Bob of Small End (11 page)

“
I see.
I’ve been thinking I should buy a computer. But not now, no time to
learn how to use it.”

“
I can
see why, with all the toys you’re making.”

“
Hey
Bob,” said Joe. “I bet you can’t guess who we met in a pub in
Winchester yesterday.”

“
You
were in Winchester?”

“
Yes.
There was a buyer I had to meet and we had lunch together. Well,
who do you think we met?”

“
Er,
Claire?”

“
There,
Jane. I told you that’s what he’d say. No. it wasn’t Claire. It was
Maria. You know, the travel agent we had supper with in
Lagos.”

“
Maria
was in a Winchester pub? Why?”

“
Her
agency sent her to England to find out what our south coast could
offer to tourists. You remember, she told us she ran tours in
London and the Lake District. Well the company thinks that a tour
along the south coast of England might sell. So she’s spent the
last week visiting places between Dover and Southampton. Yesterday
she was in Winchester looking at King Arthur’s table and the
cathedral and wondering if she should include that city because it
was the capital of England centuries ago. She’s going towards
Land’s End now. I’ve asked her to visit Small End if she has time
and I gave her Bonnie’s phone number. She can’t visit before the
end of her trip but might do so then. She says she often takes a
short holiday at the end of these trips so we might see her in a
couple of week’s time.”

“
Well
that’s interesting, though she won’t include Small End in any tour.
I told you that I might rent an apartment in Lagos next year,
didn’t I?”

“
Yes you
did, but you also said you might change your mind and come with us
to Spain, right?”

“
Yes, I
might.”

Bob thought
about Maria as he walked home from the pub. It would be good to see
her again. ‘I wonder if she’d be interested if I told her what I
was doing.’ He could show her and tell her abut his plans.

After hanging
his clothes on the line Sunday morning Bob tidied the house. He
couldn’t stop himself from rethinking his plans for the future. Did
he want to develop a business or return to his former life? To see
if it would help he decided to do a few calculations. He’d find out
how many hours he’d have to work to earn, say, five thousand
pounds. He collected his calculator and a pad of paper from the
shelf in the living room and sat in his easy chair by the window
with his coffee. ‘Now, let me see. How long did it take me to make
one train set. No, that’s no good. I’d better imagine I make twenty
trains each time.’ He thought back to what he’d written on the
workshop calendar. ‘It’ll probably take seven days to make twenty
train sets, assuming I worked eight hours each day. And it’ll take
about ten days to make twenty villages and about the same to make
twenty farms. Okay, but twenty of each wouldn’t make five thousand
pounds. It’d need about a hundred of each, so let’s say I make a
hundred of each set in a year. How much would that make me? Well
that depends on who sells them. I’d get more if Jenny sold all of
them. Perhaps Rose would take twenty-five percent if I told her
that Jenny was. No, no, I can’t do that. It was Rose who told me
about Jenny and I’m very glad Rose agreed to sell my sets after
Betty died. I don’t mind her taking thirty percent. Okay, if Rose
sold one hundred of each set I’d make, let me see.’ He jotted some
figures on the paper and did a few calculations. ‘I’d make four
thousand, three hundred and seventy five pounds. And, if Jenny sold
them I’d make, err, four thousand, six hundred and eighty seven
pounds fifty. Since I don’t know who would be selling the toys I’ll
round it off and say that I’d earn four and a half thousand pounds.
So I’d have to make a more than a hundred of each set if I want to
make five thousand in a year.’

He checked his
notes and did a few more calculations and found he’d have to work
about one hundred and thirty five days. ‘About half a year, if I
didn’t work on the weekends. No, slightly more, because I have to
buy the wood and paint and other things.’

He went to the
kitchen, poured another coffee, added milk and took it back to his
chair. ‘Now. Do I really want to spend about half a year in my
workshop turning out toys for children? Yes or no?’

Well, that’s
what he’d been doing for the past three years, although he had not
been working with a target to meet. It was just a hobby then. It
would feel a lot different if he had orders to fill. But he had
been leading a bit of a humdrum life before this year. Going to
Portugal was fun. He’d like to take more holidays, maybe two each
year, one in the winter and one in the summer, perhaps. There were
lots of places in England he’d like to visit. They’d be nicer to
see in the summer; he could go south, in Europe, where it was warm,
during the winter.

Okay. He felt
he now had the answer. He’d make a hundred of each set this year,
have a holiday in the summer and go to Lagos for a month next
winter. That would be cheaper than joining a tour and going to
Spain. Then, in a year’s time, he’d review how it had been and
decide if he should go back to the old ways again.

He immediately
felt better. He knew what he wanted to do now and it’d be fun
seeing if he could. So he had a quick lunch, eating a cheese and
lettuce sandwich and a swallowing a mug of tea, then put on his
coat and hat and set off for his weekend walk. This time he took
the road going towards Big End; there weren’t many cars or lorries
so walking was easy. After a couple of miles he turned right and
followed a footpath that ran to the railway track and he followed
it back towards his house.

He stopped at
the railway station, remembering the years when he was station
master. ‘I like my life better now than when I ran the station,’ he
thought. He pushed at the door to the waiting room. It was still
locked and he was surprised, having expected it to be forced open
by some of the village lads. He peered through the window. The
seats were dusty and the coal bin next to the stove was still
half-full, the way he’d left it. ‘I’d better check with Jane to
find out when they’ll start the new building and remind her I want
to help. It’d be a nice change from working indoors all day.’

He made his
monthly telephone call to his children after supper, this time
having several things to talk about with his grandchildren. Roy
told him that the aeroplane crashed and broke into many pieces when
he took it to school and tried to fly it over the roof. Bob asked
him if he wanted another but he said he’d prefer to have a game for
his new computer. Jane and Bess told him that they still used their
kitchen set but only when friends came around to play. “We help Mum
make real cakes now.” Jane told him that she thought she might like
to be a cake-maker when she grew up. Sam and Regina were much as
usual and told him what had been happening since they spoke
last.

Sam was a town
planner in Dorchester; his news was that he had been promoted and
was now head of the planning group. Regina’s husband, Bernard, was
a solicitor and they lived in Yeovil. Her news was that she was
thinking of taking a part-time job in the library. “Bernard doesn’t
want me to work but I insisted. It’s only three afternoons a week.”
Bob told her that if that’s what she wanted to do then he supported
her choice. He privately thought that Bernard was too restrictive
and that both Regina and Roy should have more freedom but he wasn’t
going to tell Regina that.

First thing
Monday morning Bob pinned a sheet to the notice board above his
bench. It would be his inventory and he would note how many sets he
had on hand. The first three columns were headed ‘Train,’ ‘Farm’
and ‘Village.’ He’d written “3” in the train column because that
was how many he had on his shelves. He then took enough of the
squared-wood lengths to make houses for twenty village sets from
the racks. Time for him to get to work. He marked “8 am” on the
February 26th square on the calendar. He’d keep track of how much
time it took to make twenty sets of each toy.

He worked
about nine hours each day until Thursday. That day he worked only
in the morning, going to the Community Centre in the afternoon.
There he worked with Jack, Jim and Ken making flats in the shape of
trees, bushes and flower beds to be used by the dancers in the
Spring show. They finished about five o’clock when Jim suggested
they have a pint in the Crown before going home.

“
Aye,”
said Jack.

“
We
should do that every time,” said Jim.

“
Aye,”
said Jack, again.

At the pub Bob
asked Jack if he knew when they would begin building the new hall
and was told that they had to wait until Joe had time to clear the
site with his tractor. “He’s about t’plow fields right now.”

Chapter 5 Maria

After another
nine hours work on Friday Bob estimated he was half-way through the
job. ‘I’ll probably finish next Friday,’ he guessed. ‘Nine and a
half days to make twenty village sets. That’ll be £350 for me if
Rose sold them, more if Jenny sold them. That’s almost as much as I
made when I was station master! Ah, well, I always knew that job
didn’t pay well. The best part of it was working just a few steps
from home.’

After
supper he made a to-do list for the next day. He’d go to Big End
and call at
Home and
Holidays
. If Jenny hadn’t already sent his monthly
statement and cheque he’d ask for it. He’d tell her she could have
the village sets next Saturday. He wondered how many farm or train
sets she’d sold and decided that if she had sold, say, a hundred
pounds worth he’d ask her to have lunch with him in the Fox. ‘I
wonder if she is married? She doesn’t wear a wedding
ring.’

Bob was at her
shop about eleven on Saturday morning. “Hello Jenny. How are
you?”

“
Busy,
which I like, but I’m also glad it’s Sunday tomorrow. I’m ready for
a rest! Our visitors are early this year, mostly older people. I
suppose some of them are taking a late winter holiday. Do you have
any sets for me? I’d like some villages, if you have them, and some
more farm sets. I sold the village set you gave me and two farms. I
sent you a cheque; you should get it early next week.”

“
Thanks.
I’ll bring you the villages next Saturday. Can we celebrate Jenny?
Can you have lunch with me?”

“
Oh,
thanks Bob, but no, not today. Saturdays are the busiest days for
us. I’ll take a rain-check and have lunch with you sometime in the
middle of the week, if that’s okay.”

“
Okay.
I’ll look forward to it. Then I’ll be back next Saturday with the
sets.”

As he went out
he added the £15.75 he’d received from Rose and realised he had
made £138.25. ‘Well I’ll celebrate and buy a couple of steaks for
dinner next week.’

Bob had lunch
at the Fox, a satisfying but not exciting curry and rice, then he
walked to the art shop where he bought more acrylic paint finding
he could buy it in tins, which made it much cheaper. They did have
both silver and gold paint so he bought a tin of the silver but
only a big tube of the gold because he didn’t need a lot. He also
bought several brushes, including a very fine one that he would use
to paint the lines on the train and carriages. Afterwards he walked
to the supermarket and bought a filet of salmon and two steaks.

That evening
at the Crown he told Joe that he was going to ask Maria to have her
friend book an apartment for him in Lagos.

“
I’m
planning on going for a month, February. I’m going to make enough
toys this year so I can have another holiday in the summer,
provided Jenny and Rose can sell them.”

“
That’s
grand! It’s time you explored the rest of the world.”

“
You
know I’ve never thought much about travelling before going with you
to Portugal.”

Rose and Jack
joined them and Rose asked where Jane was. “She’s at a committee
meeting discussing the Spring show,” said Joe. “She said we should
eat and not wait for her.”

“
When do
you think you’ll be ready to work on the station Joe?” asked
Bob.

“
Not for
another three weeks. I’ve four fields to plough and sow first.
Which reminds me, do you want me to save the bricks?”

“
Aye,”
said Jack. “No need t’waste ‘em.”

“
It’s a
lot of work to chip off the old cement Jack. Well, it’ll take me a
bit longer if I’ve got to avoid breaking too many. If you’ve enough
people to move the bricks out of the way I should get it done in a
day though. I’ll dump the broken ones in the ditch at the end of
the parking lot when you’ve sorted them.”

“
I’ll
help,” said Bob, “and I’ll ask the Smiths if they’ll help when I
see them on Thursday.”

“
Ken
said he’ll help with the interior walls,” said Rose. “Don’t know
about Jim, he’s more interested in playing golf. How about John,
the guy who works for you, Jack? Maybe he’d help.”

“
Aye.
I’ll ask him.”

Sunday
afternoon Bob collected his spade from the small lean-to attached
to the far side of the house; it was time to prepare his garden. In
the past he spent a lot of time looking after his vegetable garden
but didn’t expect to do so much this year. He sharpened his spade
then double-dug half of the plot. It was hard work so, when a
slight rain started, he decided to leave the rest until the
following Sunday. He cleaned the spade, coated it with a little oil
and hung it on its hook. ‘I’ll have one of the steaks tonight. The
salmon can wait until tomorrow.’