Bob of Small End (41 page)

“
Me
also, I think,” echoed Bob.

“
Let’s
have a break now, it’s nearly ten. Time for tea. I’ve bought a
kettle and the other stuff. But we don’t have anything but these
two stools to sit on. The chairs won’t be here for another
week.”

“
You can
have a couple of our garden chairs Ken. I’ll bring them later.
Where’s the kettle, I’ll make the tea.”

During the tea
break Ken told Craig that he’d like the staff to call them Ken and
Bob. “I know it’s unusual to use first names in England but it’s
done in many factories in America. I’m told this helps to build
teams and team spirit fosters production and quality. I wanted to
try that in Southampton but couldn’t get the rest of the management
group to agree. What do you think Bob. Do you mind?”

“
No not
at all.”

“
Then
Craig, please call me Ken and Mr. Barns, Bob.”

“
I’ll
try, er, Ken. It’ll be a bit difficult but I’ll try.”

‘
It’ll
get easier with practice.”

After the
break Bob helped Ken as he ran the long blocks through the saw jig
to make the small houses. They stopped for lunch and Ken told Craig
that the lunch break was only half-an-hour. “Do you mind having a
short one?” Craig said he didn’t mind at all but he hadn’t brought
any lunch. “Here, have this,” said Ken, and gave him a sandwich and
an apple.

“
Thanks
Ken. Tomorrow I’ll bring my own. I didn’t think about lunch when I
left home.”

Bob said he
didn’t have his lunch either. “I’m driving to Big End this
afternoon so I’ll eat at home. I’m going to my bank and I’ll also
see Jenny to see if she needs more. I’ll take five of each set Ken.
Do you want anything for the shop?”

“
I
haven’t thought of anything. Oh, I don’t think the plastic bags you
use to carry the sets in looks very professional. Why don’t you
look for something better?”

“
Good
idea, I’ll do that. I’ll collect the sets for Jenny after lunch.
How are we going to keep track of the ones you make and the ones
I’ve taken?”

“
I’ll
write what we make on a piece of paper. You do the same for the
ones you take. I’ll pin my sheet to the wall in the office. No, we
should have a notice board and some drawing pins. Can you buy them
and a stapler, pencils, a pencil sharpener, some ball-point pens
and two or three pads of paper. Things for the office and anything
else you think of or see when you are in the
stationers.”

“
Okay.
I’ll add them to my list. I’m off now. See you this afternoon.
‘Bye”

As Bob opened
the waiting room door he saw Ken opening another package of
biscuits. ‘I’d better buy more of those and some tea and sugar
too,’ he told himself.

After lunch
Bob took three plastic bags from the cupboard under the sink and
two garden chairs from the lean-too, put them in the back of the
van and drove down the hill to the shop. He left the chairs in the
waiting room and then wished he had brought one of his side tables
for the room. He’d do that tomorrow. He collected five of each toy
set, put them in the bags then wrote what he’d taken on a piece of
paper and pinned it to the wall.

“
Have
you thought of anything else Ken?”

“
No.”

“
Okay,
‘Bye then.”

He parked the
van in the bank’s parking lot, bought the draft to send to Maria
then crossed the road to Jenny’s shop. She wasn’t there but Susan
told him that they didn’t need any more sets at the moment. She
smiled at him and pointed to his mackintosh.

“
Don’t
you like my coat?” he asked.

“
Yes.
But it’s not the latest fashion. Oh sorry. I hope you don’t mind me
telling you that.”

“
No I
don’t. I’m told I should look like a ‘professional.’ You should
help me chose my clothes!”

“
I can’t
do that! You could go to Hankins, they’ll help. My Dad goes
there.”

“
What
does he do Susan?”

“
He’s an
insurance agent.”

“
Well he
probably wears the kind of clothes I should wear. I’ll see what
they suggest.”

Mr. Hankins
helped him chose a suit, a smart, dark blue one, a tie and two
shirts. He was told they could adjust the trouser length
immediately and Bob said he’d be back in half an hour or so.
Luckily he had enough money with him to pay for the clothes. He
walked back to the bank and withdrew another £200 before retrieving
the van.

His next stop
was the shopping centre where he bought the tack board and office
items from the stationer’s shop, together with a receipt book he’d
use to record the number of sets given to retailers. They also
stocked three different sizes of plastic boxes so he bought one of
each. Ken could chose the one he wanted. He was told that the
supermarket sold large plastic carry-all boxes so he went there and
bought two as well as coffee, bags of sugar, two boxes of tea bags,
ten packets of biscuits and, as a treat for himself, four packs of
kippers and his special coffee. He asked for two bills, one for the
shop items and one for himself.

The rain had
stopped when he returned to the clothes shop so he left his mac in
the van. He didn’t want Mr. Hankins to sell him one of those, at
least not yet. His suit was ready for him, waiting in a large
plastic bag.

Ken was moving
a drum of acrylic to the paint booth when Bob walked in the side
door carrying one of his carry-all’s filled with items from the
stationers. “Don’t fasten the notice board to the wall Bob,” Ken
called. “I’ll put it up after the desks arrive.” Bob nodded, left
everything in the office and went back to the shop to see what was
happening.

Craig was
pushing wood through the saw jig making village houses. Bob watched
him for a while and showed him a slightly better way to hold the
wood. Then he went to the paint booth and watched Ken. Five engine
boilers were hanging from the needles of a holder and Ken dipped
them into a tray full of paint as he watched. Lifting it carefully
Ken brushed the lower side to remove the excess paint then hooked
the hanger onto two of the eye rings that were screwed into the
bottom of the shelves on the movable rack.

“
It’ll
get faster as I learn the best way to do it,” he said.

“
It’s
much faster than brushing it on right now. I hope the paint looks
okay after it has dried.’

“
If this
paint is the same as the paint we tried earlier they’ll be fine.
I’ll do all the first coats today and do the second tomorrow. Then
I’ll try the rubber stamps to see if they work. I made them
yesterday. Craig can glue them together then fasten the wheels and
hooks, wrap and box them. Not much to teach him there.”

“
I’ll
drop in tomorrow afternoon and see how it’s going. I’ll be working
on the display table in the morning. Oh, I’ve bought three plastic
boxes. Choose the one you like and I’ll find out where we can buy
them in bulk.”

Ken nodded his
head. “Good.” He was much more interested in the way his dipping
was working than in what Bob was saying. So Bob bid goodbye and
drove home. He checked his wooden sign; the stain had dried so he
gave it a coat of varnish before making his supper.

Bob woke
with a start early Tuesday morning very worried about his display
table. Ideas for it were running through his mind but something was
bothering him. Was the table going to collapse? No, it couldn’t be
that, it was strongly made. Was it too small? Maybe that was what
was wrong. Then he suddenly realised that it had no sign saying
that the toys were made by
Small End
Wooden Toys
. That was the problem. He’d phone Jack and
ask him to print one.

Since he
couldn’t phone him this early he decided to treat himself and have
a pair of kippers for breakfast. After he had washed the dishes he
fetched the toy sets from the van, set up the booth table in the
lounge and was about to put some of the toys on the table when the
scratches and smears of paint on the top of the plywood board
caught his eye. Earlier they hadn’t looked too bad but today they
did. He’d have to find something to cover them and thought about
using one of Betty’s table covers but all of them were circular. It
needed a plain white cloth, perhaps a bed sheet would do. He
screwed the slanted poster holders into the back of the table,
fetched a sheet and positioned it then added some toys. That
worked. He placed the photograph cards on the holders and stood
back. Yes, they told the story and looked nice. But where would he
put the company name? There wasn’t enough room to put it on the
table. He could hang it on a line strung between the two posters
above the table but that would look pretty shoddy. Then he thought
of hanging it in front of the table. It’d probably look fine there,
with the sheet as a background.

Since it was
nearly eight he decided to call Jack. Rose answered the phone.

“
No.
Jack’s already left. A real-estate agent phoned last night and said
there’s an old cottage that’s just come on the market and Jack’s
gone to look at it. He’ll probably be there most of the morning.
I’ll tell him you called when he returns Bob.” Bob thanked her then
hung up. That wasn’t too good. What if he didn’t come back then or
couldn’t make the sign today?

He sat in his
easy chair and thought. Could he make the sign? It was very
important to have the company’s name displayed. Ken had told him
that weeks ago. He was stupid to have forgotten. How could he make
one that would look professional?

Then he
remembered how he used to make letters for Sam when he was learning
the alphabet. He had cut them from wood and painted them. Sam and
Regina would put them in alphabetical order or make words with
them. He could do that, that is, if he could find the stencils.
They were probably with his old woodwork magazines. One year the
magazine provided stencils of letters and numbers each month in
different fonts and sizes. He’d use one of those.

The magazines
were stored in Regina’s room. He found the stencils but soon
realised that the letters would be too small. He’d have to enlarge
them. He found his pantograph and drawing board and took them and
the stencils to the kitchen. He’d choose a font, scale it up, draw
the letters on white paper and transfer the outline to some thin
plywood using carbon copying paper.

It was a joy
to use his jigsaw again. He remembered the days when he cut the
alphabet and gave it to Sam for Christmas. Regina used the letters
more than Sam did, forming words, then sentences like, ‘I love you
Mom and Dad’. They were happy times.

He sanded the
letters, took them to the lounge and placed them in order on the
white sheet realising as he did so that they’d show up better if
they were stained. A dark walnut colour would be best. He took the
letters back to his shop, opened the can and stirred the small
amount that was left in the tin then brushed the top of each letter
with stain, wiping it afterwards with a cloth to even the coat.
‘Now, how am I going to fasten them to the sheet? Ah, I’ll glue
them to a cord, that should do.’

When Jack
phoned he told him why he had called that morning. “But I’ve solved
the problem, I’ve cut the letters out of plywood.’

“
Okay.”

“
Rose
said you were looking at a cottage. Did you buy it?”

“
Nay. He
wont’s too much.”

“
Why not
make him a low offer and see what happens Jack?”

“
Aye, I
might.”

The stain had
dried after he had eaten his lunch so he arranged the letters and
glued a string on the back. Being made out of wood they’d add just
the right touch to his display table. No one could miss seeing
their name now. Then he searched the house for a box where the
retailers could leave their cards eventually choosing a wooden
fruit bowl. He put his business cards in a box that he’d made years
ago to hold Betty’s earrings then arranged them all on the table.
It all looked pretty good to him.

He walked down
to the shop carrying one of Sam’s bedside tables and left it in the
waiting room. It would do for now but it should be replaced by a
bigger, more-suitable one. When he went into the shop it was empty
but there was a noise coming from the back. He opened the rear door
and saw Ken and Craig screwing two brackets into the wall.

“
Hi Bob.
The exhaust fan came this morning and we’re just tightening the
bolts. We’ve tried the fan earlier and it does a great job. I
pushed wood into the sander and there’s next to no dust in the
booth when the fan’s turned on. This duct,” and he tapped it, “goes
directly to the sanding booth. The fan fits on this bracket and the
dust goes into a bag under the machine. The bag’s reusable but I
don’t know where we’ll dump the dust. I’ll ask Joe where to put it
when I see him. How’s the table? All set up?”

“
It’s
fine now. I made a sign saying ‘
Small End
Wooden Toys’
to hang on the front this
morning.”

“
Take a
photo of the whole thing at the conference. It might be useful
someday.”

“
All
right. Did the other fans arrive?”

“
Yes.
We’ll install the one for the saw jigs tomorrow but we’ll need more
ducts. I didn’t know where they had to go and I didn’t order
enough. I’ll need some flexible duct too. The paint booth fan can
be installed later. I had no trouble when painting, there didn’t
seem to be any fumes, so we might not need one in
there.”