Bob of Small End (59 page)

“‘
Bye
,Bob.”

“
I’ll
call about nine. Let me know how you are doing and if any more
money comes in Ken. ‘Bye.”

He drove north
towards Basingstoke stopping at two gift shops along the way,
showing them the newsletter and his toys and leaving five of each
set when they agreed to sell them. Basingstoke had changed so much
from the way it used to be. ‘That’s how Small End will become if we
expand to the south as well as to the north,’ he thought. ‘Let’s
hope it doesn’t go that way.’ He then drove to Reading and stopped
for the day at six o’clock, having another ten receipts in his
envelope.

“
I’m in
Reading Ken. We now have another ten retailers. What’s the news
from the shop?”

“
More
cheques arrived today. Lori tells me we’ve now got £4,381. It’s in
the safe. All are from May sales. She asks if you paid all the May
bills?”

“
Yes I
did. A week ago. So she’s already handling the money side of
things?”

“
Yes.
She’s shown me the spreadsheet she keeps on the
computer.”

“
And it
looks okay? You understand what she’s done and it’s
correct?”

“
Yes I
think so. You’ll have to check it when you return.”

“
I’ll do
that each week. Anything else?”

“
There
are a few requests for more sets. Lori tells me she’ll separate
them into areas and I’ll let you know which are on your way when we
know where you are driving. Where are you going
tomorrow?”

“
Swindon
and the roads around there.”

“
All
right. You’ll call me tomorrow?”

“
Yes.
Same time?”

“
Yes.
Take it easy Bob.”

“
You too
Ken.”

A day driving
around Swindon in the rain and dashing with a container full of toy
sets from the van to the shops quickly tired Bob, who was only
cheered by the fact he’d another sixteen shops selling for him. He
was glad he wouldn’t be delivering to them in the future, they’d
hire someone else to do that. His meal was uninteresting too—
over-cooked vegetables and two under-cooked chops. He tried to be
cheerful when phoning Ken, there was no sense in upsetting him.

“
Another
sixteen Ken. How are things your end?”

“
£7,443
now Bob. And fourteen more requests for more deliveries. I talked
to the gang about doing overtime today but only Craig is
interested. I haven’t heard from the school.”

“
Did you
offer time-and-a-half for overtime?”

“
Yes. It
wasn’t a money thing. They all find it hard work and felt they
couldn’t work at our rate for more than eight hours a
day.”

“
Oh are
we pushing them too hard?”

“
I don’t
think so, they set their own pace. I think they each work hard to
show the others they can handle it.”

“
Interesting, let’s hope it continues that way. I’m going to
Marlborough and Andover tomorrow. Are there any requests I can
handle on that route?”

“
Well
there are another nine around Southampton. I’ll read out their
names and addresses.”

“
Okay.”

Ken read them
out then Bob told him to ask Lori to print a copy of all their
retailers with their addresses. “I won’t have to copy them all down
when I have that list. You can just give me their names and I’ll
put a mark by their name.”

“
All
right. Are you coming home tomorrow?”

“
Yes.
It’s been a hard day and the rain hasn’t helped. I’ll not call
tomorrow night and I’ll be in the shop on Thursday.”

“
All
right Bob. Cheers.”

“
Cheers
Ken.”

It was raining
again on Wednesday but Bob added thirteen new shops and dropped off
the extra sets in the Southampton area. As he drove towards Small
End he thought about supper. He didn’t want to go to the pub, he
was tired of eating out, so he’d just heat a pot pie.

There was a
letter on the mat when he opened the door. The handwriting and the
stamp told him that it was from Maria. He took it to the kitchen
and put the pie in the oven to warm before he opened the envelope.
He expected it was a reminder to pay the balance of the money for
the August holiday, but no, it wasn’t that, Maria wrote to say that
a church group liked the description of what they read in one of
their brochures and that they asked the agency if they could run
one especially for them. They had twenty two people who would go if
they could run it in June. It took a lot of last minute organising,
finding hotels that had enough room, or finding two of them close
to each other when needed, and arranging all the speakers but it
had been done and they would be arriving Saturday June 15th and she
would be the guide. She said that it would be returning Saturday
June 29th and asked, ‘do you want to meet me then? I have arranged
to fly back on Sunday. I thought we could go to a show in London.
Please can you call me this Friday night at nine o’clock or later
that evening to discuss this. I hope you receive this letter in
time.’ It was signed ‘with love from’.

He immediately
cheered up. Maria did think about him and she did want to see him
again. Of course he could make it. If there had been anything on he
would have cancelled it to see her, but, of course, that weekend
was no different from any of his others, nothing had been planned.
He’d drive the Vauxhall to the airport, no more buses for him.
Presumably she would be arriving at Gatwick. He’d have to ask about
that and find out what time she arrived. And tonight he’d have a
beer with his pie and a glass of port afterwards!

Chapter 25 Maria and money

Ken was
working in the shop and Lori was working on the computer when Bob
walked in Thursday morning. She greeted him, moved her chair back
and asked, “Do you want to sit here Bob?”

“
No,
thanks Lori. I think we’d better say that that’s your desk and
chair now though I could use a small one. Order it and just squeeze
it in a corner. So how’re we doing? What did the May sales bring
in?”

“
£8,890.50. Is that enough to cover all the month’s
expenses?”

“
No not
yet, but we should be getting more in if this month’s like last
month. Right now we’re using money Ken and I put in. Here are the
receipts for this week’s sets. There are thirty nine
altogether.”

“
I’ll
add them to the list. Did you go to the shops that phoned
in?”

“
Southampton area? Yes. I gave them five of each.”

“
Okay.
I’ll add that to the lists.”

“
Let me
look at last week’s figures Lori. I’d like to see the sheets that
show what we’ve produced, given out, sold and our expenses and
income.”

“
Do you
want me to print them out or would you like to see them on the
computer?”

“
The
computer I think. If there’s anything I don’t understand I might
like a printed copy to study.’

“
All
right. If you come here you can see our production and
stock.”

“
Ah yes.
That’s very good. How about the ones all the retailers
have?”

“
That’s
here.”

“
Oh yes.
That’s about what I guessed. Okay.”

“
And
here’s our expenses. The next page is what we have
received.”

“
I see.
There are a few items I didn’t know about. Nothing big though.
Looks like you’ve got everything under control Lori. Very good.
Could you print a copy of each of these sheets, or spreadsheets,
whatever they’re called, for me at the end of each
month?”

“
Yes of
course.”

“
Thanks.
Well, I’ll load up for the next trip.”

Bob shouted
“Hi” to everyone in the shop as he walked through to open the side
door. At the van he opened the back and counted the number of sets
that remained then fetched more until he had four hundred of each.
All it needed now was petrol before heading off next week.

Everyone was
having their tea when he’d finished and he joined the group,
laughing so heartily at Craig’s jokes that Ken said, “You seem very
cheerful today Bob. It couldn’t have been that bad in the rain
yesterday.”

“
Well,”
replied Bob, “it has been a good week, after all.”

The phone
rang. Ken went to the office and took the call. It was the shop
teacher from the high school. He introduced himself and said, “Most
of our boys want to work in a garage or in a machine shop but I’ve
told them there won’t be enough openings for all of them. Perhaps
because of that, or because they like working with wood, three said
they might be interested in working in your shop. Can I send them
over to see what you do? Since they’re looking for work the
headmaster doesn’t mind them missing school.”

“
Yes of
course. Can they come next week? During the day? That’s when we’re
working.”

“
Yes
that’s no problem. They could come any day.”

“
Then
how about Monday? If they’re here before ten they can chat with our
lot during the tea break.”

“
They
can do that. You know they won’t be available until July? When
school finishes?

“
Yes.”

“
All
right, I’ll send them over. What’s your address? You’re in Small
End, right?”

“
Yes.
It’s 110 Big End Road. The building’s in a farm yard. Mr. Smith’s
farm. Everybody in the village will know where that is. Tell them
to look for the sign
Small End Wooden
Toys
over a door. That’s the entrance.”

“
All
right. Then you’ll see them on Monday. Thanks for calling the
school; it isn’t easy for some of our lads to find work and we
appreciate it.”

Ken told
everybody that there would be three boys from the high school
visiting Monday. “They might like to work here so I want you to be
nice to them.”

“
We’re
always nice,” said Lori.

“
What
are their names?” asked Craig.

“
I don’t
know. However if they do agree to work for us there’s a problem.
I’d like to put in another bench in the shop but there’s no room
for one. So I’ve been thinking about shift-work. What do you think
about that?”

“
What
kind of shift work? From nine to five and five to one? There are no
buses in the middle of the night,” said Luke.

“
No not
those times. How does from six to one and from one to eight
sound?”

“
Is
there a bus that would get us here at six am?” asked
Luke.

“
Yes
I’ve checked.”

“
Well I
wouldn’t mind working the early shift. What about you
Jose?”

“
I’d do
it if you would,” he replied.

“
What
about you Lori? Craig?” Ken asked.

“
I think
I’d prefer the early shift too. Could I change if I don’t like
getting up that early?” Lori replied.

“
Yes of
course. How about you Craig?”

“
I don’t
mind. I’d do what ever you want. It’s easy for me to get here
either time and I don’t mind getting up early. I do that when I go
fishing.”

“
Okay.
I’ll talk to the boys on Monday and see what they say. We’ll work
something out.”

All through
that discussion Bob wished he could tell them that they might be
able to rent the old Community Centre but he couldn’t. He hoped the
committee would agree, it would solve a lot of difficulties.

Most of the
day Bob worked with Ken. Luke and Jose worked together and Lori and
Craig paired up. Sanding or painting changed the routine sometimes
for it was difficult for two people to work in the booths at the
same time, especially when handling long hedge blocks. And it
wasn’t always Ken or Lori who answered the telephone; whoever was
nearest the shop phone or near the office would stop and take the
call. Ken didn’t mind and it demonstrated to Bob how much of a team
they’d become.

As Bob entered
his garden after work he saw a group of men standing near the new
Centre. Sam Loring was there, talking to them. After he’d finished
Bob walked over. “What’s happening now Sam? Is anything wrong?”

“
No I
was just giving everyone some news about the company. We’ve got
another contract, a big one, so we’ll be expanding.”

“
Something around here?”

“
No the
other side of Salisbury.”

“
Oh.
Well that’s good. Can I go in the Centre and have a
look?”

“
No. Not
now they’re here. There’s a union guy with them and he hates
visitors on a site. ‘It’s likely to cause an accident,’ he says.
Maybe tomorrow, if I’m alone, although I don’t know when or even if
I’ll be here then.”

“
Okay.
Is everything going well?”

“
Oh yes.
We’ll be done by the end of June.”

Bob worked
hard in the shop all day Friday. They were going to need a lot of
sets soon, he and everyone else knew that. Ken must have talked
about it when he was away. But they still ended at four. He
overheard Craig telling Lori he’d call for her at six thirty. ‘I
wonder what’s going on there?’ he asked himself but he didn’t tell
Ken what he’d heard.