Bob of Small End

by David Hockey

  Chapter 18 Lori

  He drove directly to Southampton on Monday morning, arriving at the first shop on his list at nine. As he had done Friday he chatted for a few minutes, discussed the conference or the weather then gave the manager or owner five of each set and collected a receipt. He told each one that when he came next he’d bring some better-looking boxes but couldn’t say when that would be. He had a mug of coffee in one shop and he had visited all six shops by eleven thirty so he drove home. He had a short rest, a quick lunch and was in the workshop by one thirty.

  “Didn’t expect to see you today,” said Ken.

  “I had no more villages to give out. I went to Southampton, visited six shops and left five sets with each.”

  “You’ll have another hundred villages tomorrow, as soon as the last coat is dry. Right now we have to finish the hedges, sand them, then paint the whole set. Lori is helping us now, Lori Turner. She’s in the sanding booth. I’ll introduce you when she comes out. I think we have another treasure there. I’ll tell you about her afterwards.”

  “What can I do?”

  “Help Craig make the rest of the hedges. I’m going to paint the houses and other sanded parts.”

  They stopped for tea and biscuits as soon as Lori emerged from the sanding booth. She was an attractive girl, about twenty years old. She, like Craig, had gone to the Big End high school but she had left when sixteen to work in a clothes shop. She had expected to manage the shop by now but the owner had told Lori a month ago that her daughter would become manager as soon as she finished college. So Lori left and had been looking for a different kind of job. A friend had seen the notice in Rose’s shop when she had visited a week ago and told Lori about it.

  “You live in Big End then Lori?” asked Bob.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you think you’ll like working here?”

  “Don’t know. It’s a lot different from selling clothes. I can tell you I don’t like sanding, it’s too noisy in the booth. I’d rather paint. Or even try pushing the wood through those cutters.”

  “You can switch to painting tomorrow Lori,” said Ken. “Finish the rest of the sanding today and it’ll be the last time you’ll have to do that.”

  “You promise?”

  “Yes. However we’ll have to see how well you can paint or push wood if we’re going to keep you. I’d suggest you wear old clothes when you work here. You could keep them here and change in the toilet if you don’t want to travel in them.”

  “I’ll think about that. Do you have any work I can do in the office. I’d like to do that most of all.”

  “Not yet. We will when we get bigger, I expect. We’d need someone to answer phones, keep records and that sort of thing.”

  “How do you record what you do, what you buy and sell, at the moment? I know how to use spreadsheets and I use a word processor at home.”

  “We just write what we need to record on paper.”

  “What about inventory? For instance, you seem pretty low on wood.”

  “We check that by eye. Oh Bob, I ordered wood for another four hundred of each today. As Lori said, we’ll need that soon.”

  “Well Mr. Smith, when you want someone to use a computer please think of me.”

  “It’ll be a while before we buy a computer Lori. We don’t need one at the moment.”

  “Do you still need more help?” asked Craig. “Mum told me that the notice was still on Tyne’s board yesterday.”

  “Yes we do,” answered Ken. “We need another two helpers immediately. Do either of you know of anybody?”

  “There’s a boy I met at a concert last Saturday,” said Lori. “His family just moved to Small End and he’s looking for a job. I’ll tell him you have one when I see him next but I don’t know where he lives. One place you might try is our high school. Kids who took the shop course might be perfect; one part of it is carpentry. You might find someone there. I didn’t take that so I don’t know anyone. Did you take that course Craig?”

  “No.”

  “Well I can ask my friends or you could visit or phone the school.”

  “Thanks Lori. That’s a good idea. I’ll do that right now,” and Ken went to the office, adding, “You’d better get back to work now or Bob won’t have anything to sell.”

  After Craig and Lori had left that afternoon Ken told Bob that the school said there might be one or two boys looking for a job. “But they won’t finish school until July. So that’s no good. It might be okay in the future but not now. Let’s hope Lori finds the boy.”

  “What were you going to tell me about her?” asked Bob.

  “Well she’s already told you. I was just going to tell you where she worked and that she’d never done any woodwork before today.”

  “Do you think she’s any good?”

  “Well the sanding she’s done is okay but it’s depends on how well she can paint and cut wood.”

  “Yes. I’ll be here tomorrow and can help,” said Bob. “I’ll box the sets once they’re dry and go back to the Southampton area in the afternoon and visit the rest of the shops. Wednesday I’ll help here until we have enough to go out again.”

  “Okay. The wood should be here tomorrow afternoon. Leon said he kept the amount we normally ordered on hand but our last order was a bit unexpected. I told him to keep that quantity on hand from now on until we told him differently. I must order more paint too. I’ll do that tomorrow.”

  “We don’t need to order more boxes. I’ll collect a thousand on Friday.”

  “Yes. We’ll have to keep a careful track of how many we use. It takes a week, or did you say longer, to get them.”

  “More like two weeks. I’ll keep an eye on what we’ve got.”

  “Okay.”

  Bob made a check list to track box usage when he arrived home. ‘I’m getting too many lists. Maybe we should ask Lori to look after these kind of things.’

  Ken was pinning houses to the holders when Bob arrived just after eight on Tuesday. He donned an overall and joined him.

  “When do Craig and Lori arrive?”

  “Craig is here by nine. Lori got here at eight forty five yesterday. She’ll probably be here the same time each day unless her bus is late. I’ll stick to the routine we had, they start at nine and leave at five, have half an hour for lunch and a couple of tea breaks. Oh, we need more biscuits and tea when you’re shopping.”

  “What do you do about milk?”

  “Mary buys it and I bring it in each morning. Ah, that’s Lori. Morning Lori.”

  “Hello Mr. Smith, Mr. Barns. Looks like rain later. I’ve brought my umbrella.” She picked up an overall and said, “I’m painting today, right?”

  “Yes. Watch what I’m doing then take over. Can you guess what this is for?” and he held up one of the holders.

  “I guess that’s the way you paint the houses.”

  “Yes. We dip five of them in paint at once then hang them up to dry. We clean the needles with a cloth before using them the next time, just the ones that need cleaning, that is.”

  “I see. And you put the houses in that box thing there to position them correctly on the needles.”

  “Yes, exactly. Okay, so you do it now. Then we’ll pin the other buildings and the hedges. After that we’ll start dipping. I’ll do it while you watch then you can take over.”

  “What do you want me to do Ken?” asked Bob.

  “You and Craig start making train sets, a hundred of them. Lori and I’ll join you when we are free.”

  “Okay.”

  At their ten-thirty tea break Lori told them she had talked to some of her friends but those who had jobs were happy and those who were still looking didn’t want to work with wood. “Maybe someone will change their mind later,” she added.

  “It would be nice if a couple did,” said Ken.

  “I’ve been thinking about all the lists you must be keeping Mr. Smith. You don’t need to buy a computer, you can use my old one. Dad gave me a new one
for Christmas. My old one already has a word processor and a spreadsheet program on it so you won’t even have to buy them. Someone will have to collect it though, and I’d like to be the one to use it. What do you think?”

  “Call me Ken, Lori. We might give it a try but we don’t have that many records to keep so it won’t take up much of your time. You’ll still be mostly working in the shop.”

  “That’s okay. I like doing different things during the day. It’s only the noise in the sanding booth I don’t like.”

  “Then why don’t I drive you home tonight and collect the computer.”

  “Okay but you’ll have to buy a printer if you want to print the lists. I didn’t get a new one of those.”

  “All right, but let’s see how much we can do without one. Can Lori use your desk Bob?”

  “Of course. And if we ever have free time you can teach me how to use the computer Lori. And call me Bob.”

  “All right.”

  The day passed quickly. Lori had brought sandwiches for lunch and they were a comfortable group, sitting around the table and chatting. Craig soon began cracking jokes.

  The third coat of paint was dry after they’d finished their afternoon tea break. Bob glued the parts together, Lori boxed them and then put them in the van. He wrote 100 on the list under Village Sets and pinned it back on the notice board while Lori watched.

  “You’ll have trouble at the end of the year or whenever you want totals Bob. You’ll have to keep all these lists and add them manually. If I kept them on the computer you’d know the grand total anytime.”

  “Yes you’re right. Maybe we should use a computer.”

  After Ken locked the shop Bob drove home thinking about tomorrow’s deliveries. ‘I’ve enough to visit eleven shops so I’ll finish the east section then go north.’