Bob of Small End

by David Hockey

  Chapter 17 Spring cleaning

  Bob was the first to arrive at the pub that night. Len poured his bitter and asked how the business was going.

  “Too soon to tell Len. Ask me in a month’s time.”

  “You call your company ‘Small End Wooden Toys’ I’ve heard.”

  “Yes that’s right.”

  “And I’ve been told that you’ll be visiting shops from now on, not making the toys.”

  “Yes I will. I had a booth at a conference for gift shop owners in Bournemouth Thursday and Friday and I think we’re going to be very busy. We’ve hired a young man and we’re looking for another two. Do you know of anyone looking for a job?”

  “Don’t think so. I’ll ask around and see if anyone else knows of somebody. Young men you said. What do you mean by ‘young’?”

  “Teenagers mainly. Boys who won’t ask for a man’s wage. Boys we can train and, if they can do the work, keep. Then we’ll pay them more.”

  “Oh, boys who have just left school. That’s what you mean.”

  “Yes.”

  Joe came in and joined Len and Bob at the bar. He ordered a beer and they left Len and moved to their usual table.

  “The shop’s been busy this week Bob. I’ve looked in a couple of times. Ken and that new guy are always on the machines. You must have hundreds of toys now.”

  “Not hundreds Joe, I wish we did have hundreds. I went to the conference this week and I’ve got about a hundred retailers wanting toys. I just don’t have enough to give them.”

  “That’s the conference that Rose goes to each year?”

  “Yes. She told me about it and I’m very glad she did. Meeting the retailers at the conference will make things much easier when I visit their shops. They’ll recognise me. What have you been doing?”

  “Weeding mostly. I had to spray one of the fields, cabbage white butterflies. They’re going to ruin the cabbages if I don’t get rid of them.”

  “I get them too. I usually look for their eggs, squash them and kill any caterpillars I see. I can get rid of most of them that way but it takes a long time.”

  “Spraying’s the only way I can handle them.”

  “What are you shipping?”

  “Carrots and new potatoes. They’re no trouble to grow but I don’t have enough helpers.”

  “That’s the same for us,” and Bob told him that they didn’t have enough toys for the retailers who asked for them. They supped their beer and were quiet for a while.

  “How’s Jane managing Joe? She must be very busy with the show right now.”

  “She is, although it’s not as bad as it was when they were putting it together. She’ll be along later.”

  “Have you seen it yet?”

  “No. I’ll probably go next week. How about you?”

  “I’ll probably go next week too. Ah here’s Jack and Rose. And Jane. I thought you said she’d be late.”

  “I guess she’s left someone else in charge. She missed lunch today and is probably hungry.”

  “Yes I am Joe,” she said. “I want something to eat then I’m going back. What’s on the menu?”

  Bob fetched one, took their orders to the bar and returned with drinks for Rose, Jack and Jane.

  “I very glad I went to the conference Rose,” he said when he sat down. “I collected ninety-nine cards from interested retailers and forty-four want toys as soon as possible. That’s because lots of them had been talking to you or to Leo, I think.”

  “Well lots talked to me about your toys though Leo is much better known than me so most probably went to him. You’ve told me that he sells more toys than I do so that’s probably why they decided to stock them. I’m selling them now, three today.”

  “Perhaps because there’s four bus loads at the show tonight,” said Jane. “The house is full and we had to turn late comers away. Any of you going?”

  “I’ll go next Friday Jane” said Joe. “Save me a seat.”

  “Okay.”

  “And one for me on Friday too please, next to Joe,” added Bob.

  “It’ll have to be Saturday evening for us Jane” said Rose. “I can’t close the shop early on a Friday.”

  “Okay. Four tickets, two Friday and two Saturday evening. I’ll get them when I go back. I’ll tell you what I know about the new Centre now ‘cos I must leave soon. The contract has been let to a big Southampton company. They say it’ll only take four weeks if the weather’s good. If that happens then we’ll move in during June. I’m told the company has also bought one of the sections north of the rail lines so that’ll make them finish our job quickly.”

  “I took a look at it this afternoon,” said Bob. “It doesn’t look very nice. A giant, flat, muddy spread. No hedges or trees. No farms. depressing.”

  “Be better when it’s built,” said Jack.

  “Yes I know,” said Bob. “Oh, anyone know of a couple of teenagers who might like to work in our shop?. We need more helpers.”

  “Same for me but I need men able to do a hard day’s work without complaining,” said Joe.

  “Nay,” replied Jack.

  “Nor me,” said Rose.

  Their meal arrived. Jane hurried through hers then left. The rest of them stayed until nine when the pub filled with people coming from the show. Bob had mixed feelings as he walked home; he was happy to have spent the evening with his friends in a half-empty pub but the crowd that entered at nine reminded him that Small End was quickly changing. It was becoming less like the village he knew and drinking in a noisy crowd spoilt the fun. ‘I can’t stop it so I’ll have to accept it,’ were his thoughts as he entered his front door. Once again he forgotten to turn on the railway lamp.

  The sunlight woke Bob Sunday morning. Should he close the blinds and try to sleep for another hour or two or should he get up? It wasn’t really something to question because he knew the answer; he was a morning person, always had been. The only time he stayed in bed was when he was sick and, apart from colds which didn’t stop him from working, he hadn’t been sick since he was a child. He lay in bed thinking about what he should do that day.

  The most important task was to make a list of their months expenses. He already had a fair idea about how much they’d spent from an estimate he’d calculated when talking to Ken; about four and a half thousand pounds. They could cover that.

  All right, what else did he have to do? The garden was weeded, the washing done, his workshop clean. Then it struck him; this was the time of the year when Betty did the spring cleaning. Since she had died he had never done it. ‘So that’s the first thing I must do; the spring cleaning. I’ll do the accounts in the afternoon. Or evening, if the cleaning takes a long time.’

  Yesterday he’d thought he’d have kippers today but he liked to take his time when he ate those for they were a treat. He’d leave them for another day and have porridge today. Now, how did Betty spring clean? She started at the top of the house, he thought, did the bedrooms then moved downstairs and worked on the bathroom and the lounge. The kitchen was last for some reason. What did she do beside dusting all the furniture and hoovering the floors? Ah yes, she took the curtains down and shook them outside. And put the carpets on the washing line and beat them with on old tennis racket. She probably tidied the shelves as well. He could do those things but it would take all morning and it’d be hard work. So he got up, ate breakfast and started.

  He cleaned Sam’s room first and removed the two posters that were still on the walls. He rolled them up and put them in the closet besides three pillows and a suit Betty bought but Sam didn’t like. ‘I’ll give the suit to the Salvation Army. He won’t want it now.’ He dusted the six books Sam had left on the top of his dressing table then decided to give them away as well. The longest part was shaking the curtains and beating the carpet but Sam’s room was finished in half-an-hour.

  Regina’s room took over an hour. They had used her room as a stock room and it was full of boxes, books, magazines, dolls, dresses, a dr
awing easel and old equipment. He cleaned as well as he could but decided to phone Regina before throwing away anything of hers. His room was relatively easy, he normally cleaned that each week. Just the curtains and the carpet to do. He had finished the upstairs by nine-thirty and stopped for a rest and an early coffee.

  As he was cleaning downstairs he had a thought. The shop needed room to store the toy sets and they were going to use his workshop but it would be nicer to use Sam or Regina’s room. It could be fitted with shelves whereas his workshop couldn’t, at least not without removing the benches and he didn’t want to do that. He’d move all of Sam’s furniture into Regina’s room, all except the bed. Sam had told him, when he was invited to stay for the night, that several of the springs had been broken many years ago when he and his friends held jumping competitions and it was very uncomfortable for him to sleep there now. ‘I’ll throw the bed away and Regina’s too and give the sheets and pillows to the Salvation Army, that is, if they want them.’

  As soon as he had finished cleaning downstairs he dismantled both beds and took the mattress and the pieces to the side of the house, ready to be picked up by the dustbin men. He’d call them tomorrow to tell them they were there.

  He was very tired by now but content and glad he’d cleaned the house. It felt a bit like he’d been tidying his life too, making it a little more like it really was these days. No children living at home really meant he needn’t keep all their stuff around. Mementoes of Betty he’d always keep; her photographs, the pictures she loved more than he did and her recipe book. He used the book now when he wanted to try a different dish. But he hadn’t kept any of her clothes; Regina had taken them to a thrift shop a few months after she died.

  After lunch and an hour’s nap in his chair, something he really didn’t want to do but felt too tired to resist, he emptied the box that contained the business bills on the kitchen table. He sorted them twice, once by date and then by who had paid the bill. Then he headed a lined paper, ‘April, 1996,’ and made six columns underneath. He headed them: ‘Date’ ‘Item’ ‘Cost’ ‘Paid?’ ‘Total’ and ‘Notes’. He didn’t know what he would put in the ‘Notes’ column nor did he know if Simon would think these were the correct headings to use but he understood what they meant and he could describe them to Ken.

  The first entry line read 3, Saw, £45, Yes, £45. He put, ‘by Ken,’ in the notes column. To him that meant ‘On April 3rd they bought a saw and it cost £45, they’d paid for it already and they had spent £45 to date and Ken paid for them. The second row read: 3, 500 boxes, £22.12, Yes, £67.12, by Bob.

  He continued doing this until every expense he knew about was written down. The total spent came to £5,268.18. Of course most of these bills hadn’t been paid yet but that’s what April’s expenses were and they’d have to send off the cheques within a couple of weeks. Well, they had £6,345 in the business account so there was enough. The ones that had already been paid would have reduced the amount in the bank but it would also have reduced the amount they had to pay. The only extra they might have to pay would be for the new girl and for some more petrol, unless Ken had bought something he didn’t know about.

  So they had enough money in the business account, just. What was not spent in April should last until they started receiving money from the retailers around the fifteenth of May. Paying the helpers each week made it very tight until money started coming in. But after that it would be easier. They didn’t have to buy any more machinery and, come to think of it, the rent for the van had already been paid until the end of May.

  Now he’d check what he had in his own accounts. He looked at his savings book and, as expected, he had just over £5,250. And he had about three hundred in his checking account. This meant he could easily add more to the business account if that was needed. He felt better immediately. He needn’t worry. They were going to be all right.

  He made a pot of tea and opened the tin box of chocolate covered biscuits that Regina had given him for Christmas. He chose the biggest one, a covered digestive biscuit, and ate it slowly. Then another. And another. Then he put the lid on. ‘That’s enough for now,’ he said to himself, ‘or I won’t eat any supper. Now I’ll make a to-do list for next week.’

  Looking at the addresses of the remaining thirty five retailers who’d said they wanted toys as soon as possible he wondered how he should organise the job. First how many sets should he give to each one? He didn’t have enough to give five to everyone but if he gave only three he would have to return more frequently. He eventually decided to give five then work in the shop until there were enough to give another five to the next group of shops.

  Next, which way should he go, west, north or east? He looked at the road map and put a pencil cross where each of the shops were. ‘I’ll go east tomorrow and visit Southampton and the southern shops,’ he decided. There were eleven shops to see in that direction but he had only enough village sets to visit six. He’d visit the remaining five shops when he went north. There might be enough sets for him to do that on Wednesday. After that he’d help in the shop until there was enough to go west to do the Bournemouth area. That’d not be until the following week. He’d leave the shops who hadn’t wanted them immediately until he had enough toys. Yes, he could now see very clearly why they must hire more workers. Right now he would have to do both jobs, making and selling. ‘I hope I have the energy to manage both.’

  He remembered to call the children that night to find out what they had been doing and to tell them his news. He always talked to the grandchildren but usually didn’t know enough about their everyday activities to know what to say. Sports was usually a good topic. They didn’t like to talk about school or exam marks. Tonight he mostly wanted to tell Sam and Regina what he had done with their rooms and that their beds were to be discarded. They’d have to know that in case they suddenly wanted to sleep here. He called Regina at nine o’clock, his usual time, and told her that he had cleaned the house and had dumped her bed. “Is there anything in your room you want to keep?” “No,” she replied. “Anything that’s there now I don’t want.” Sam, when he called him next, said much the same thing.