Bob of Small End (49 page)

“
How’s
business?” asked Bob as they sat down.

“
The
greenhouse lettuce is selling well and we have spring onions and
peas. It’s a bit too early for yours I expect.”

“
They
shouldn’t be long. They need weeding again but I couldn’t do it
this morning because of the rain. I’d like to have a greenhouse, as
you know, but I don’t have room for one. I’d have to put it where
the workshop is and I can’t do that.”

“
Ever
though about selling you house and buying one with a bigger garden
Bob?”

“
I
couldn’t afford to do that. My old house wouldn’t fetch much and
I’d be sorry to leave it, it holds so many memories.”

“
Yes. I
understand that. My farm has for me. I don’t know what I’ll do when
I’m too tired to farm.”

Luckily Rose
and Jack joined them at that moment and their slight sadness
disappeared. Rose gave Bob a cheque for £205.50. “I sold five
villages, seven farms and four trains last month. I don’t think
I’ve ever sold so many in April before.”

“
That’s
probably because we have so many visitors,” Joe added. “Jane told
me that four bus loads booked seats for tonight’s show. She said
that we were not to wait supper for her, she’ll be late.” So they
ordered and ate as soon as it arrived.

“
Did you
buy the cottage you were looking at Jack?” asked Bob.

“
Nay. A
couple bought it. They mus’ have money, fer t’ kitchen an’ bathroom
need fixin’. Oh Bob, wont any more cards?”

“
Yes I
do. People at the conference took nearly all of them. Can you make
me another two hundred?”

“
Aye.
An’ labels?”

“
No. We
won’t need them in future. The new boxes have places to check
what’s in them. I’ll bring you some of the new ones tomorrow Rose.
You’ll like them. I’ll move the toys from the old boxes into them;
they look good on the shelves. I got them yesterday from
Salisbury Boxes
.”

“
Can I
have some more sets Bob?”

“
Could
it wait until you are completely out Rose? I’m still delivering to
the people who wanted them early and we don’t have enough to do
everybody.”

“
All
right.”

“
Anything new happening in the Community Centre Joe?” asked
Bob.

“
Nothing
I know of. All I know is that we’re still waiting for the
contractor to turn up. You’ll probably see him on the site before
we know he’s here.”

Jane had no
news for them when she arrived after the show had finished which
was just as well for it quickly became hard to hear what anyone was
saying. She refused a drink, saying she just wanted to tell Joe she
was tired and was going home. Everyone decided they might as well
do the same and left with her.

After his
breakfast kippers Sunday morning Bob checked the April expenses
box. He had two boxes now and the May box contained very
little—petrol, maps, pins, biscuits and tea. There were just two
new items to add to April, Lori’s wages for two days, £50, and
£33.74 for petrol. The total was now £5,351.93. They’d get the
telephone bill soon and that should be all. And May’s bill should
be less even though they’d have to add about £1,000 for Craig’s and
Lori’s wages. The question now was, will they make that much money
from the toy sales? He’d be much happier if he knew the answer to
that question.

After an early
coffee he drove to the shop, stored the pasteboard under the bench
where the toys were assembled, made seventy five log-boxes then
filled them with farm sets. Afterwards he made and filled enough
boxes to hold seventy five villages and the same number of farms.
He now had enough to give five of each to fifteen shops. He’d drive
towards the west tomorrow and do the Bournemouth area.

He put a few
empty boxes in his van and drove to Rose’s shop. He picked up the
boxes, walked round to the back of her house and knocked on the
kitchen door.

“
Hello
Rose. How are you? Sorry to bother you on a Sunday but here are the
new boxes.”

“
That’s
okay Bob. Bring them in and let me look at them.”

Bob walked in
and put them on the kitchen table. “What do you think?”

“
I like
the shape. They look like logs. Nice, but how do you open
them?”

“
Pull
the tab.”

“
Oh I
see. That’s clever. But they’re longer than the old boxes. I won’t
have room to put more than one on the counter shelf.”

“
Will
you have room to store them in your stock room?”

“
Well
yes.”

“
Good.
Give me your sets and I’ll change them over.”

Jack came in
as they were doing this and gave Bob the cards he’d ordered. “All
done an’ dry. Ere’s t’bill.”

“
Thanks
Jack. Mind if I don’t pay until the end of the month?”

“
Nay.
That’s okay.”

That afternoon
Bob took his usual walk, wearing his Mackintosh and the felt hat
Betty gave him for his fortieth birthday for it was just beginning
to rain. He followed only the river path, knowing that the low
spots in the woods would be very muddy. As he passed the place
where he had dropped Betty’s ashes into the water he was sorry she
wasn’t there to share these times. Would she have liked all his
activity? She’d probably have been worried about all the money he
was risking. A few minutes later he remembered Tina. ‘I wonder if
she’d like to know what’s happening now?. I’ll phone her and ask if
she’d like to have a Thai lunch tomorrow.’ He did that after supper
and she said “Yes, I would.”

Monday morning
Bob drove towards Bournemouth on the old road that led through one
or two villages stopping at shops along the way. He could shorten
the time he spent with each retailer by not talking to them but he
didn’t think that was wise, at least, not this time. Later, he
would, once they knew him and his toys. He had been to nine shops
before he parked a hundred yards from Tina’s jewellery shop.

There were no
customers when he entered and Tina said, “Hello Bob. How are
you?”

“
I’m
fine, and how are you, Tina?”

“
All the
better for seeing you, as my Mum used to say.”

“
Business good?”

“
It’s
picking up. I expect it’s the same for you, too. Mostly it’s older
tourists. They buy different jewellery than the younger ones. So I
change what I put in the window this time of the year. I suppose
your retailers also do that.”

“
I
hadn’t noticed but I suppose they do. Are you ready for
lunch?”

“
Yes.
Shall we go to the same place?”

“
Sure,
unless you know of other Thai restaurants.”

“
I know
of two others but they are too far away to walk to at lunch time.
Let’s just go to the same place.” She pulled down the front-door
shade and popped a sign saying ‘Closed for lunch’ in the window and
they walked to the restaurant. The menu only offered various
combination specials for lunch. Tina chose a stir-fry and Bob a
green curry with coconut milk and both drank only water. The
lunches came quickly.

“
I love
this taste Tina,” said Bob. “I’ll make some at home if I can get
the ingredients.”

“
Supermarkets sell coconut milk but I’m not sure if they sell
green curry. Use any Thai curry sauce if they don’t and let me know
what it’s like.”

“
All
right. I’ll do that when we eat together again.” He spent the next
half-hour telling her about the business and the new boxes. They
walked back to Tina’s shop then and she hugged him when saying
goodbye.

“
Bye
Bob.”

“
Bye
Tina. See you soon,” said Bob as he turned away, thinking that the
hug felt very nice and hoping they’d do that again.

He visited six
shops before returning to Small End, arriving about four o’clock.
There were two new young men in the shop when he walked in.

“
Hello
Bob. We have two new helpers now. This is Jose Jimman and this is
Luke Wister. This is Mr. Barns. He founded this business and has
been selling toys for four years. I joined him a month ago. How did
it go today Bob?”

“
Very
well. Went to fifteen shops and left sets. Hello Luke. Hello Jose.
Welcome to
Small End Wooden
Toys
. I heard that you’ve just returned from a
holiday. What were you doing before then?”

“
We were
volunteers in a building project in South Africa. We’ve been there
since last August so now we want to make some money. I want to go
to college and earn a diploma in construction techniques for
underdeveloped countries. Luke would like to volunteer in South
America next.”

“
Did you
meet each other in South Africa?”

“
No. We
both went to the high school in Big End,” said Luke. “I remember
Lori being there but she doesn’t remember me.”

“
So you
only want to work for a few months?”

“
Yes.
Mr. Smith, err, Ken, said it would be all right if we did that,
though we might change our minds later on.”

“
I’m
glad you can join us even if it’s only for a few months. We need
helpers.”

“
You
don’t make toys any more Mr. Barns?” asked Jose.

“
Not
usually, mostly I’m selling them. And please call me Bob, we like
to keep things informal. Selling’s keeping me busy right now and
we’re short so don’t let me stop you from working. We’ll talk
later,” and he left the shop and went into the office; Ken
followed.

“
They’ve
been working on the benches. I’m training Jose and Craig’s training
Luke. We’re making village sets and they can handle all we’ve asked
them to do so far with no trouble.”

“
What’s
Lori doing?”

“
At
first she was in the office making lists about our production and
tallying up the wood and paint we have in the shop. She ordered
more wood because we will soon be running out again. Then she made
files for me to keep, one for each person we employ, their address,
telephone number, the name of a parent or friend, so we know who to
contact in emergency. Then she moved to the paint booth. She’s
there right now. So you went to fifteen shops?”

“
Yes.
They’re all towards, around, or in Bournemouth. There are just
three more urgent ones.”

“
Well,
like I said last week, two people can make a hundred farm or a
hundred village sets in two days. They can make a hundred train
sets in a day and a half. That’s if everyone’s up-to-steam and if
I’m also working full-time. So once Jose and Luke are properly
trained we should be able to make two hundred farm, two hundred
village and three hundred train sets a week. More if you’re able to
help too. It’s surprising how efficient production-line processing
is, if you have good people.”

“
I still
find it hard to believe but you must be right. We’ll have to hire
someone to help me soon if our retailers sell as many as you’ll be
making. I’d still want to make the initial contact but we’d need
another person to help me deliver.”

“
We’d
have to rent another van.”

“
Yes.”

“
Will
you be in tomorrow?”

“
Yes.”

“
Can you
buy some more safety glasses and overalls first Bob? Then work on
farms or trains.”

“
I’ll
take the trains, they’re quicker. Once the village sets are
finished I’ll be off. It looks as if that’ll be on Wednesday. Ah,
another thing. Three retailers asked me if we have other toys and I
had to say ‘No’. Is it too early to do that?”

“
Yes. I
want to wait until all our store rooms are full. You can tell me
what kind of toy we should make next, if you like. I’d have to
think about it and see if we’d need different tools or
jigs.”

“
All
right.”

There were two
envelopes waiting for him when Bob arrived home. One held a
statement from Leo and a cheque for £435. He had sold eleven
village, fourteen farm and nine train sets. The other one was a
£301.50 cheque from Jenny. She’d sold nine village, seven farm and
eight trains. Adding the money he had received from Rose their
April income was £842. He’d deposit the cheques tomorrow. It was a
pity he didn’t know what their May sales would be; that would be
the first true indicator of how well the business was going.

Since the
lumber yard opened before the bank he went there first and used his
business credit card to pay for the overalls and safety glasses.
Leon was surprised when he did that. “I thought you wanted me to
send you an invoice at the end of the month Bob.”

“
Yes I
do. You must have added the wood Lori ordered to our account but I
want to practice using my credit card. It’s the first time I’ve had
one and I want to be sure that it will always work. It works at
petrol stations. If I never have any difficulties I might get one
for myself. Everyone’s using them these days. They’re very
convenient.”

“
Well I
find them so. Especially on holidays. You don’t have to carry tons
of money with you or a load of traveller’s cheques.”

“
Ah yes.
That’d be nice. Well, I’m off to the bank, some cheques to
deposit.”