Bob of Small End (84 page)

The alarm woke
him. His forefinger was between pages five and six; reading about
computers, he learned, was not the most exciting thing to do. He
put on his mackintosh and just as he was about to pick up the
umbrella remembered to switch on the railway light. It was still
raining as he walked down to the pub.

“
Hello
Joe. I’m here first tonight!” Bob said, when Joe joined
him.

“
Didn’t
fall asleep then?”

“
I did,
actually, but I had the alarm on and it woke me. I’ve been playing
with a computer this afternoon. What do you think of
that?”

“
Did you
like it?” asked Joe.

“
Yes. It
was fun. I’m the
Golden Squares
champion!”

“
What’s
Golden
Squares
?”

“
A
computer game Lori gave me. She said I should play lots of games so
I can get familiar with the mouse and how a computer
works.”

“
You can
play with our mice,” said Jack as he joined them. “There’s plenty
in t’new houses.”

“
They’ve
come from the fields Jack. You’re building on their habitat,” said
Joe.

“
Where
are the girls?” asked Bob.

“
Not
coming tonight. They’ve gone to Big End to see a movie” said Joe.
“It’s a girl’s night out, Jane told me. They’ve gone with Jenny
Painter. She’s quite an organiser.”

“
She’s a
nice woman. I danced with her.”

“
Yes,
you told us. What’s happened to Maria?” asked Joe, with a
smile.

“
What do
you mean? Nothing’s happened to her, I’ll be seeing her in a week’s
time.”

“
Oh yes,
that’s right. Your holiday.”

“
Yes.”

“
It’s
time I ‘ad one.” said Jack.

“
And
me,” Joe said, “but I can’t, not for another three
months.”

They talked
about the work on the farm and the work that Jack was doing then
Bob told them how busy they were in the shop. They each had a third
pint after their supper then slowly walked home under their
umbrellas. As he approached his house Bob was glad he’d turned the
light on, it made the place inviting. He turned it off as he
entered and was fast asleep in his bed ten minutes later.

It was still
raining Sunday morning and Bob tried to sleep late. The problem
was, he couldn’t. He could sleep easily in the evening and at night
but felt he had to get up when the sun rose. He arose, dressed, put
the washing away, warmed his kippers in some water in the frying
pan and ate them with two slices of buttered toast. With nothing
else except tidying and dusting to do he spent most of the day on
the computer, stopping for a late coffee, then a late lunch, and
finally stopping altogether to make his supper at six. Playing
games had quickly became addictive.

He told Maria
about his computer in his letter that evening. He knew she used
computers at work and she would understand what he was talking
about. He also told her about the week and how much he was looking
forward to their holiday. ‘I’ll drive to the hotel on Sunday and be
there when you register the people from England. With much love,
Bob.’

Monday morning
was bright and sunny and Bob almost thought about taking a walk
before going to work but knew it would be another busy day and that
he should save his energy. He arrived early and was putting the
milk into the fridge when Ken arrived.

“
Hi Ken.
How was your weekend? Was the traffic bad?”

“
Hi Bob.
No, not going, although it was coming back last night.”

“
How was
everybody?”

“
They’re
all fine. Larry’s three now, his birthday was last week. So we had
a second birthday party for him, his first was with some playmates.
A simple party, we just had cup cakes and ice cream. Mary gave him
our presents. He’s growing so fast, runs about and talks so much.
Mary told me she wants us to visit more often; every two months
isn’t enough she said. I half agreed but said she might have to go
alone if we have to work on the weekends. She was a bit angry when
I said that.”

“
It
might not get that bad Ken. We can ask them if they’d work in the
evenings instead of Saturdays if we had to. Also you don’t have to
be here. Craig and I can handle it.”

“
Yes,
but working evenings isn’t good as we know. We couldn’t do it more
than twice a week and they’d make fewer in the evenings than if
they worked on Saturdays because they’d be tired. Ah, well, we’ll
see what happens.”

Lori walked in
and sat down.

“
Hello
Lori,” said Bob. “Had a good weekend?”

“
Yes.
Bought some furniture and did a bit more painting but there’s still
a lot to do.”

“
Will it
be ready for your party? It’s this Saturday isn’t it?”

“
Yes.
It’ll be all right. The bedroom walls and the trim haven’t been
painted and there’s still a lot to do in the kitchen but Craig says
he’ll have it done by Saturday.”

“
Good.
Everyone wants to see it.”

Ken stood up,
“I’ve been thinking about what we’ve got Lori. We need to make
villages today don’t we?”

“
Yes.”

“
Okay.
Is Craig in the shop?”

“
I think
so.”

After he had
left Bob told Lori that he had started using the computer.

“
I’ve
beaten your score on the first two games Lori and I’m playing the
third and fourth games now.”

“
Good
for you Bob. Did you have any trouble?”

“
Nope,
apart from understanding the manual. It’s hard to learn that
way.”

“
I find
that too. It’s easiest to just use the machine and learn as you go
along. Has it frozen on you yet?”

“
Frozen?”

“
Yes.
Stopped working and you can’t make it work no matter what you do
with the mouse or the keyboard?”

“
No not
yet. Will it do that?”

“
It does
sometimes. If it does press the Alt, Control and Delete keys at the
same time. That’ll usually let you correct the trouble. I’ll write
that down for you. If that doesn’t work press the start button on
the computer and hold it down. It’ll shut down the machine and it
should be okay next time you start it. But use the Alt, Control and
Delete keys before you do that. Okay?”

“
I think
so. Thanks Lori. Can I write letters on it, the way it is
now?”

“
Sure.
Do you want to do that already?”

“
Not
immediately, not until after the holidays.”

“
Okay.
We’ll talk about it then.”

They made
villages that day, nine hundred of them. At the end of the day
Lori’s list read; farms 3,000, villages 2,900, trains 1,700.

Tuesday they
made more villages, this time about one thousand. At the end of the
day Ken told Bob that they should have enough for Dave’s Friday
call.

Unfortunately,
or fortunately, Ken couldn’t decide which it was when first told
about it, Dave called early Wednesday morning.

“
Sorry
to do this since I said we’d order on Fridays in future but we need
more toys. Can you deliver 2,000 village, the same number of farm
sets and 1,200 trains today? There have been many more orders for
your stuff.”

“
Yes,”
Lori replied. “They’ll be there by lunch time. Thanks
Dave.”

“
We’ll
have to meet sometime, Lori. Why don’t you bring them?”

“
Ah,
that’s not my job, but I might, for a change, one day.”

“
Good.
I’ll take you to lunch if you come later in the year, in the
fall.”

“
I’ll
think about it. Should I bring my fiancé?”

“
Oh,
err, yes, if you like.”

“
All
right. Thanks for asking. ‘Bye Dave.”

“‘
Bye
Lori.”

The phone rang
again. This time it was Salisbury Boxes; their order was ready.
Lori went to the shop and told Ken and Bob about the calls and that
they had received £2,608 from their July deliveries.

“
That’s
a big relief,” said Bob. “I thought we’d have to put more money in
the bank this week. Okay I’ll drive to Basingstoke and
Salisbury.”

They loaded
the van and, as Bob was climbing into the driver’s seat, Lori told
him that Dave had asked if she could deliver the toys sometime.
“He’s said he’d buy me lunch if I did that in the fall.”

“
I asked
him if I could buy him lunch and he said he’d be too busy until
October so that’s when he meant, I guess,” said Bob.

“
I’m not
sure he still wanted me to deliver when I asked if I could bring my
fiancé!”

“
Ah
well, it might make a nice change for you and Craig to do a
delivery. Remind me in October will you?”

“
Yes I
will. Thanks.”

They made
trains that day, adding another 1,200 to the inventory. Bob got
back to the shop at two and helped. At the end of the day the
inventory read 1,000 farms, 1,900 villages and 1,700 trains. Bob
crossed his fingers and wondered how many Dave would ask for on
Friday.

Thursday they
made another 900 farms. Another £2,380 arrived and £16,649 more on
Friday. Dave called to ask for fifteen hundred farms, fifteen
hundred villages and a thousand trains. They loaded the van and Bob
took all the cheques. “I’ll deliver then go to Big End and deposit
the cheques. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He didn’t stop for
coffee, there wasn’t much traffic and he was served immediately at
the bank so he got back to the shop by one and spent the afternoon
helping them make more villages.

At a shortened
tea break, cut down, with everybody’s agreement, to five minutes,
Ken stood up and told them that they probably wouldn’t have enough
inventory to fill next week’s orders.

“
You can
see the list on the stock-room door. By the time we finish today
we’ll have about 400 farms, 1,300 villages and 700 trains. We can
add around a thousand each day but if our wholesaler calls for more
on Wednesday next week we’ll probably not have enough for him on
Friday. Can any of you work overtime tomorrow?”

“
We’d
pay double for those who can,” added Bob.

Most people
nodded their heads but Diane said she couldn’t, she was taking her
Mum to visit her brother. Then Alan said he couldn’t but didn’t
give a reason. Everybody else said they could and agreed to be at
the shop at nine and work until four.

“
Thanks’
everybody. Thank you very much,” said Ken.

“
But
what about your party Lori?” asked Diane. “I’m taking Mum early
just so I could be back to go to that.”

“
Do you
mind if we postpone it Diane? Everybody?” said Lori. “We’ll all be
pretty tired tomorrow evening and I’d rather have it when we have
more energy. Does anybody mind?”

“
No, we
think you’re right. We’ll all be tired,” said Bert. “Let’s have it
when the rush has finished. Okay everyone?”

“
Sure,”
“Yes,” “That’s best,” “Good,” were the replies.

Ken then said,
“Pick up your cheques for this week’s work as usual tonight. We’ll
add the overtime pay to your next-week’s cheque.” Everyone got up,
washed their mugs and returned to work.

“
Lori,
could you make a note to pay everyone who comes tomorrow twice
their daily rate for the day,” said Bob.

“
Yes, I
will. You don’t mind my postponing the party.”

“
No, no,
of course not. It’ll be nice, whenever you have it.”

“
You’ll
be on holiday next week, won’t you Bob?”

“
Yes. I
thought about cancelling it but I’ll lose all the money I paid for
if I do. And my friend will be there too.”

“
A girl
friend?”

“
Yes.”

“
What’s
her name?”

“
Maria.”

“
Maria.
Is she English?”

“
No,
Portuguese. But she’s only a friend Lori. We’re not engaged or
anything like that. She’s guiding the group.”

“
Oh.
Well, I hope you both have a good time.”

“
Thanks,
I hope we will, too.”

He got up at
six on Saturday, put his clothes in the washer and ate breakfast.
Then, as soon as the machine stopped, he hung the clothes on the
line. According to the radio it wasn’t going to rain this weekend
and they should be dry by the evening. He drove his car to the
workshop so it would be ready to collect the overalls at the end of
the day and walked into the office. Ken was there, sitting at his
desk and looking at some of Lori’s lists.

“
Hello
Bob. You’re early.”

“
Not as
early as you Ken. Is there something wrong?”

“
No,
just checking how many we’d made of each toy in the last fortnight.
I hope we can keep producing them this fast.

“
I don’t
think we will because I’ll be on holiday for the next two weeks. I
won’t be here Monday.”

“
Oh
damn. I’d forgotten all about that. We need everyone’s help. Can
you cancel? No, that’s not fair. No. You go, we’ll
manage.”