Bob of Small End

by David Hockey

  Chapter 38 Goodners

  Bob drove the car to the milking parlour early on Sunday and collected the equipment they had left in the shop. He put his own tools on the front seat and on the floor; items belonging to the company he put in the boot and on the back seat. There wasn’t a lot to take, most of it had been moved over earlier. Joe walked in as he was taking a last walk round.

  “You’ve forgotten the notice board Bob.”

  “Oh, hello Joe. We don’t need it. Already have all we want. Do you see anything else I should take?”

  “I’ll look around. You’ll phone the telephone and electrical suppliers?”

  “Yes, I’ll do it tomorrow.”

  Not seeing anything else to remove Bob locked the doors and gave his keys to Joe. “Come in for coffee Bob?”

  “I don’t think so Joe. Maybe sometime next week. I’ve a lot to think about. I’ll tell you about them when they’re sorted.”

  He phoned Regina in the evening. They talked about her holiday in Paris and then he told her that Sam and his family had visited. “It would be nice if you could bring Roy to see the factory this year.” He didn’t tell her that they might not have it next year. She said that Roy had seen the place on television and they might like to come one weekend but he gathered from her tone that they probably wouldn’t make the trip.

  He began his extra week of holidays on Monday by setting a pattern he followed each day. He arose as late as he could, between seven and eight, not being able to stay in bed any later. He had a lazy breakfast usually with the kitchen door and window wide open so he could hear the birds. He gardened or did a bit of housework, had a coffee and a couple of biscuits then went to his shop. He thought he would carve another bird but couldn’t get started, his mind kept drifting when he tried to picture a bird within the block of wood in his hands. He pottered around, dusting, rearranging and sharpening his tools. Sometimes he thought about Maria and what they might do if they did sell the workshop, sometimes it was about being an owner-manager and how often he would have to be at the factory. Other times he revised his ideas about how his remodelled house would look. When he felt like it he played games on his computer and thought about learning to touch-type. By Wednesday he had given up the idea of carving a bird and went for a walk each morning, waiting until after 9:30 in case Dave Posser phoned. He walked again in the afternoon, usually in the opposite direction, tracing paths he hadn’t used since childhood, remembering the boys he used to play with. Only Joe still lived in the village, all the rest of his friends had moved, to London or the midlands, two to Canada, one to Australia. Thinking of them made him wonder what his life would have been had he emigrated.

  He cooked different meals for supper each day, Thai, then a curry he made from curry powder and some lamb. He grilled salmon and fried tilapia. Once he had sausages. He ate broccoli and cauliflower from his garden and finished all his carrots. In the evenings he read or watched television.

  Wednesday Bob went to the dance lessons and tried to learn the samba. Thursday was back to the usual routine. Dave phoned Friday morning and asked for fifteen hundred farms, fifteen hundred villages and a thousand trains.

  “I know you won’t have all the villages, we’ll take what you have, but can you complete the order the following Friday? Together with the ones we’ll order then?”

  “Yes, we’ll make villages first thing next week.”

  He loaded the van and took the sets to Basingstoke then stopped at the road house for lunch. Maria’s weekly letter was on the door mat when Bob returned. She asked him if he could send her a sketch of the way the house would look after being remodelled. He started to do that after supper but quickly realised he had to know what walls Jack could remove before drawing a plan for her. He thought about calling Jack but realised he would be too tired on a Friday evening. He’d ask Jack on Saturday if he could check the house Sunday.

  Jack came Sunday afternoon and banged on some of the walls. Two were load-bearing and he noted that on his plan of the house and on Bob’s.

  “You must leave this un,” and he pointed to the one running through the centre of the house, “it’d be very expensive to move. But this ‘en’s easy. Make another drawin’ with that in mind an’ I’ll give you a quote.”

  “I’ll do that. Thanks Jack.”

  He wrote to Maria but said he’d have to send her a sketch next week. ‘There’s a wall we’ll be removing and I’m going to have a toilet downstairs where the bathroom presently is.’ He told her that he had a nice relaxing holiday but he was looking forward to returning to work. ‘I thought it might have been better if I took that holiday when you will be in England with the church tour but I know we wouldn’t see much of each other whilst that was on. Can you take some days off after it is over?’ He signed off, ‘with all my love, Bob.’

  It was easy to run the shop, Craig or Lori did almost all the work. The electric bell kept everybody on time. He helped wherever he could and made the odd decision. He told Craig they should make villages on Monday, “so we will have enough to complete Dave’s last order.” With the extra sanders they made 1,500 villages on the two lines that day. They made another 1,500 on Tuesday, the same number of farms on Wednesday and 1,500 trains Thursday. By the time Dave called Friday morning they had 1,800 farms,3,000 villages and 1,200 trains. He wanted another fifteen hundred farms and villages but only five hundred trains. Bob delivered them, together with the five hundred village sets they hadn’t been able to deliver the week before. The receipt he was given had a note from Dave attached. “Hi Bob. Please come and see me Dave.”

  “Hello Bob. I have something for you,” said Dave, as Bob walked into the office. “Here’s your first cheque. It’s for your first delivery. You remember, fifty of each set on July 18th?”

  “Yes, I remember that.” He looked at the cheque. It was for £937.50. “Thanks. I’m glad you also listed the items and number you bought. That’ll make it easy for Lori to check against her lists.”

  “We’ll normally send the cheques by mail and that’ll add another day or two to when you get them. You’ll soon be receiving much bigger ones Bob.”

  “I’m glad, we certainly need them, we’re short of money at the moment. Is it a good day for me to take you to lunch?”

  “No, not yet, but soon.”

  Bob gave the cheque to Lori when he returned and she added the details into her computer and also wrote the amount in the account’s book. “I still copy important figures to my hand-written records in case something goes wrong with the computer,” she told Bob. “Most companies buy an extra hard drive to make a copy but I prefer to do this.” Then she returned the cheque to him. “I suspect you’ll want to deposit it.”

  “Yes. How are we doing on our expenses for August Lori?”

  “I’ll finish paying them today. With the salaries they came to £21,386.18.”

  “And how much is left after paying all the bills? I’m worried that we’ll soon be out of money.”

  “It’ll be about £5,000 for the month’s wood, paint, pasteboard and other costs. But they won’t be paid until the end of the month. Without paying for them we’ll have about £7,500.”

  “So I shouldn’t need to get another mortgage because we’ll be getting money from We-Have-It. When’s their next cheque coming Lori?”

  “Just a minute. Ah, here it is. They’ll pay us £9,375 September 18th, £15,450 September 20th, £18,750 September 23rd and another £18,750 September 25th . A total of, hem, £62,262.50, once we’ve added in the cheque we have now.”

  “Ah, that’s more like it! It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?”

  He walked to his chair and sat down. No need to worry about paying the bills now they were getting money from We-Have-It. He was glad the money worries were over. Now all he had to worry about was what he’d do if Ken left. He tried to forget that and turned his mind to thinking about how much stock they had. He learned they had enough to satisfy Dave when Lori told him they’d have about 1,800
farms, 1,000 villages and 1,200 trains at the end of the day.

  Maria’s letter arrived that morning. She said she had to return with the group on the Sunday. ‘Could you come and stay at the hotel on Saturday night? We’ll be in the King’s Head in Salisbury. I’ll call you Monday evening to find out if you can come.’ He put down her letter, phoned the hotel and booked a room, one with a double bed. He gave them his credit card number and said he’d be there before six o’clock.

  He drove to Big End Saturday morning, deposited the cheque and did his shopping. He called in to see Jenny. She told him she’d had a good summer and was ready for a holiday. Susan would be managing the shop the following Sunday to Tuesday and she was going to London with a friend. He asked her if she had seen the BBC documentary of Small End but she hadn’t so he told her how they had expanded. Then he asked her how well We-Have-It Wholesalers orders were handled. “Do you get the toys on time?”

  “Oh yes. I now get quite a lot of my stock from them. I think they’ll soon be including stock from Africa. That’ll be interesting; people like wooden carvings. Could you make them?”

  “I used to carve birds but they take a long time. I might do that again one day.”

  At supper he told his friends that he wouldn’t be joining them next Saturday night. “I’ll be in Salisbury. Maria’s guiding a group and they’ll be there.”

  “It’s getting serious then?” said Jane.

  “Yes, I think so.”

  No one asked him if he was thinking of getting married, sensing it might be too early to raise that subject.

  The fortnightly teenagers’ dance was held that night. The noise they made when leaving woke him. He didn’t bother to shut the window, knowing it wouldn’t last long. Then he suddenly thought about having double-glazed windows installed when renovating. They would cut down the noise and the house would be warmer. ‘I’ll ask Jack to put them in. And he should check the attic, it might need more insulation.’

  He tidied the garden and the house Sunday morning and was planning on going for a long walk in the afternoon when Ken phoned, asking if he could come over to talk about the offer from Goodners. “Come as soon as you like,” Bob told Ken and he was there fifteen minutes later.

  “Hi Bob. No, nothing to drink, thanks. Bob, I told you earlier that I wanted to visit Goodners to see how compatible we are. I was a bit leery of the two men when they visited the shop, mostly because I didn’t know why they’d come and I thought I might still feel that way. Also I wanted to meet their father. If we get along all right I’m going to take the job. So I want to visit them next week.”

  “I see. When will you go?”

  “Tuesday. Mary has lots to do tomorrow but wants to come with me. We’ll stay at James’ place.”

  “Do Goodners know you’re coming?”

  “Yes, I phoned them this morning. I didn’t think you’d mind me doing that.”

  “No of course not. Will you stay all week?”

  “Oh no. We’ll be back Wednesday evening and I’ll be at work on Thursday. I’ll tell you what I’ve decided then.”

  “All right.”

  They talked a little about the shop after that but that wasn’t the most important thing to think about right then. Ken didn’t stay long and left for home saying he had to help Mary. Bob didn’t take his walk but sat in his chair wrapped inside his uncertain future.

  The first thing Ken did when he entered the office Monday morning was look at the stock list. Lori watched him then took out the account books and showed him the August expenses and income. Bob sat at his desk while she was doing this then said “You can have your £15,000 back in a couple of weeks Ken.”

  “Ah that’s good. I may be needing it. I’m glad things have been going so well. Everyone had a good holiday?”

  “We did,” Lori said, “and everyone else said they did as well.”

  “I’m glad. The only thing against our cruise was the amount of food one was tempted to eat. I must have put on five pounds! Ah, Lori, I’ll be away tomorrow and Wednesday. Mary and I are going to visit James.”

  “All right Ken.”

  Bob thought that the conversation was a little strained and was glad when everyone else came in and he started working. He wished Ken ‘good luck’ when he left at five. Ken said ‘thanks’ in return; there wasn’t much more he could add.

  Wednesday evening the dancing class members were taught a few steps of the tango. Bob found it a difficult dance and decided it wouldn’t be one he’d use. Not unless Maria wanted him to dance it. Ken phoned him shortly after he returned home to tell him that he would be taking the job and asked Bob to meet him at eight in the office to discuss the next steps.

  “I’ve signed a contract Bob and I start early November. So we’ve got just over a month to find a buyer for the company. Can you ask your friends and see if they know of anybody who might be interested? I’ll ask mine too, of course.”

  “I don’t think my friends will know of anybody but I’ll ask. We should ask Simon and Arthur, they’re more likely to know of someone who has that kind of money.”

  “Yes, of course. I’ll phone them tonight.”

  “I’ll tell Len, he’ll let everybody in the village know. It’ll be a big piece of gossip for him. But if we can’t find anyone we’ll have to think about other ways of finding a buyer. Perhaps using a business broker.”

  “We’ll have to agree on the price before we tell everyone it’s for sale. Are you still okay with half a million pounds?”

  “Yes. I’d be happy to let it go for that. Provided it stays in Small End, although that’s becoming a little less important now. If we can’t find a buyer I’m thinking we might have to sell to Great Toys.”

  “If they still want it. All right. Let’s see if we can find someone.”

  Ken called at nine that night to say that neither Simon nor Arthur wanted to buy the company. “They’ll talk to some of their friends and clients. Some of them might be interested.”

  “Did you tell them what we are earning, our net profit?”

  “Yes, I had to. I gave them our current position and what we expected to make in future. They were interested in that but cautious, as one would expect. Anyone who bought the company would want to inspect the books, our past sales, talk to We-Have-It and so on. But none of that should cause us any problems.”

  “Did you tell them that we’re not sure sales will continue at this rate in the future.”

  “I mentioned it. I don’t know what they thought about that.”

  “All right. We’ll have to tell Lori and Craig about this soon.”

  “Let’s tell them last thing tomorrow and then tell everybody else first thing on Monday.”

  “All right.”

  A postcard from Ken and Mary was waiting on the mat when he arrived home. Mary wrote that they were enjoying their cruise and Ken added, ‘you and Maria would enjoy this!’ ‘Only if we sell the business,’ thought Bob as he read it.

  When Dave called he asked for the same number of toys as he had last week. After they were loaded Lori reminded Bob that there was another load of pasteboard to collect. He drove to Basingstoke where Dave gave him a cheque for £9,375. “I know you are short so I asked accounting to give it to me.”

  “Thanks’ Dave. That’s much appreciated. It’ll be an extra-good lunch we’ll have when you’re ready.” Then he drove to Salisbury to collect the pasteboards. He ate his lunch at a deli in the city then drove back to the shop. He worked there the rest of the afternoon and joined Ken, Lori and Craig in the office after everyone else had left.

  “We have something to tell you, Lori, Craig,” said Ken. “I’ve been offered a job in Manchester and I’ve accepted it. I will be the CEO of Goodners. I want the job because I have been asked to double its size, something that intrigues me. And Mary wants me to take the job because we’ll be nearer to James and Larry.”

  “Oh! Well, congratulations Ken,” said Lori.

  “Yes, congratulations
. But what’s going to happen here?” asked Craig.

  “I’ll run the shop,” Bob said, “but we’re putting it up for sale.”

  “Oh dear. I hope the buyer is as nice to work for as you two,” said Lori. She sat down in her chair. “Is it easy to find a buyer?”

  “Don’t know,” said Ken. “First time I’ve ever done it.”

  “And we’re not going to sell to Great Toys if we can help it,” Bob added. “We want the factory to stay here.”

  “They offered half a million pounds, didn’t they?”

  “Yes.”

  “So would you sell for that price to someone if they’d keep the factory here?”

  “Yes we would,” said Ken. “Bob doesn’t really want to run the factory. He wants to retire again.”

  “Well we can try to help,” said Lori. “We’ll talk to the people we know, “but we don’t know anyone who has that kind of money though someone might know of another person who’d be interested. When will you tell the staff about this?”

  “First thing Monday morning. We thought you should both know about it before we told them.”

  “Yes, thanks. They’ll be a little upset, I expect.”

  “I’ll tell them not to worry; we will try to find someone who will run the shop the way it’s run now.”