Bob of Small End (56 page)

The fire
engine was finished, all but the painting, by lunchtime. It was
harder to make than a train because it had a base, a cabin with
holes for two firemen, an open back with a water tank, a ladder
that rotated and six wheels. The two firemen were simply short
cylinders with a rounded end which he’d paint to look like a head.
Drilling all the holes and fitting the rungs to make the ladder was
very time-consuming. Two screws held the ladder on a rotatable base
fastened on the back of the fire engine. He gave the toy it’s first
paint coat after lunch and it’s second coat after his tea break. It
was a happy day for Bob; he was at home, doing what he loved and
not in a rush. Being away from all the traffic turned it into a
holiday.

Maria came to
mind after supper. He hadn’t thought about her since talking to
Sally, over a week ago. He wondered how she was and thought about
phoning her but couldn’t think of anything to say. It would be the
same if he wrote a letter. He could tell her what he was doing but
he really wanted to know what she was doing and what she thought
about them meeting again. Did she really like him? He stopped
himself from thinking more about that; uncertainty would spoil his
evening.

Bob drove his
car to the workshop Friday morning so he could take people to Ken’s
for lunch. He showed the fire engine to Ken. “Do you think you
could make this for a profit Ken?”

After looking
at it for a minute or two he said “We’d probably have to sell it
for twenty pounds to make a profit. Would people pay that
much?”

“
I don’t
know. I could show it to Rose and ask her. It took me a day to
make.”

“
It
would probably take two people three days to make a hundred once we
had set-up the jigs and after a few days practice. That’s less time
than it takes to make a hundred farm sets. A farm set is sold for
£22.50 so £20 is probably the right price.”

“
I’ll
see what Rose says. What can I do to help now?”

“
Oh just
look around and help anyone you can. But don’t get in the
way—they’ve figured out how to do things quickly in pairs or by
themselves. Probably wrapping and boxing would be the best
thing.”

Doing that,
filling the van, collecting the bills and lists from Lori and
chatting to each of them filled his morning. They stopped at noon,
gave Bob their overalls so he could wash them and climbed into the
cars. Ken took Lori, Craig and his fishing gear and Bob followed
with Luke and Jose.

Mary welcomed
them, showed them where the toilet was then walked them through the
house to the back garden. Three tables, a lawn swing and a dozen
chairs sat on the grass. Ken opened the cooler and offered beer and
soft drinks.

“
There’s
fresh lemonade in the kitchen fridge as well. Help yourself,” said
Mary.

“
Why
don’t you explore the gardens while I cook the steaks?” said Ken.
“Who wants theirs well-done? One? Okay. Who wants it medium? Three?
I’ll do the others medium-rare then. We also have sausages. Put
your fingers up to show me how many of those you want.” Everybody
except Mary put up two fingers. “Right. Seven steaks and thirteen
sausages. I’ll fire-up the barbecue. They’ll be ready in about
twenty minutes. Want to help me Bob?”

The others
walked down the garden and looked at the river.

“
Do we
have enough time to try fishing?” asked Lori.

“
I
wouldn’t think so,” said Craig. “We’ll have a go after lunch. Feel
the water; do you want to have a swim later?”

“
No. I
don’t need to feel it, I haven’t brought my bathing
costume.”

Jose and Luke
walked around the flower beds and Mary joined them. “We like the
flowers Mrs. Smith. Do you do all the gardening?”

“
Ken
digs and plants the big items, the trees and bushes, but I do the
rest. I’m glad you like it.”

“
The
people we helped in Africa seldom grew flowers. Many had vegetable
gardens though.”

They chatted
about Africa and Mary told them she would like to go on a safari
with Ken. They told her that they would also like to do that but
that they had already seen many of the animals. Ken called out,
saying the steaks were done, and they walked back to the tables and
joined Lori and Craig. Mary went to the kitchen and returned with
the salad.

“
Help
yourself to drinks,” said Ken. “Bob will hand out the steaks and
sausages. Just tell him what kind you want, well-done, medium or
medium-rare.”

Lori couldn’t
eat her second sausage so she gave it to Craig. Bob ate both of his
but they and a steak, over-filled his stomach and he refused the
ice cream cake.

Lori, Luke,
Jose and Craig each used Craig’s rod after lunch but no one caught
a fish. “It must be the wrong time of the day,” said Craig. “I
usually fish early in the morning or in the evening. That’s the
best time to catch them.”

“
You’ll
have to prove it Craig,” said Luke. “Take a photograph next
time.”

“
I can
bring in two or three on Monday.”

“
All
right. Do that and we’ll believe you. We’ve heard fishing stories
in Africa, haven’t we Jose?”

“
Often!”

About three
o’clock they decided it was time to leave. They thanked Mary and
Bob and Ken drove them back to Small End just in time to catch the
early bus home.

“
That
was great Ken. Thank you. And thank Mary from me, for getting it
all ready. Everyone enjoyed themselves,” said Bob when they walked
into the workshop afterwards.

“
Yes I
think they did. It gave Mary a chance to see and talk to them
also.” They sat in the office and Ken put his feet on his desk.
“Now on Monday when we go out to lunch we’ll have to put one of
them in charge. It should be either Lori or Craig. Who do you
prefer?”

“
Craig.
He’s been with us longer than Lori. Lori will accept him but Craig
might be a bit upset if you chose her.”

“
Yes, I
agree. Okay. I’ll tell them that during Monday morning’s the tea
break. We shouldn’t be gone for more than two or three hours,
should we?”

“
No I
don’t think so. You can drop me at Charles’ so I can collect the
new van on the way back.”

“
Where
are you going next week Bob?”

“
I’ll
head east. The week after that I’ll head north, then go to the west
the following week. I’ll follow the tourist’s route as much as
possible; that’s where there are likely to be gift shops. I don’t
want to spend the weekends away from home and the van won’t hold
enough toys to keep me going for two weeks so I’ll leave on Mondays
and try to be home on Thursdays but I might have to stay until
Fridays sometimes.”

“
How
many shops do you think you will be able to visit?”

“
Don’t
know. Maybe forty a week, depends on how many there
are.”

“
If you
find forty shops in each direction we’ll have another hundred and
twenty. That’ll give us nearly three hundred and fifty all told.
Think of what we’d earn if they all sold one set each
day!”

“
I hope
they sell more than that Ken. Rose can sell two or three on a
Saturday or Sunday when the tourists are visiting. Bigger shops in
towns should sell many more. Even Leo sells more than one a day in
his village. Trouble is, how do we keep all of them
supplied?”

“
And how
do we make that many. Seven hundred a week won’t be enough. We’ll
have to double that. You know, until we do that I won’t have time
to set up a line to produce the fire engines.”

“
Yes,
you’re right. Okay, we’ll leave that until later. But how can you
double production? There’s not enough room in the shop to add
another two benches.”

“
We
might add one, between the other two, but it’d be very crowded and
people would be bumping into each other. We’ll have to rent another
place. Ask your friends if they know of a building we can
use.”

“
I can
do that. But I don’t think we’ll be that lucky. Getting Joe’s
milking parlour saved us last time. There can’t be any more places
like this. I’ll let you know what they say Monday morning. What are
you doing this weekend?”

“
We’re
going to Manchester to see James, Julie and Larry. Mary keeps
saying we don’t see enough of them. It’s especially important now
since he’s nearly three and is changing so much. She misses him,
even though they talk each weekend. He can speak quite well
now.”

“
It’s a
long drive and you’ll be tired. Does Mary drive some of the
way?”

“
Not
usually. I don’t mind driving. I know the road, ‘cos we’ve driven
it many times in the last three years. We’ll leave after supper
tonight. It’s usually less busy then.”

“
Well
drive safely Ken.”

“
I
will.”

Chapter 23 Where next?

There were
three loads of washing to do Saturday morning, two whites, mostly
of overalls, and one dark. The line full of clothes waving in the
breeze reminded him of the times when Betty had everyone’s washing
hanging there. As the kids grew older there was less and less room
on the line and she had told him to put up another one. He had
never done that but it looked as if he might have to do so in the
future if they hired another four workers.

He did a
little hoeing, pulled some carrots and all the peas that were at
least three-quarters full. They would be nice with his chops on
Sunday. The rest of the morning he cleaned the house. After lunch
he took his usual walk but stopped at Betty’s branch to tell her
about his new life. ‘I think she’d be pleased that I’m doing this,’
he thought, as he walked on. ‘She never wanted me to spend all my
spare time in my workshop.’ He didn’t go to his parent’s grave but
did go to the village shop for his staples but they still didn’t
carry Thai sauces. He’d look in bigger shops when he was
delivering.

No one at the
Crown knew of any barns or places to rent. Jack knew just about
everything that was on the market or empty within twenty miles but
he knew of nothing. Joe said, “The only thing is to wait until the
industrial development is opened. Do you know how long that might
take Jane?”

“
No I
don’t. They are about to build houses on two of the sections above
the railway tracks but I’ve heard nothing about the industrial
area. I don’t expect it will be long; there has to be places for
people to work if they’re going to bring in such a large number.
Not all of them will be retirees.”

“’
Ow’s
t’Centre comin’ Jane?” asked Jack.

“
Oh I
can tell you that,” said Bob. “The roof, windows and doors are on.
I went there last night and took a look. There’s nothing inside
yet.”

“
That’s
right. They’re putting up the walls for the rooms next week,” said
Jane. “You’ll be able to see the layout once the framing’s
done.”

“
I won’t
be able to see anything until the end of the week,” said Bob. “and
the gyproc’ll probably be on by then. We’re renting a bigger van
and I’ll be driving east, towards Brighton, visiting shops in the
towns along the way most of the week.”

“
Brighton? Are you going to drive there and back each day?”
asked Rose.

“
No.
I’ll stay in a hotel or bed and breakfast, in a place where there’s
room enough to park the van.”

“
If you
want places that are nice but not too expensive you’d probably have
to stay on the outskirts. Do you belong to the AA? Their
guidebook’s good. It tells you where they are and how much they
charge.”

“
No I
don’t. Does anyone?” he asked.

“
No,”
said Joe. “I can fix most things if ever something went
wrong.”

“
Nay,”
said Jack. “’Wot you doin’ wiv t’old van?”

“
We’ll
use it to visit shops that are not too far away.”

“
Is Ken
going to be driving?” asked Joe.

“
No
he’ll stay in the shop. We’ll have to hire a man to drive
it.”

“
Hey,’”
said Jack. “John or I cou’d do that.”

“
It’d
only be for a day or two each week I expect.”

“
Tha’s
okay.”

“
Well
good. Ken or I’ll call you when we need a driver.”

Rose gave Bob
a cheque for £286.50 as they left the Crown. “That’s the May’s
sales. I sold five trains, eight villages and nine farms. There’s a
list in the envelope.”

‘
So Rose
has sold about four sets each week. I wonder what the others have
sold,’ he thought as he walked home. ‘I bet we’ve done well this
month.’

Sunday morning
he added the May bills. They had spent £5,782.92, although there
might be a few more expenses from Ken. Not the barbecue, he’d
already included the forty five pounds for that. The biggest
expense for May was the salaries. They came to £2,250. The next
biggest expense was the boxes, the pasteboards cost £1,000 and the
plastic cost £307.50. The routers, blades and safe were the other
big items, all the rest were relatively small amounts. No, there
would be the van to pay for as well.

He then
checked how much there should be in the bank. On May 10th, after
adding the income they’d received from Rose, Jenny and Leo and
paying Craig and Lori’s salary there should have been about £1,050.
Then he and Ken had added five thousand and they had money from
other sales of £1,639.50. So they had over seven and a half
thousand in the bank. That meant there was enough to cover the May
expenses and he could write the cheques.