Bob of Small End (95 page)

The rain and
cold kept many people away from the Crown. The only village news
was that there would not be a show this Christmas.

“
No one
seems to have the energy to give one. We don’t have any plays or
skits, and the schools want to do their own thing this year,”
explained Jane, “And you, Jack, and most of the other helpers are
so busy we’ll find it hard to get enough people to make sets. So
we’ve decided not to have a show this Christmas but we’ll have an
extra big Spring show. We’re trying to get a fun fair to come at
the same time. Mr. Dunfield said we could put it in the field on
the opposite side of the road from the Centre.”

“
So
there won’t be any tourist buses and my sales will be down,” said
Rose. “That’s not good news.”

“
Ne’r
mind,” Jack said. “We’ll be okay nex’ year wiv all t’new
people.”

“
There’ll still be Christmas-Light’s tours. They’ll probably
have supper at the Crown and some might call at the shop,” said
Jane.

Bob thought it
would be a very noisy time for him in his house if they had a fun
fair and if he was still living there because they couldn’t sell
the company but said nothing.

“
Is
anyone going to the dance with us?” asked Jane.

“
Not
me,” Bob said, “I don’t feel like it tonight.”

“
We’re
going,” said Rose. “Come on Jack, finish your beer, it’s almost
eight.”

Sunday
afternoon he walked. His mackintosh, hat and an umbrella kept him
mostly dry. He spent much of the time thinking about what he would
say to the kids about Christmas but couldn’t think of a comfortable
way to say that he’d rather be with Maria than with them.

He called
Regina first and asked about how she and everyone else were.

“
We’re
all fine Dad. How about you? You don’t sound too
cheerful.”

“
It’s
the rain, I guess, Regina,” and he bulldozed right into what he
most wanted to talk about. “I’ve something to ask you. Do you mind
if I don’t come to stay over Christmas?”

“
You
don’t want to visit us? Why ever not Dad?”

“
I want
to see all of you but a friend has asked me if I’d like to go to
Paris between Christmas and the New Year. I’d like to say yes.
Would you mind if I do?”

“
A
friend? What friend? And go to Paris? This is very unusual Dad. Are
you sure you’re all right?”

“
Yes.
Regina. I’m okay. My friend is Maria. We’ve been together several
times over the last few months. She lives in Lagos, Portugal. She’s
a tourist agent. I met her there when I had my holiday with Joe and
Jane in February.”

“
She’s
your girl friend?”

“
Lady
friend. Yes, Regina. She is. And I want to be with her as often as
I can. I hope you don’t mind.”

“
No Dad,
of course I don’t mind. I’ve told Sam you should find someone nice
several times. No, I’m glad. Mum would have wanted this for you.
No, no, you go. Well, this is news. Have you told Sam
yet?”

“
No.
I’ll phone him next. So you don’t mind if I’m not with you then? I
can visit before or after Christmas, whenever you like.”

“
Oh
we’ll set that up nearer the time Dad. You know, I’ll have to send
you the brochures we collected when we were in Paris, but if Maria
is a tourist agent then she probably doesn’t need anything like
that.”

“
You can
send them to me; I’d like to look at them. Well, thanks, Regina.
I’ll phone Sam now and tell him about it. Will he mind if I tell
him I’ve decided to go without talking to him about it
first?”

“
No he
won’t. Especially when you tell him you’re going to be with your
lady friend. And tell him to call me when you’ve finished. We’ll
have to plan a celebration!”

“
No,
don’t do anything like that. But I’d like you both to meet her.
I’ll bring her to you when she’s in next in England. ‘Bye then
Regina.”

“‘
Bye
Dad. Love you.”

“
I love
you too.”

Calling Sam
was easy after that.

“
That’s
good news Dad, about Maria, I mean. Yes, you can come any time.
It’s good to vary our routines I think.”

“
Thanks
Sam. Well we’ll talk next month. Regina wants you to call her when
we’ve finished talking. She’s talking about a celebration. Don’t
let her do that!”

“
All
right Dad. ‘Bye then.”

“‘
Bye
Sam. Love you.”

“
Love
you too Dad.”

He wrote to
Maria and told her to book the room. ‘Regina and Sam think it’s
nice that I have a lady friend and they want to meet you. I’ve said
I’d take you to see them the next time you’re in England. I hope
you don’t mind me saying that. All my love, Bob.’ He didn’t mention
the possible sale of the company, there wasn’t much he could say
until the money problem was clarified.

Lori asked Ken
and Bob to stay in the office as everyone moved to the workshop
Monday morning and told them that only one of her uncles had a
mortgage.

“
He owes
about ten thousand pounds on it. But he has a big house, so it must
be worth quite a bit. I’m sure he’ll be able to increase his
mortgage and get enough money.”

“
Has he
been to the bank yet?”

“
Yes,
they all have. They should know if they can have the mortgage this
week or next, at the latest.”

When Lori left
to check how much wood they had in stock Bob said, “You know Ken, I
won’t be able to buy your house if Lori doesn’t get the money to
buy the company. Do you want to list it with an estate agent?”

“
No. Not
yet. I’ll give Lori a week. If she can’t get the money I’ll have to
list. You know, you could use the money we’ll make from our sales
to buy the house. You can give me whatever you like and I’ll take a
mortgage for the rest.”

“
I
couldn’t do that Ken. I’d be worrying all the time about not having
enough money.”

Lori returned,
put her notepad on the desk and opened the mail.

“
There’s
another cheque from We-Have-It. £15,450.

“
What
was the date of that sale Lori?” asked Ken.

“
August
2nd.”

“
So
that’s the first cheque from last month’s sales. What did we get
from them in July?”

“
Umm,
just a moment.” She picked up the accounts book and read
“£63,262.50. And from our own sales to retailers we got £27,950.
Total is £91,212.50. Our expenses were £23,362.67. Net profit is
£67,849.83. It’s these figures that made me interested in buying
the company and excited my Dad and uncles.”

“
Yes, we
guessed that. How about all our sales for August. What will they
add up to?”

‘
I know
that, Ken. The net profit’s £140,527.65. All of that should arrive
before the end of October.”

“
See
what I mean Bob? You can buy my house even if Lori can’t come up
with the money to buy the company. You’d have well over £100,000 by
November 1st. And you’ll have enough from the September and October
sales to pay the rest of the money before Christmas. In the spring,
or before, you could sell your house. If the Community Centre is
going to hire a caretaker he’s certainly going to be looking for a
house and yours is right there.”

“
Yes, I
guess you’re right. Then I’ll try to stop worrying about everything
and I’ll buy your place,” and Bob stood up, crossed the floor to
Ken’s desk and shook his hands. Lori smiled at Bob. “You’re buying
a lovely house. One day we’ll buy a house like that I
hope.”

The rest of
the week was uneventful. Lori added up the September expenses on
Friday and told them they amounted to £20,553.96. “Our September
income was £97,750 so our net is £77,196.04.”

“
That’s
just about half of our August net,” said Bob.

“
We knew
it would be like that Bob,” Ken said. “Does it worry you
Lori?”

“
No. I
know it varies a lot during the year. That’s one of the reasons we
want to make and sell other items. The gross is easily enough to
pay our debts, that’s why I don’t worry.”

“
It’ll
increase as we get closer to Christmas,” said Ken.

“
Yes, I
know.”

Lori was very
cheerful when she came in on Friday morning, exclaiming that two of
her uncles had now been pre-approved for mortgages.

“
They’re
not going to take them until they know if my Dad and Uncle Fred can
get a mortgage.”

“
That’s
great news Lori!” said Bob.

“
They’ll
likely find out early next week the banks said.”

“
I’ll
keep my fingers crossed,” said Bob.

“
So will
I,” she replied.

Dave
called shortly afterwards and asked for 1,000 farms, 1,000 villages
and 400 trains. The van was packed and Bob delivered them, again
not calling in to see him; he feared the conversation would move to
discuss
Wooden Toys
and he
didn’t want to discuss its future until everything was settled. Ken
told him that another cheque had arrived when he
returned.

“
I’ll
deposit all the cheques tomorrow and deposit my £15,000 cheque as
well.”

“
Okay.
What’s our inventory now?”

“
About
6,800 farms, 6,000 villages and 2,800 trains.”

“
You
know, with that number and the amount we’ll build by Christmas we
could close the factory for two weeks and have nothing to worry
about. If Lori and Craig don’t buy it I think that’s what I’ll
do.”

“
Yes.
It’d be safe enough. Unless there’s lots of demand before
then.”

Maria’s letter
arrived that day and included a small brochure on Paris. ‘I thought
you might like to look at this. I’ve circled a few places I’d like
to visit. Could you do the same so we can plan our days. And YES,
the hotel has been booked. From December 22nd to Dec 29th. do you
want to arrange your flight or should I do it? Tons of love,
Maria.’ Bob decided he would make his own arrangements. It was time
he learned how to do some of these things himself. He would tell
Maria that and ask her what time she was arriving and at what
airport. Perhaps they could meet there.

Chapter 42 Selling

As he was
dusting the house on Saturday Bob wondered what furniture he’d keep
when he moved. Most of it had belonged to his parents, though he’d
changed the bed when he and Betty moved in and they had added her
dressing table and his easy chair. The question was, should he move
all of it, some of it or none to the new house. With the money he
would have if the company sold he could buy all new furniture and
choose things that suited the larger rooms. It would be nice to
have the kind of easy chairs that Ken and Mary had in the study and
lounge. Maria would probably like to select the bedroom furniture.
What would he want to keep? He was in his bedroom and looked
around. The picture; it was one both he and his mother liked. She’d
hung it on the wall above the headboard. He would hang it in his
study. He looked again; the furniture was old and a bit shabby.
There was nothing besides the picture he wanted to keep.

He went
downstairs and collected his notepad and wrote ‘My Bedroom.’ and
put ‘Mum’s picture.’ next to it. Then he went to the spare room,
looked at the little that was there and wrote ‘Nothing.’

Half an hour
later his list included ‘Railway lamp, pictures and mantle clock
from Sally, wooden lamp stand, my side table, hall rack, his Mum’s
sewing box.’ That was all. He didn’t want to keep anything else, it
was either worn a little too badly or had no sentimental value. He
sat down and looked at the list. Was that all? There must be things
he’d miss if he sold or gave all the rest away but he couldn’t
think of anything. He had added a note at the bottom of the page
‘keep most of the kitchen things and the best china.’ He’d probably
have to buy a set of better plates too. Oh yes, he’d forgotten the
fish knives and forks Sally gave him.

He tore the
page from the note book and fastened it to the front of the fridge
with a magnet. He would add other items to it when they came to
mind. No need to write down his tools and the garden implements;
he’d take all of those.

After lunch he
went for a walk. He wanted to tell Betty what had happened, how he
was buying a new house. He would ask her if he should keep more of
the things they had used. He didn’t expect any answer of course but
asking her might jog his memory. He stood by the tree for a while
but nothing came to mind so he continued walking and tried to
decide when he should put his house up for sale. Should he keep it
to the Spring when it might sell quickly or should he put it up for
sale now and ask a lower price? And what would it be worth? Twenty
five thousand pounds? Yes, it’d certainly be worth that. Not fifty
thousand for sure; you could buy a row house with two bathrooms and
bigger rooms for that much. Somewhere in between he supposed. His
house did have a large garden and a good workshop and a shed. But
some people didn’t want those things. Being next to the Community
Centre might not be a good thing either. He’d let the real estate
agent set the price.

He had a bath,
dressed then walked to the Crown for supper. Rose was talking to
Jack about how she’d dress the shop window for Christmas.