Bob of Small End (48 page)

He
pushed coloured drawing pins into the map, green for the shops he
had already visited, red for the shops still to see that were on
the ‘early delivery’ list and blue for all the others. When he had
finished it became apparent that there were still lots of places to
visit and many more sets to make, plus Rose’s, Jenny’s and Leo’s
shops, which he hadn’t included. And there were all the other
retailers who were on the
Gift and
Toy’
s membership list but hadn’t put their cards in
his box or hadn’t been at the conference. There was so much work to
do.

Ken looked at
the map when he saw Bob in the office and guessed what the colours
meant. “I’ll show Craig and Lori and they’ll understand why we are
working so hard. Oh, here they are. Come and look at this,” and he
pointed to the map.

“
That’s
not all of them,” said Bob. “There are another fifty or sixty I’ve
not added.”

They returned
to the waiting room and Ken put the kettle on and opened a package
of biscuits.

“
A
friend told me about two boys who might be interested in coming
here,” said Lori. “They are on holiday right now but will be back
on Saturday. I’ll phone and ask them if they’re looking for work.
They have been working as volunteers in a South African project.
I’ll tell them about this place and let you know what they
say.”

“
Thanks.
Have you seen the other boy, the one you met at a
concert?”

“
No.”

“
I may
be able to find someone, a cousin who’s looking for work,” said
Craig. “Trouble is, he lives in Scotland. He’d like to move here,
anywhere in the south of England where it’s warmer, but has no
family except us and my mom doesn’t want to put him up.”

“
£125 a
week wouldn’t leave him much after he’d paid for board and
lodging,” said Bob.

“
No.”

“
Well
please keep looking. We do need at least two more
people.”

“
We
could work overtime if you like,” said Lori. “At least, I
could.”

“
Me too,
depending on what days you’d want us to work.”

“
Not at
time-and-a-half, we wouldn’t want to pay that.”

“
That’s
all right,” said Lori. “It’s just a suggestion if you really become
stuck.”

“
The
problem is now, as you can see from the map,” said Bob. “We want to
get the toys to the shops whose owners said they wanted them as
soon as possible. Once they have a few, and I’m giving them five of
each set when I visit, then the demand will greatly slacken. We’ll
only have to deliver when they have sold the ones they’ve
got.”

“
I see.
Then would it be a permanent job for any new people?”

“
I think
so. We think that people want wooden toys and are willing to buy
them so we expect to be busy for several years.”

“
It’s
partly due to the Green Movement,” said Craig, “People are getting
worried about all the plastics and the chemicals we use today. And
the pollution that causes.”

“
You
might be right. Leo, one of the retailers I deliver to, thought the
same thing,” said Bob.

“
So
that’s why people are buying wooden toys?” asked Ken.

“
That
and probably grandparents remembering the toys they played with
when they were young,” answered Craig.

This was one
of the reasons Bob enjoyed their chats together. He learned
different things and saw the world from a different point of view.
So young people also thought about the Green Movement and reasoned
that was why his toys were selling.

Bob worked in
the shop doing whatever Ken wanted done for the rest of the week.
He helped Lori add the stripes, windows and doors to the train set
using Ken’s stamps Thursday morning. The trains were dry after the
tea break and he and Lori fasten the wheels and inserted the hooks
and eyes then boxed the sets, not stopping until they had finished.
Craig pushed blocks for the farm houses, barns and pig pens through
the router jig and Ken cut them. From now on they would make a
hundred each time so they didn’t have to alter the jigs so often. A
hundred was just enough to do without becoming overtired.

A boy knocked
and entered as they were finishing lunch. “Hello. Mum tells me you
are looking for helpers. What sort of work is it?”

“
We make
wooden toys,” answered Ken.

“
Oh. I
don’t think I want to do that. I want to make computers. Will you
make those some day?”

“
I don’t
think so,” replied Ken. “Would you like to try toy
making?”

“
Mum
said I have to get a job so I suppose so. What do I do?”

“
Cut
wood and paint it.”

“
That
sounds easy. Can I try?”

“
Yes.
What’s your name?”

“
Sean.”

“
Well
Sean. Come with me,” and Ken led him to the band saw. He picked up
a piece of scrap wood, put on his safety glasses and cut an inch
off one end. “Now you do that,” and he handed the boy his
glasses.

“
Not too
bad,” said Ken, “but push the far end against the stop when you cut
the wood. That will keep the end you are cutting
straight.”

After several
tries Sean managed to do that.

“
Okay.”
Ken clamped the block further along the bench. “Push against this
block and cut these. They are hedges for our farms and
villages.”

It took
several tries before Sean could cut the hedge end properly.

“
I don’t
like doing this,” he said. “I keep thinking I’m going to cut my
hands. Is there anything else I can do?”

“
Well
you can’t use the routers then. No. We must have people who can use
all the machinery here. Sorry Sean. Tell your Mum that we can’t
hire you.”

“
All
right. I’m glad. Perhaps she’ll stop bugging me for a while
now.”

Everyone else
had returned to work by then and had heard most of the
conversation. When he had left Ken asked Craig if he knew Sean.
“I’ve seen him and his Mum in the village but I didn’t know his
name. His Mum might come after you; she’s a bit of a loud
mouth.”

“
All
right. Thanks for the warning. But we must have people who can do
everything. Would you like to paint next?”

“
I’d be
glad to. Lori, would you mind if I did some painting?” Craig
shouted to her.

“
Not if
I can do your job,” she replied. “It looks easy enough.”

“
Good,”
said Ken. “Provided you can do the job properly you can swap jobs
any time you like, just tell me before you do so.”

Bob told Ken
he was going to phone all the retailers who asked for sets early to
say that he hadn’t forgotten them, that they were making more and
that he’d be able to deliver next week. “I don’t want them to think
I’m neglecting them.” It took him just over an hour and afterwards
he told Ken that they seemed pleased he had called. “It was well
worth the cost of the calls.”

The telephone
rang then. “Hello. Is that Bob? Hello Bob. It’s Bill Watford. Your
boxes are ready. Do you want to collect them?”

“
Yes I
do. What time do you open?”

“
Eight
o’clock, Mondays to Fridays.”

“
I’ll be
there as soon as I can. Thanks for calling,” and he hung up. “The
boxes are ready Ken. I’ll go there first thing tomorrow and we can
start using them. It’s too bad I don’t have sets to deliver on my
way.”

“
Right,
well, if I can get two more helpers as good as Craig and Lori you
won’t be short again.”

It was
eight thirty when Bob arrived at
Salisbury
Boxes
. Bill was ready for him and helped him carry the
pasteboards to the van. There was plenty of space and they pushed
them to the far end, leaving room near the doors. Bob made a dozen
boxes while Bill watched. “I’m going to transfer the toys that are
still in the shops from the old boxes into these. They look so
good. Keep the cutters and the design ready, we’ll be wanting more
soon.”

He climbed
into the van and looked at his list, deciding the best way to visit
the shops he’d already delivered sets to and began driving. Most of
the shops had sold sets, the biggest number were sold in the centre
of Salisbury where seven had been sold. Bob said he couldn’t
provide more toys for a week or two. The owners loved the new box
and thought their very appearance would promote sales but three of
them worried a little about the room they took up. On the drive
home Bob roughly calculated how many larger boxes he could put in
the van. The new ones were twenty inches long and had a diameter of
seven inches. The old ones had a one foot square base and were four
inches high. Nearly nine hundred of these could fit in the van but,
if his mental calculation was right, only about three hundred and
sixty of the new boxes would fit. That meant about one hundred and
twenty boxes of each set. Giving five to each retailer he could go
to twenty four shops in a day. ‘Well, I don’t want to visit more
than that in a day, so it’ll be all right.’

He stopped at
a village deli and bought a roast beef baguette and bottle of
lemonade then ate his lunch at a pull-in beside the Avon. Later he
stopped at a Ringwood supermarket and bought some groceries. He’d
buy the rest in the Small End grocery or they’d think he’d left the
village.

Ken and the
others also liked the new box. Ken said they’d need more tissue
paper to pack the toys and said they wouldn’t have enough room to
store them once they had more than four or five hundred in
stock.

“
I can
keep them in my spare bedroom Ken. It should hold over a thousand.
That should keep us for a while. Oh, and in my shed, the new one
against the shop. If I clear out the wood and shelves it should
hold another five hundred or more.”

“
With
that and a full van we can keep about two thousand. If we ever have
that many in stock we’ll celebrate.”

“
That’s
a good idea,” said Craig, “but we’ll never reach that many since
Bob keeps taking them to the shops.”

“
What if
I keep track of the number we’ve made on the computer,” interjected
Lori, “and we can celebrate every thousand we make!”

“
No
way,” said Ken, “but, yes, we’ll celebrate, though not until we’ve
made, err, two and a half thousand. We’ll pay for a meal together
or something like that. Okay Bob?”

“
Sure.”

“
Then
I’ll set up the computer and start keeping track.”

“
Not
right now Lori,” said Ken. “I want to finish the farms this week. I
tell you what; you stop at three-thirty and set it up before you go
home. Would half an hour be enough time?”

“
Oh
yes.”

“
Then we
start counting from this week. You can start by putting down three
hundred, even though we made some of the villages last
week.”

Even with
Bob’s help they couldn’t finish the hundred farm sets by the time
they stopped at four because the first paint coat hadn’t fully
dried. “You can still make it three hundred for this week Lori,”
said Ken. I’ll come in tomorrow and put on the other coats.”

After Lori and
Craig had left Bob and Ken sat in the office and reviewed the
week.

“
About
the farms Ken. I’ll come in and pack them on Sunday. Then I’ll have
enough to deliver Monday.”

“
Fine.”

“
I’m
going to the Spring Show tonight,” Bob said. “Are you
going?”

“
Mary
and I saw it last week. We enjoyed the comedy best. The mystery
made me think I could write a better one. One day I might try
writing. Do you ever think about writing Bob?”

“
No. The
only thing I could write would be an autobiography and it would be
a short one at that. I’d call it
Life of a
Station Master
.”

“
And Toy Maker
, Bob.”

“
Well
toy making has only been for a few years and only a few months as a
full-time activity.”

“
You
know, our toy-making would make a book in itself. We should write
the story together.”

“
That’s
an idea. We’ll talk about that when we stop doing this, there’s too
much to do right now.”

“
Yes.
Okay. If we remember this agreement and all the things we did,
we’ll do that,” and they laughed a little at the idea.

Like Ken, both
Bob and Joe enjoyed the comedy best but the whole show was lively
and relaxing. They had a pint at the Crown afterwards but had to
stand at the bar for the place was full and it was too noisy to
have much of a conversation. “We’ll talk at dinner tomorrow,” Joe
shouted to Bob as they headed to the door. Bob nodded his head and
smiled.

The garden was
too wet to hoe Saturday morning so he washed his clothes and hung
them to dry on the kitchen clothesline. He dusted and tidied the
lounge then put on his mac and walked to the village grocery to buy
his groceries. He napped in the afternoon, had a bath then put on
his jacket and mackintosh and headed to the Crown.

Joe and he
arrived together. They talked to Len for a while then moved to
their table when several newcomers walked up to the bar.