Bob of Small End (99 page)

“
It’d be
best if you opened it at NatWest Lori,” said Bob.

“
Yes. I
thought that. They already know you and
Small End Wooden Toys
. You can tell them what’s
happening and that’ll ease the transaction. Can we go there today
and set it up?”

“
Yes, of
course. Phone the bank and ask for an appointment with Mr. Longman.
We’ll all go as soon as he can see us.”

“
I’ll
have Jose and Luke run the shop when we are away,” said Ken. “You
agree Craig?”

“
Yes.
That’s what I’d do when I’m in charge.”

Mr. Longman
ushered them into his office at eleven and they sat down as soon as
two more chairs had arrived. Bob then introduced Lori and Craig and
explained why they’d come.

“
The
short story is we’ve sold our company to Lori and Craig. As of
November first it’ll be theirs. Lori will tell you what she wants
to do now.”

“
We want
to open a business account, Mr. Longman. We’ll use it to run
Small End Wooden Toys
after November
first. Bob and Ken also want to keep their account with you as
well, that way we can deposit money into it easily.”

“
Selling
your company? That’s a surprise. Not many people sell their company
a few months after they have opened it, and none, in my experience,
sell it when it’s clearly doing so well. I’ve kept an eye on your
account, Mr. Barns, Mr. Smith. If you don’t mind would you tell me
why you are selling it?”

“
I’ve
accepted a job in Manchester that allows me to continue what I’ve
found I like doing—setting up new factories,” said Ken. “That kind
of work is more interesting to me than running one.”

“
As for
me,” said Bob, “I want to retire again, now that I’ve money for
holidays.”

“
I see.
Then do you have some money with which I may open your account Miss
Turner, Mr. Elton?”

“
Yes,
here,” and Lori gave him the draft. He was clearly surprised to see
such a large amount.

“
Is this
your father’s signature?” he asked.

“
Yes. He
and my uncles are funding us.”

“
Well I
know him. He’s a very pleasant man although he doesn’t bank with
us. All right, let’s do the paperwork.”

After signing
the needed application forms Lori told him that she would soon need
a banker’s draft for two hundred and fifty thousand pounds.

“
It’s
for Mr. Arthur Glone, our lawyer,” she said, “and it’s the down
payment for the company. May I have it on Wednesday?”

“
Certainly.”

After
they had finished with Mr. Longman Bob deposited the latest cheque
from
We-Have-It
and asked for
a statement. He showed it to Ken, Lori and Craig.

“
There’s
£186,544.28 in the account and your £15,000 cheque has been paid
Ken, as well as all of the September expenses. So, at long last, we
can withdraw some money and pay ourselves back.”

In Ken’s car
on the way back to the shop Bob continued the conversation and
suggested that they withdraw £150,000 and leave the rest to run the
company.

“
I’ll
need the money to give you the house deposit. We’ll get another
cheque for £33,000 tomorrow to add to the thirty six there’d be
left in the bank after our withdrawal. We could take that out next
week, once it’s cleared, but I’m not in a hurry for it. And I must
call Dave and tell him we want him to give the week’s order on
Thursday next week. You remember that we agreed the money from next
week’s production comes to us, Lori, Craig?”

“
Yes.
That’s right,” said Lori. “I can call him for you when we get back
if you like.”

“
All
right. Thanks.”

They joined
the others in the tea room for lunch. Afterwards Bob wrote a cheque
for £73,500 and gave it to Ken.

“
That’s
your forty nine percent, right?”

“
Yes.”

“
I’ll
use £75,000 of my £76,500 and give it to Arthur next week as the
down payment on your house. You’ve told him you’re selling it to
me?”

“
Yes,
although I couldn’t tell him what you’d deposit you’d have. I’ll
phone him.”

Simon’s report
arrived on Thursday. It stated that Lori’s records were correct. He
charged £475 and when Lori saw that she told Bob that if they had
any children she hoped they’d become accountants.

Bob delivered
Dave’s order for 600 farms, 600 villages and 300 trains on Friday.
He went into the office to bid Dave goodbye and was asked if they
could have lunch together.

“
It’s a
bit early for lunch isn’t it Dave? It’s only eleven
o’clock.”

“
It’s
the last time you’ll be delivering, Bob, and I want to thank you
for letting us distribute your toys. I’d like to take you to the
seafood restaurant we went to last time. And the company will pay
for the lunch, so you can’t say no!”

“
Well,
thank you. That would be very nice.”

During lunch
he told Dave that he was a little bit worried about the declining
numbers of toys being ordered.

“
They’ve
been getting less and less since the end of August.”

“
But
that’s the same for all gift items Bob. The numbers will go up very
soon. In fact they already have for you and we’ll have to increase
our order next week.”

“
Oh,
good. I was a bit worried about Lori and Craig. I don’t want the
company to go bust as soon as they take it over.”

“
No.
Don’t worry about that. I predict it’ll have it’s biggest sales
ever this Christmas. Also, if they make all the wooden items that
Lori told me about, they’ll survive, even if the number of toys
they sell declines.”

“
Okay.
Did Lori ask you to place next week’s order on
Thursday?”

“
Yes she
did. She also said that she and Craig would deliver it on Friday
and wanted to have lunch with me but it would be fish and
chips!”

“
A bit
different from this one, eh?”

“
Yes.
I’ll ask them to bring me here next year, if everything’s going
well, as I expect it will.”

At the end of
the afternoon they had 13,700 farms, 12,800 villages and 6,400
trains in the stockroom. He mentioned the number to Ken and asked
why he hadn’t started making more trains.

“
I
didn’t notice the numbers and continued the same way as always.
I’ll spend two days on trains next week. No, I’ll talk to Craig and
Lori about it. They should be making that kind of decision
now.”

There was a
letter from Maria waiting for him when he opened the front door.
She wrote that she was sad about Sally’s death and very glad that
she’d met her. Furnishing the new house would have to wait until
the new year when she will be freelancing and she’d enjoy helping
him do that. And, no, she would not stop working. She liked the job
and having her own income and she thought he’d like coming with her
when she researched tours for companies. ‘You could be my assistant
when I’m guiding a big tour. What do you think about that? With
much love, Maria.’

He collected
the overalls from the workshop Saturday morning on his way home
from Big End with his shopping and five more empty boxes and spent
the rest of the morning washing clothes, cleaning rooms and dusting
furniture. After lunch he selected and wrapped the ornaments,
pictures and photographs he would keep and boxed them. Since Maria
was going to help him chose the new furniture he decided to take
his bed and his armchair and the side table to hold his coffee mug.
He’d need them until the new furniture arrived. Plus Sally’s
television, the kitchen table and two chairs. No, he’d take Betty’s
arm chair as well, Maria would need somewhere to sit when she came.
The old stuff could be given away later. He’d leave his own
television behind, it was an old one and might not last much
longer. He checked the list of items to take that was fastened to
the fridge. That was it. Lori could have what was left and the
things she didn’t want he’d take to a charity shop. If he moved to
Ken’s house early in December it would give Lori and Craig several
weeks to move in.

He napped for
an hour after an early afternoon tea break then bathed, put on his
blazer and walked to the Crown to join his friends for supper. The
only news was that the Community Centre committee was arguing about
whether to have a Christmas party or a New Year’s Eve dance. People
with young children had said they wanted a party, those without
wanted a dance. It would be either one or the other because there
wasn’t enough energy to organize both. Bob didn’t express an
opinion, he would be in Paris when either was held. After supper
they all went to the dance. It was a happy, quiet and uneventful
evening.

During
breakfast on Sunday he thought about using Lori’s list of their
sales for August, September and October and writing down the dates
they would be receiving cheques from
We-Have-It
. That way he’d know what money was
coming in and when it would arrive. He took the clean overalls to
the workshop then sat at his desk with her list. There was one more
cheque for August then they’d get £97,750 during the November weeks
and £73,300 through December. He’d get 51% of that and he wrote
that figure at the bottom of the list. Then he added 51% of the
£250,000 deposit they’d receive on Friday when Lori and Craig
bought the company and, underneath that, added another 51% of the
remaining £250,000 which he would receive when Lori could pay it.
It totalled £342,235.50! And there would even be more, his share of
what was left in the bank after paying all the expenses.

Bob
copied the total onto the back of the paper and then added two more
figures, the £550,000 he’d receive from Sally and £25,000 from
selling his house. The total was now £917,235! He had guessed what
the total might be but to actually calculate it confirmed his
estimate. He was almost a millionaire! Most of it had come from
Sally, of course, but a good chunk had come from
Small End Wooden Toys
. He took a new
piece of paper and made another list that gave the dates the
cheques should arrive, the amount of the cheque, a column showing
how much Ken would receive and another one showing how much he’d
receive. He’d give this to Ken before he left for
Manchester.

During his
afternoon walk he told Betty and his parents the latest happenings
and his net worth. What would they have thought about that, had
they still been alive, he wondered. He thought that they’d be very
happy. In his letter to Maria he told her that he would move enough
furniture to the new house so they’d have a bed and chairs to sit
on and that they’d be busy when she arrived finding the new things
they needed.

The next week
began to take shape as Bob was walking to the shop Monday morning
when he remembered he and Ken had said they might give everyone a
bonus at Christmas. Even though they wouldn’t then be the owners of
the company they couldn’t ignore their semi-promise, the staff had
greatly contributed to their success. He waited until the tea break
had ended then talked to Ken.

“
I want
to talk about the Christmas bonuses Ken but I’d rather not do it
here, Lori or Craig might walk in.”

“
Let’s
go to the Crown then.”

“
No, not
there. Let’s go for a walk.”

“
Okay.”

They crossed
the road and walked around the playing field.

“
I think
we should give everybody five hundred pounds and more to Lori and
Craig,” Bob said.

“
A
thousand each sounds better to me. How much do you think we should
give Lori and Craig?”

“
How
about two and a half?”

“
All
right, we can easily cover that.”

“
Ah,
good. That makes me feel much better. You know, yesterday I added
what I’ll get when the company’s sold and it’s nearly three hundred
and fifty thousand pounds. So I feel very indebted to
everyone.”

“
Yes, so
do I.”

“
Let’s
give them the cheques Thursday afternoon, before we
leave.”

“
Okay.
I’ll buy some champagne and we’ll have a hand-over ceremony,” said
Ken.

“
Good
idea. We’ll do it at four o’clock?”

“
Yes.”

“
We’ll
have to tell Lori and Craig we going to have a final meeting. We
can just tell them we want to say goodbye to everybody.”

“
On
Wednesday?”

“
Yes.
And Ken, I’d like to take you and Mary to dinner before you leave.
What nights are you free?”

“
Not
Thursday, for sure.”

“
How
about Wednesday? We could go to the
Windlass Tree
.”

“
That
sounds nice. Let me just check with Mary first.”

“
All
right.”

Mary said she
looked forward to dining out and Wednesday would be a good time.
“I’ll be ready for a restful evening by then!”

The August
30th sales cheque of £33,000 arrived Tuesday morning and, as Lori
was showing it to Bob, she asked him if he could drive her to Big
End and then to Southampton tomorrow, “I have to get the bank draft
and take it to Mr. Glone.”