Bob of Small End (22 page)

After
breakfast next morning Bob pushed through the narrowing gap in the
hedge that he and his father had used for so many years and crossed
the parking lot to the railway station. The office was bare; no
desk, chair, stove or picture remained. He didn’t go into the
toilets but looked into the baggage room, where he had spent many
days when he was young. The shelves had been torn down and the coal
stove stood no longer in the middle of the wall opposite the door.
He suddenly remembered the old railway lamp that his Dad had kept
and wondered if it was still where it was hidden. He fetched some
of the broken shelves and jammed them into the wall in the corner
where the roof of the baggage room joined the station and climbed
on top. He reached into the gap and, yes, the lamp was still there,
together with a pair of old gloves. The inspector had told them to
use new gloves but his Dad kept his, intending to use them in the
garden. Bob carefully pulled the lamp out, put it on the floor and
clambered up again to collect the gloves. They weren’t worth
keeping, but the lamp certainly was. Its red glass was dirty but
not damaged. ‘It’ll look nice in my window with a bulb inside,’ he
thought.

He left the
gloves on the window ledge and carried the lamp home. The week’s
housekeeping was done by nine thirty. After hanging up the washing
Bob sat at the kitchen table and cleaned the lamp as he drank his
coffee. He found that a lamp bulb socket would fit where the wick
holder had been so he drilled a small hole near the bottom of the
lamp, passed the wires through it and fastened the socket in place
with a couple of screws. A short piece of narrow metal pipe
extended the switch to the outside. He refitted the glass and
plugged it in to see how it looked. ‘That’s nice. I’ll put it in
the lounge window.’

He finished
the morning’s work by giving the village set its last painting,
taking time to carefully outline the windows and doors of the
houses and the shops and adding touches of shade to the hedge
rows.

He ate a
leisurely lunch in his easy chair, a cheese, tomato and lettuce
sandwich, and looked through the traffic regulations. Afterwards he
bathed, dressed in a clean shirt and sweater and wondered if he
looked smart enough to meet Ken’s wife.

Bob was in the
driving seat and on his way to Big End by two o’clock, for Peter
had arrived early. “I have a route that will take you through all
the stop lights, over the town’s railway crossing and across a
bridge where it’s not easy to see what’s coming. If you can handle
all that then the Bournemouth test will be a snap.”

There was not
much traffic and Bob drove slightly under the speed limit when he
was in the town,. He looked carefully at all the signs, obeyed
their directions, stopped completely behind the line when any of
the traffic lights were red and kept closely to the left side of
the road when driving over the narrow bridge.

“
You’ll
certainly pass first time if you drive like today Bob.”

“
Well, I
drove carefully and will always try to drive that way.”

“
Ah, you
wait until you have been driving for a few months. You’ll be a lot
less circumspect then, I bet.”

“
Maybe I
will but I’m usually a careful man so I think I’ll be a careful
driver.”

Peter gave Bob
an envelope when they reached his house.

“
Here’s
my invoice for your March driving lessons.”

“
Ah, can
I give you a cheque on Tuesday?”

“
Tuesday’ll be fine. Can we start at eight o’clock so you can
drive in the dark?”

“
I’d
forgotten all about that. Yes eight’ll be fine.”

“
Okay.
I’ll see you then. ‘Bye.”

At 3:40 Bob
put on his mackintosh, although it did not look like it was going
to rain, and walked to Ken’s home. It was an old farmhouse that lay
beside the Tusset river, about a mile along the road that led from
Small End to Easing. Bob looked forward to seeing the house, having
been told that it had been completely renovated. Ken was working in
his garage when he arrived.

“
Hello
Bob. Welcome. Hang your coat on the hook,” and Ken pointed to one
that was fastened to the wall near the garage door.”

“
Hello
Ken. How was London?”

“
Enjoyable. The hotel was comfortable, just off Piccadilly
Circus, though the bedroom was very small. We had an expensive
early dinner at the Savoy before the show and saw
The Mousetrap
, something we’ve
always wanted to see but never have. Mary says we should take a
trip like that every few months! Now, take a look at this,” and he
pointed to a two foot square of thick plywood that was clamped to
the end of his work bench. Complicated-looking metal shapes held
two routers to the top and another router underneath the
plywood.

“
Can you
guess how this works?”

“
No but
it looks like you feed the wood through the jig
vertically.”

“
Yes
that’s right. The most important part is this,” and Ken picked up a
piece of carefully shaped wood. “This is the holder for the wooden
block once it’s been roughed into its hedge shape. The bottom of
the block fits into this slot and is held in place by the rubber
strips that run along the sides of the grove. Now these curves,”
and he pointed to the edges and the bottom of the wooden holder,
“move those metal arms,” and he pointed to them on the jig. “The
two arms on the top move the routers in and out and the arm on the
bottom moves the underneath router sideways. That movement shapes
the sides and the top of the hedge. I’ll turn it on and show you
how it works, though the wood I’m using is harder than the wood you
use so I can’t push it through quickly. Now, watch what happens.”
He picked up a length of wood that had already been cut into the
thin, triangular, hedge-block shape and pushed it into a wooden
holder. He switched on the routers and said, “Move to the other
side so you can see what happens.”

Once Bob was
in position he pushed the holder slowly through the jig. “There.
Can you see how it works?” Bob watched as the hedge block moved
further down, formed, almost perfectly, into the shape of a hedge.
“That’s marvellous! It only needs a bit of sanding and some paint
and we’ve got a hedge! Wonderful, wonderful, Ken.”

“
Thanks.
As I said, it’ll be quicker when we use the softer wood. And I’ve
only made the holder a foot long because I wanted to try the jig.
I’ll make the holder long enough to make a four-foot hedge. What
I’d like to do is bring the jig to your shop tomorrow and try it
with your wood. It’ll probably need a few adjustments but that
shouldn’t take long.”

“
I’m so
glad we are working together Ken. We can make a fortune with this
jig.”

“
I don’t
think so Bob. We’ll probably not make more than ten thousand pounds
a year; that’s not a fortune.”

“
It is
to me Ken.”

“
You’ll
soon find ways to spend it: a new car, for instance, could take all
of it. Now, we should go inside. Mary will be wondering what we are
doing.”

“
I know
what you’re doing Ken,” said Mary, who was standing at the front of
the garage. “Hello Bob. I’ve been hearing a lot about you this past
week!”

“
Hello
Mrs. Smith. I didn’t see you there. Thank you for inviting me to
dinner.”

“
Call me
Mary, Bob. I think that we will be seeing a lot of each other in
the future. Ken says that you and he will be partners in toy
making.”

“
Yes,
although I’ve made and sold toys for four years it’s only been in a
small way. Rose Tyne sold them for me in her shop in Small End
until this year. Now I’ve two more retailers selling
them.”

“
I
bought a train set from Rose last Christmas for our grandson,
Larry. He’s two years old. You must have made it.”

“
I
probably did.”

“
He
enjoys playing with it. Come inside now, it won’t be long before
supper’s ready.”

“
Take
Bob in and show him around Mary. I’ve just thought of something I
want to try out.”

“
Don’t
be long then. We’ll go in the front door Bob, it’s nicer than going
through the garage entrance.”

“
The
hall’s wider than needed we thought,” noted Mary, as they entered.
“We asked the architect if we could move the wall on the right side
to enlarge the kitchen and dining room but he advised against it.
The powder room is this first door on the left, in case you need
it. The corridor beyond it goes to the laundry room and the door to
the garage. There’s not much to see down there.”

The door to
the kitchen was open so Bob looked inside. “Something smells
delicious Mary.”

“
I hope
it tastes that way too. The dining room is behind that door. We’ll
see it later. Ken’s study is here, on the left, I expect he’ll show
you that. The hall ends in the lounge.”

“
It’s
very big. Was it always this size? You don’t usually find rooms
this size in farm houses.”

“
No. We
enlarged it. The extension begins where the two walls jut-out. The
beam that supports the upper floor rests on them.”

“
I love
the view through those windows—the lawn, the gardens and the river.
It is beautiful.”

“
We
think so too,” said Ken, who had just joined them.

“
Who
looks after the gardens?”

“
We both
do. Ken digs the beds, when necessary, and the holes for the bushes
and trees. I usually select the plants and do the weeding but Ken
helps me when there’s a lot to do. Once the spring work has been
done the rest doesn’t take very long. In fact, it doesn’t take long
enough for you Ken. Apart from the pottering he does in the garage
he doesn’t have enough to do. That’s right, isn’t it,
dear?”

“
Err,
yes, I suppose it is. At least, you are always telling me to be
more active or get out more.”

“
I do.
You know Bob, he whistled much of the time he was working in the
garage this weekend. He only does that when he’s happy!”

“
Oh,
enough about me Mary. Let’s have a drink before supper.”

“
Not for
me, I’ve things to do. You can have fifteen minutes then we’ll eat.
Ken tells me that you have some business to discuss afterwards,
that’s why we are eating early Bob.”

“
Let’s
go to my study. This way. What would you like to drink?”

“
I’ll
have the same as you please,” Bob replied, not knowing quite what
to ask for.

“
Scotch
then. Do you want water with yours?”

“
Yes
please. Just a little.”

They sat down
in two easy chairs facing the fireplace.

“
This is
a lovely home Ken. You must be very happy here.”

“
Yes we
are. We were fortunate to find it. It came on the market just
before I was made redundant. When that happened we decided to move
to the country. That was something we had always wanted to do but
my work in the factory and James’ schooling made it difficult. He’s
our son. He’s married to Julie and they have one child, Larry. We
don’t see enough of them because James’ job is in Nottingham. This
was the first house we saw when we started looking and we both fell
in love with it and immediately made an offer.”

“
I can
understand why. How much land do you have?”

“
About
an acre. You can see most of it from the lounge.”

“
Do you
fish? I used to, when I was a boy, close to here, at the low spot
on the other side of the bridge.”

“
I’ve
never tried fishing. But I expect Larry will want to try it when he
gets older. I might fish with him then.”

“
Try the
spot Joe and I used, we caught quite a lot there. I’ll show you
where it is though it’ll probably be just as good at the bottom of
your garden.”

“
Supper’s ready boys,” cried Mary. They looked at each other,
swallowed what was left of their scotch and crossed the hall to the
dining room.

Supper was
soup, roast beef and an apple pie. Ken opened a Shiraz and the
bottle was empty before the dessert was served.

“
That
was a great meal Mary. Thank you. I really enjoyed it.”

“
I’m
glad Bob. No, you don’t have to clear away. You do your business
with Ken. Would you like coffee or tea?”

“
Coffee
please.”

“
Me
too,” said Ken.

“
Then
I’ll bring it to the study.”

“
Thanks
Mary,” and Ken led the way back to the study. “Would you like
another scotch Bob?”

“
No
thanks.”

“
Sit
down then.”

“
Okay”
said Bob, once seated, “I’ve filled in the form from Arthur. Have
you done yours?”

“
Yes. I
didn’t find it too difficult, did you?”

“
Well, I
didn’t know what our fiscal year should be and I guessed that
£5,000 would be enough capital to start with. That’s about all I
wasn’t sure about.”

“
I left
the fiscal year empty as well. Perhaps we should start it from the
date our partnership begins. I put April 1st for that but that
might not be the best time. We should probably have a signed
agreement between the two of us before we start. I guessed the same
as you about how much money we should start with and put down
£5,000. Since we agreed upon a 51-49 percent split it would mean
that you’d contribute £2,550 and I’d put in the rest.”