes, after breaking the bike's speed record, ninety seemed like they were dawdling. Georgina shouted directions in Reggie's ear. They left the A40 at Headington and headed for Magdalen College off the High Street, on the A420.
"After you clear the Magdalen Bridge turn right before the tower."
Reggie responded to the directions and idled the bike past the tallest building in Oxford, Magdalen Tower, and in into the college courtyard. Before she had the bike on the stand a busy man in a bowler hat was in her face.
"You can't park there Sir,"
"Hello Proctor Bob," said Georgina as she pulled off her leather helmet.
"Oh hello miss, long time no see, strange to see you riding pillion to a man."
Reggie pulled off her helmet.
"Oh... You can leave the bike there miss, I'll keep an eye on it."
"Thank you Proctor Bob. Where will I find William Rivers at this time of day?"
"In his lab, Miss. Do you remember?"
Georgina shook Bob's hand and headed towards the college.
"Did you go to this college?"
"NO men only, I was at Somerville but I attended a lot of lectures here."
Georgina led them through a maze of corridors, she peered through a window her smile revealed she had found the person she was looking for.
William Rivers could have been attractive but in his case the cost of high intelligence was a lack of style, poise and charisma. Georgina still gave him a warm hug.
When introductions and coffee were organized Georgina got down to the purpose of their visit. She was concerned about the safety of the girls, VD was more damaging to women. She knew William was working on commercial production of penicillin which had been discovered years earlier by Fleming. It was difficult to produce in quantity but Georgina knew William was having some success.
After explaining the full story, Georgina said, "I know it's early days William, but I am happy to offer my girls for trailing the quality of bulk penicillin."
William has not quite managed to shut his mouth when Georgina proposed the drug should be trailed on prostitutes, in fact Reggie wondered if he had heard the last ten minutes of Georgina's persuasive presentation.
He did manage to get his mouth working, "So you are a prostitute?"
"No William, I run a London Club."
He looked at Reggie, "So you are a prostitute?"
Technically Reggie had yet to earn money for sex.
"Not yet," she said with a smile.
He shook his head, "Definitely NO."
"If I asked the Duke of Almondsbury to make a formal request?"