Bob of Small End (50 page)

“
That’s
good. I like depositing cheques too! Cheers Bob.”

“‘
Bye
Leon.”

The National
Westminster teller accepted Bob’s cheques and gave him a receipt
just as Mr. Longman walked by. “Hello Mr. Barns. How’s
business?”

“
It’s
too early to tell Mr. Longman. We won’t know how well we are doing
until the May cheques come in.”

“
Yes. Of
course. However it’s not usual for a business to show a profit it’s
first year. It might be a couple of years before you know if you’re
doing all right.”

“
I hope
it doesn’t take us that long Mr. Longman. I’ve sold toys for
several years and I think people will buy them as soon as they are
in the shops.”

“
Let’s
hope so. But if you need money in the meantime do come and see me
or one of our employees.”

“
I will,
thanks,” said Bob, hoping it would never happen.

“
Good.
Oh, you should be getting your first statement from the bank any
time now.”

“
I look
forward to it. ‘Bye Mr. Longman.”

“‘
Bye
Mr. Barns.”

He handed out
the safety glasses when he returned to the workshop and told
everybody to write their name on their overall. “I’ll wash them
once a fortnight,” he promised. That being done he began cutting
the dowels and bases for the train sets.

Jose and Luke
did most of the talking during the lunch break.

“
Volunteers like us aren’t paid,” said Luke. “The
organisation paid for our flights and gave us a little pocket
money. The villagers fed us and found us a place to
live.”

“
Were
you two together all the time?”

“
Yes,”
replied Jose. “We told them we wanted that when we signed on. It
meant we didn't move to as many places as others did but we did
work in three villages.”

“
What do
you do?” asked Lori.

“
Built
schools and hospitals.”

“
What do
you make them of?”

“
Concrete blocks, if they had them. Twice we had to use wood.
We used corrugated iron for the roofs. Windows were usually left
open in the schools. Hospital ward windows were also open but
others were usually glassed.”

“
Did you
like the food?” asked Ken.

“
Usually, though I didn’t like a couple of meats they used,”
said Luke.

“
Nor me.
I didn’t have the courage to ask what animal it came from,” added
Jose. “And the spices were sometimes too hot but we were hungry
enough to eat just almost anything.”

“
Did you
work every day?” asked Craig.

“
Just
the week days. Saturdays we might go to the nearest town,” said
Jose.

“
But you
didn’t have much money to spend.”

“
No. We
had about a pound a week, enough to buy beer or candy.”

“
We
didn’t work from nine to five like here,” said Luke. “We started as
soon as there was enough light and stopped when it became too hot,
about ten in the morning. Then we begin again about four when it
had cooled down and continued until supper.”

“
That
was when it was getting dark, usually. About seven,” added
Jose.

“
What
did you do on Sundays?”

“
Sleep,
play cards, explore some of the nearby places, chat with any of the
locals who could speak English.”

“
Most of
them do but they have an accent that takes time to get used
to.”

“
Were
there any girls there?” asked Lori.

“
Oh yes.
Jose had a girl friend, didn’t you? Rosemary.”

“
Yes. We
tried to keep it secret. If they found out they would move one of
us to a different village.”

“
Will
you see her again?” asked Luke.

“
I don’t
know. She’s staying in South Africa but I want to go to college
here. I had a letter yesterday saying I was accepted. Rosemary and
I write to each other at the moment but I don’t know what will
happen in the future.”

“
I don’t
think I would like to work there,” commented Craig.

“
Nor
me,” echoed Lori. “I wouldn’t like the heat.”

“
Nor the
bugs.”

“
And not
being paid.”

“
Well I
liked it,” said Jose. “It’s something I want to do
again.”

“
And
me,” said Luke, “although I want to go to South America next time
and see a different part of the world.”

Bob and Ken
were rather quiet whilst this conversation was going on. They were
interested but didn’t understand why anyone would volunteer to go
to hot, humid and dusty villages when there were so many nicer
places in the world they could work.

Joe walked
into the shop just after they had resumed work. He looked around,
pleased to see so much activity, then asked Bob and Ken if he could
have a chat and they moved into the office where he put several
papers on Ken’s desk.

“
Look,
I’m sorry to bother you but my electricity bill has just arrived.
My bill for this time of the year is usually about fifty pounds but
this year’s bill for April is sixty seven pounds, plus a few pence.
I’m pretty sure it’s the electricity you’re using in the shop that
makes the difference.”

“
Yes,”
said Ken. “I bet it is.”

“
And I
think it’ll be more this month because you have more saws and tools
running,” added Joe.

“
Yes,
it’s certain to be higher. I think we should have a separate meter
installed. How about we pay, say £20 to cover your extra costs for
this month and also pay for a meter to be put in?”

“
£20
would be fine. Having a meter installed would be the best way to
handle it,” said Joe.

“
Okay,
I’ll tell Lori to order one. What about water usage?”

“
Oh that
bill’s not changed. You can’t be using much.”

“
No a
few flushes each day and some kettles of water. That’s all, I
suppose. I’ll write a cheque for the electricity Joe. Thanks’ for
telling us about it.”

The National
Westminster statement was on the floor when Bob returned home. All
the cheques they had issued had been paid. There was an extra bank
deduction of £8.66 for the cheques and ‘banking charges.’ That
reminded Bob he’d soon have to write the cheques to cover the items
they had bought. He made a note and used one of Betty’s magnets to
stick it on the fridge.

After supper
he added the bank charges to his earlier calculation of April
expenses. They now owed £5,180.59. The £7,287 they had in the
account would take care of that. Then he remembered the £20 cheque
Ken had given Joe and added that to the April amount.

The villages
they had finished on Tuesday gave him enough to load the van with a
hundred of each set on Wednesday morning. He checked the map in the
office and planned his route. He would go to the three shops that
remained on the urgent list then start visiting the shops whose
managers or owners had dropped cards in the bowl. He fetched the
map from the van and sketched the route, thinking that he’d better
buy a felt tip pen because the pencil was hard to see. He said
goodbye to Ken and the others and set off.

With a morning
coffee, a half-hour lunch, eaten in a café because it was raining,
and an afternoon tea break Bob managed to visit all of shops on his
list and was home by five. He didn’t go to the workshop; he’d done
enough for the day.

He worked in
the shop Thursday and was there when two envelopes arrived in the
mail. One was from the telephone installation company with an
invoice for £54.13. The other had the April’s phone bill of £5.53.
Bob added them to the month’s expenses and beckoned Ken to come to
the office.

“
We
spent £5,260.25 in April Ken.”

“
What do
we have in the bank Bob?”

“
£7,287.”

“
Excellent.”

“
We
should be all right from now on.”

“
Yes we
should though I’ll have to upgrade our saws and routers soon. They
can’t handle all the work we’re giving them much longer. One of the
routers jams now and again. And we must order more sanding mops,
Craig told me this morning that it is taking longer to sand now.
I’d better tell Lori to do that. I also think we should add more
fluorescent lights over the benches, it’s not really bright enough.
Lori can get Pat to do that. I’ll drive to Big End tomorrow and buy
three new routers and new bits. The saws don’t need replacing,
they’re good ones and will last a long time I think. Will you be
here tomorrow?”

“
Yes.
I’ll open the shop if you like and I’ll work on the trains. What
will the other’s be doing?”

“
They’ll
get most of the village and farm sets finished and painted today.
Then they’ll make another hundred of each. I’ve told them to rotate
places and continue making sets whenever they’ve finished a batch.
Jose and Luke are okay doing anything now.”

The phone rang
half an hour later. Lori ran to the office and answered it
returning to tell Bob to say, “It’s a shop in Southampton. They
want toys and asked when you could deliver them.”

“
Tell
them Monday. Ask them what toys they want and how many of each.
Make a note of any calls like that on a piece of paper with their
name and address.” She returned to the phone, took down the details
and gave the paper to Bob.

“
You
know,” Lori said, “I should keep a record of each of these orders
on the computer and print out a copy for you. That way we’d both
have a record.”

“
I see.
How much would a printer cost Lori?”

“
It
depends on what kind you buy. I don’t think you would need an
expensive one. You could buy one for all we need for about
£150.”

“
All
right. Ken and I’ll discuss it. If we buy one you’d know what kind
and where to get it?”

“
Oh yes.
We’d would need paper for it too. That’s not expensive.”

Then the phone
rang again. Lori picked the shop extension and took notes.

“
That
was Southampton again. Here’s what they want.”

“
I heard
you say ‘on Monday.’ Good.”

“
What do
I say if there’s a call from Bournemouth?”

“
Tell
them Wednesday. I don’t want to drive east and west the same day. I
hope Bournemouth doesn’t phone for a few days.” Then he thought,
‘Fancy that, I’m hoping people don’t request toys! I’d never have
thought that I’d be doing that!’

After the
employees had left Bob told Ken that Lori suggested they buy a
printer.

“
And
she’s right,” he continued. “I think we should buy one and that she
should use it. I’m finding it a lot of work to keep track of
everything myself.”

“
All
right. I agree. We’ll need a printer to handle our letters and
invoices as well. But if Lori kept all our records she’d know all
our financial details. I’m not so happy about that. How would you
feel?”

“
I don’t
know. She’ll have a good idea of how we’re doing because she and
everyone else knows how many sets we’re selling.”

“
But
they wouldn’t know our income,” said Ken.

“
Lori
would if she opens the mail at the end of each month. She’ll see
the cheques. She also knows how much we pay for the wood, paint and
other items. So she could easily calculate how we’re
doing.”

“
Well in
that case what we’re really asking is do we want Lori to be our
secretary and our financial officer. If we didn’t want that we’d
have to have all the mail sent to your home or to mine and we’d
have to do all the work ourselves. I don’t want that and you’ve
already said that keeping the lists up-to-date is a big
chore.”

“
It’s
too bad we can’t ask Simon to track our expenses and income,” said
Bob.

“
No.
He’s an accountant. It’s not the sort of job he’d take and it would
be expensive to ask an outsider to do it. Then let’s think about it
and decide later.”

“
All
right. And Ken, we should order more boxes; there’s about two weeks
waiting time at
Salisbury
Boxes
. We should order five thousand this time, I
think we’ll need that many, and we get a 20% discount if order that
many.”

“
Okay.
Is it too late to phone them now?”

“
I don’t
know. I’ll try.” Bob picked up the phone and called them. Bill
answered the phone but told him that the boxes wouldn’t be ready
until May 25th. “We’re very busy right now. I hope that won’t be
too late for you.”

“
I don’t
know Bill. I hope not. Do you need a cheque before
starting?”

“
Not
this time Bob. I’ll call you when they are ready.”

“
Thanks,” said Bob and hung up.

“
We’ll
also need more paint Bob. Would you ask Lori to order them first
thing tomorrow? We might as well buy three pails of each colour
this time. No only one of the yellow. We aren’t using much of that.
When I’m in Big End I’ll see Leon and order enough wood to make a
thousand of each set too. Is there anything you want?”