Bob of Small End (26 page)

“
Hello.
I’ve been watching you. What are you going to do with the wood that
held the roof tiles? They’ve just burned the wood from the
inside.”

“
Push it
over the back edge of the lot and cover it with the
bricks.”

“
But
won’t the wood rot?”

“
Yes, in
ten years or so it’ll need levelling, that is, if they’re going to
use that part for parking.”

“
Isn’t
there a better way than that?”

“
Only if
the tiles were removed first, then you could get at the rafters and
joists. But it is cheaper, quicker and easier if it’s done this
way. That’s what most do. There’s nothing to worry about for the
subsidence is quite slow.”

“
I see,”
said Bob, feeling a bit sad to think that the building where he and
his Dad had spent so much time was being treated this
way.

He finished
all the gluing by lunchtime, deciding to wrap and box the sets in
the afternoon. Then he remembered, he’d forgotten to collect the
new boxes from Rose. He’d have to collect them first and hoped he
could carry all of them; five hundred boxes would be quite
heavy.

He tidied the
kitchen after he finished his soup then walked to Rose’s shop. She
greeted him as he walked in.

“
How are
you doing Bob? I hear you’ve been busy. What were you doing in
Southampton with Ken Smith yesterday?”

“
Seeing
his lawyer. I told you last Saturday we were forming a partnership.
Well we signed the papers yesterday. So we are now ‘Robert Barns
and Kenneth Smith’ in partnership. We’ll open a business bank
account in that name on Saturday. Which reminds me; can I pay you
at the end of each month please? It will simplify our accounting if
we do that.”

“
Yes, of
course Bob. That’s what most businesses do if they don’t give a
thirty-day credit. We’ve already been doing it, I only pay you at
the end of each month don’t I.”

“
Yes
that’s right. Good. Will Jack mind if he and I do the same
thing?”

“
No he
buys wood and things for the cottages that way. I’ll tell him. Your
boxes are in the store room. Three large packages and a roll of
wrapping paper. I suggest you carry one lot of boxes at a time;
each one must weigh forty pounds.”

“
I’ll do
that Rose. I’ll take one box and the roll of wrapping paper. Can I
come back for the others when I have time?”

“
Sure.
Just sign the slip saying what you have taken. I like everyone to
do that because my memory is not as good as it should be. It also
proves the items have been collected if there’s any
doubt.”

Bob signed the
slip, picked up one of the packages and the roll of paper. Rose
opened the door for him. “It’ll be a lot easier when I have a car
won’t it Rose.”

The afternoon
went quickly as he wrapped, boxed, labelled and taped each filled
box. He finished about four-thirty then washed and changed his
clothes for the driving lesson.

The roads were
busy on the way to Bournemouth but he had no trouble. Most of the
drivers were returning from work and usually sped past him as he
kept just below the speed limit.

“
Good,”
said Peter. “Don’t let them rush you, especially during the test.
Now take the next exit and be ready to turn left when you come to
the yield sign.”

Bob followed
Peter’s instructions and before long was driving into the eastern
outskirts of Bournemouth.

“
Turn
right at the next intersection, keep going to the cross-roads, then
turn left.”

Once he had
completed this route he was told to stop opposite to the parking
lot which was on the right side of the road.

“
That’s
the DSA’s examination centre,” Peter pointed to the small building
at the end of the lot. “We’ll park in that lot when you take the
test. Then I’ll take you into the building and you’ll be asked to
take a written test. That won’t take long, it’s multi-choice. After
that we’ll wait until the examiner can see you. He’ll tell you what
to do. I’ll be in the waiting room when you return.”

“
What’s
he likely to ask me to do first?”

“
He’ll
probably bring you out here and ask you to read a licence plate on
a car that’s about twenty yards away. You can do that because I’ve
already checked. He might ask you one or two things about your car,
for instance, how would you check the oil level or where the spare
tire is kept. Then he’ll tell you to get in and drive. He’ll tell
you where to go. He’ll ask you to do a three-point turn, or park
between two cars and probably ask you to make an emergency stop.
We’ll do all those things today, repeating them once or twice and
we’ll use the roads they generally use. Of course, he can ask you
to drive along different roads. The whole test will be around forty
minutes. Ready to begin?”

“
Yes,
though I’m already a bit nervous, even though this isn’t the real
thing.”

“
Many
people feel like that when we come here. It will disappear as soon
as you start. Okay. First, leave the car, walk around it and then
get into the driving seat.”

“
All
right.” Bob did that and climbed back into the driver’s
seat.

“
Why did
you ask me to do that?”

“
I
wanted to make sure that you would put on your seat belt. Some
people forget to do that when taking their test and they
immediately fail. You put yours on. Now start the car and drive
along this road to the stop sign.”

Thus Bob’s
rehearsal began. As expected, he soon lost his nervousness and
easily accomplished all that Peter asked him to do. They were
finished after thirty minutes.

“
Okay.
Now you can drive home. Tell me, what was the hardest
part?”

“
The
sudden “stop” and doing those three-point turns in the narrow
streets I think. Driving along a road where people were parking
their cars wasn’t that easy either.”

“
You
won’t have many people parking cars when you take your test.
They’re doing it now because they’ve just come home from work. Your
test is at nine in the morning. Most people will have left by then
and the roads should be a lot clearer. About the three-point turns;
you can do them in more than three turns if necessary. We’ll do
several “sudden stops” on Sunday when we’ll come here again so you
get to know the roads.”

Peter asked
Bob more questions on the traffic rules as they drove home. Bob
left the car at the garage and decided to have his supper in the
Crown that night. ‘Might as well use some of my earnings,’ he
thought, as he crossed the road. 

The Wooden Toy
Company

Bob didn’t
know what to do Friday morning. He could collect the packages from
Rose then what? He knew that they should build some trains next but
that was now Ken’s responsibility. He’d soon have the band saw jig
and would want to use it, just to see how well it worked. ‘I’ll
collect the boxes then decide how to spend the rest of the
day.’

Jack was
putting the paper stand on the pavement when he arrived at the
shop.

“
Hello
Jack. How’re things?”

“
Middin’
Bob. Nowt t’do ‘cept help Rose. I’m lookin’ fer werk.”

“
I’m a
bit like you this morning. I don’t really know what to do now
because Ken’s taken over the toy making. I’m here to collect my
boxes.”

“
I’ll
‘elp.”

“
Thanks.”

“
I’ll go
‘en fetch ‘em.”

Jack returned
with one box and Rose followed carrying the other.

“
Hello
Bob. I’m glad you collected these, I’m expecting several parcels
today and need the room.”

“
I
should have taken all of them when they arrived. Sorry.” He signed
the slip, picked up one of the packages and walked to his house
with Jack. “We’ll put them in the shed. Just let me fetch the
key.”

After dumping
them Bob asked Jack if he’d like a coffee. “Nay. I’ve decided to go
t’Big End t’talk to some contractors. Goin’ t’Crown ter night?”

“
Of
course.”

“
Ah, see
yer there, then.”

Bob walked
with Jack to the gate and on his way back realised that he should
be planting his vegetables. All of a sudden his day was full. He’d
dig the rest of the vegetable plot and not stop for coffee until
he’d done the raking.

He was tired
when he finished. He had his coffee and the last of his biscuits in
his easy chair. He added ‘digestives’ to his shopping list then
fetched the diagrams of his last year’s garden. He drew a new plan
each year, using last year’s drawings to decide where he would put
each vegetable this time because he rotated his crops. This year
he’d plant the courgettes and cucumbers on the right edge. He
usually planted them along the side of the garden because they
could run over the grass that way. The peas could go next to them
even although they would shade the plants during the spring. The
carrots would go next, planted with radishes, because they grew
quickly and made the row easier to see when hoeing, then a row of
onions, then beets. Then he’d plant the broccoli and the
cauliflower. All this he sketched on a piece of paper. He swallowed
the last of his coffee and went outside.

He was about
to make the first row when he heard his phone. He went to the shop
and picked up the cordless. It was Jenny. She said she wanted him
to bring her more sets.

“
Are you
coming to Big End soon?”

“
Yes I
am. What would you like?”

“
I’ve
just sold the last village set and I have only one of each of the
others. Can you bring me, say, six of each?”

“
Yes.
Will tomorrow be okay Jenny?”

“
Yes,
good. Thanks Bob.”

‘
Now Ken
will have to make train sets next,’ he thought. ‘I bet Leo will
ring soon and want more sets. Ten minutes later Leo did, asking for
five of each.

“
I don’t
have trains yet Leo.”

“
Okay,
I’ll have to wait then.”

“
I don’t
know when I can deliver Leo. I’ll try to do it tomorrow.” He’d ask
Ken to drive him there after they’d been to Big End. He’d bag them
after he’d finished in the garden.

Ken arrived at
one o’clock. “Hello Bob. Can you help me carry the saw jig to the
shop.”

“
Oh.
Hello Ken. I didn’t expect to see you today. You’ve finished it
then?”

“
I think
so but it’ll probably need a bit of adjusting. We’ll
see.”

They carried
the jig to the shop and sat it on the back bench. Ken screwed it
down with a couple of screws. “I’ll put more in if this spot’s
okay. We can run an eight-foot length of wood through if it’s
here.”

“
What
are the saws set for?”

“
To cut
the roof shape for small houses. Let’s see how it works.” He took
one of the eight foot pieces and pushed it through the blades.
“Yes, same problem as with the router jig. I need a couple of
spring rollers to hold the wood as it sits on the guides. I can
work on that at home, perhaps this weekend. Okay. What do we need
next Bob?”

“
Trains.”

“
All
right. I’ve another suggestion. I think it would be best if I cut
all the long blocks for the trains, carriage bases, or for the
houses, barns, churches and so on first.”

“
Where
would we keep all the pieces if we did that Ken?”

“
In the
shed.”

“
There’s
not going to be much room left once the shed has been filled with
the wood from the lumber yard. I suppose we could make bays where
we plan to put the sanding booth. By-the-way, we haven’t ordered
the sawdust extractor for it yet.”

“
I guess
we both forgot about that. Yes, I’m worried about the room we have
here too. There’s not enough.”

“
I’m
afraid you’re right.”

“
Well
we’d better think about moving into a bigger place.”

“
We
don’t know if we can sell enough to afford a bigger place
Ken.”

“
Do you
doubt that you can sell them? I know I can make many more than
you’ve been making.”

“
No not
really. People want them, it seems, and retailers are glad to have
them.”

“
Then
we’d better start looking for a bigger place. Do you know of one? A
place near here?”

“
No.
I’ll ask Jack and the others at supper tomorrow. One of them might
know of a place we could use. An old barn perhaps.”

“
Only if
it has electricity and if it’s not too dirty.”

“
Yes.
Finding it isn’t going to be easy. Now, can I do anything to help
this afternoon Ken?”

“
I can’t
work any more today Bob. I promised Mary we’d go to the movies in
Big End and she wants to do some shopping first. She’s already
thinking about things we might need for our holiday, medications
and so on. We’re going on a cruise, to the
Mediterranean.”

“
Oh,
when?”

“
Not
until the end of August but she likes to plan ahead. I’m not sure
when, Mary arranged it all. I’ll ask her and let you know tomorrow.
Are you having a holiday?”