Bob of Small End

by David Hockey

  Chapter 34 Money

  Bob gave the letters their first coat of black paint on Sunday morning then did a bit of hoeing. He walked along the river path in the afternoon and stopped at the river pub for a pint. He was sipping it and thinking about the dance when Ronald Teller tapped his shoulder.

  “Hello Bob. How are you?”

  “Why, hello Ron. I’m fine. How are you? Take a seat.”

  Ron sat and put his binoculars and a rum and coke on the table.

  “You’re birding again?” Bob asked.

  “Yes. Nothing very interesting. Wrong time of day really but I’m beginning to like this walk and have been here twice since I saw you on the path. Usually it’s first thing in the morning though. You out for a walk?”

  “Yes.”

  “I saw you on television last Sunday. You’ve had a busy year, growing from a one person shop to one having twelve employees! It is twelve, isn’t it?”

  “Thirteen actually. Plus Ken and myself. Yes, it’s been a busy year, or rather, six months. It feels like a lot longer than six months though.”

  “Did you go to the dance last night? I thought about it but watched television instead.”

  “I did and I enjoyed it. I also went to the dance lesson on Wednesday; in the evening and enjoyed that too. Do you like dancing?”

  “Sort of. I used to, when my wife was alive, but I haven’t danced since then. My interest is bird watching almost exclusively now. I’ll be teaching that at the Centre starting next Tuesday. Why don’t you come along?”

  “One course is enough for me right now Ron. Maybe I’ll have more time after Christmas.”

  “Okay. It’s an enjoyable hobby once you get started. Well I’m off now. Three more places to try before going home. Cheers Bob.”

  “‘Bye Ron.”

  Bob finished his drink, returned his mug to the bar, went to the toilet then continued along the path. He crossed the fields and visited his parent’s grave before walking home. As he made the last part of his journey he started thinking about Ron’s suggestion. He didn’t think he wanted to look for birds even if he did have the time to do it. Wood carving would be his first hobby choice. But not toys any more, just birds. Then, maybe, he could do both, carve and watch birds. Not that he could carve birds from just seeing them, he’d have to work from photographs. So he might have to carry a camera too. ‘That’s something to think about. It might be a good combination, especially if he got a camera that would connect to the computer. He could print his own pictures and then carve a bird from a photo he’d taken.’

  Bob wrote to Maria after supper telling her that the BBC documentary had increased interest in the toys and they expected this month’s sales would be better than last. He asked her about her week and hoped she wasn’t too tired. ‘Won’t guiding the Lake District tour make you tired though?’ he asked, hoping it wouldn’t.

  Then he rang Regina and asked how she and Roy were doing. “He’s fine. He’s reading about Paris to get ready for our trip right now. We all watched the BBC show. I liked seeing Small End and our house. And you and the workshops. I had no idea you had become so big.”

  “But I told you about it the last time I called.”

  “I didn’t think you would be in charge of a dozen employees. Nor that you were making toys in the old Community Centre. Don’t you get tired?”

  “Yes I do, but things will slow down soon, I hope. Did you tape the show?”

  “I tried to but couldn’t get the machine to work. We use it so little I’d forgotten what buttons to push. Bernard never uses it so he couldn’t help.”

  “Well never mind. I can get a copy from Sam or Jane Smith, Joe’s wife. Joe’s the farmer. You must remember him.”

  “Yes of course I do. He’s your best friend isn’t he?”

  “Yes but I see much less of him now.”

  Then he called Sam. Sam had taped the show and was considerably impressed by what he had seen.

  “The girls loved it and want to come and see the workshop.”

  “Come anytime. If you come during the day I can show you what everyone’s doing.”

  “Well we’ll visit after the camping trip. I’ll let you know the dates.”

  “Okay.” It would be nice to show them first hand what was happening.

  He put the signs and a shovel in the boot of his car Monday morning and drove to the workshop arriving just as Craig and Lori were pushing their bicycles through the front door.

  “I didn’t know you cycled to work,” he said.

  “We don’t, usually, but it’s such a nice day we thought we would today,” replied Craig.

  “Where will you put them?”

  “In the wood-storage room.”

  “I see. When you’ve done that can you help me install these signs Craig? We’ll need a piece of wood to mount them on.”

  Craig dug the holes and tamped the dirt back in as Bob held the posts in place. Ken arrived soon after the signs had been erected and they walked inside together. Lori was waiting for them in the office.

  “Dave Posser has just called. He wants another three thousand, a thousand of each. Can you deliver them Bob?”

  “Yes. Glad to.”

  “Okay, and he thinks that he’ll want more this week. We’re okay at the moment but we’ll run short soon if he asks for a lot more.”

  “How many do we have?” asked Ken.

  “We’ll have about two thousand of each after this delivery.”

  “Then I’ll try and speed-up the line,” he replied. “We can make a thousand a day if we work hard. Even more, if they’re trains.”

  “Have you finished the barrel sander?” asked Bob.

  “No. I couldn’t get it to work well enough and Mary hates me spending my weekends in the garage. She wants to go and see Larry again. I’ve said we’ll go there next weekend so the sander will have to wait.”

  “Well I’ll get back as soon as I can from the delivery and give a hand. Can you help me load the boxes Craig?”

  Ten minutes later he was on his way. With no tea break he was back by twelve and helped wherever he could for the rest of the day.

  There was a letter from Maria waiting for him. She wrote that she was really looking forward to the Lake District tour. ‘Anything to get away from answering the phone and all the desk work!’ The letter was signed ‘with much love from Maria.’

  There was no call from Dave Tuesday morning and Bob spent the day in the shop. He was glad when five o’clock came and, being too tired to cook for himself, he ate in the Crown, siting at the bar and talking to Len about the number of new people coming to live in Small End. Len was happy about the growth of course, Bob was less so, preferring the slower pace of the times gone bye. After supper and his second pint he walked slowly up the hill to his home and was fast asleep in bed by nine o’clock.

  Dave Posser called again early on Friday. “I need another 1,000 of each,” he told Lori. “I’m sure it’s people who’ve seen the BBC documentary and the rush will die down soon. Once it does I’ll only order on Fridays. It’s easier for you and makes it easier for our accounting department if I do that.”

  Lori told Ken about his call and he asked her how many they had in inventory. “With what we’ve added since Monday, and after taking off this order we’ll have about five thousand, about two thousand farms and villages and a thousand trains. I could go and count them if you like but I think that’s what we’ve got.”

  Bob delivered the toys and when he returned Ken took him into the office and shut the door.

  “I’ve just had a call from John Barker, the president of Great Toys. They want to buy our company and he’s asked us to visit and talk about it.”

  “Buy us? Take over the company?”

  “Yes. Actually he said they really only wanted to buy the name of the company. It’s a good job we registered it!”

  “They just want to buy the name?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “What wou
ld we do if they bought that? I don’t want to start again under a different one.”

  “Well we wouldn’t have to. They’d actually buy the company and close this shop. They’d make our toys in their London factory. They’d pay us five hundred thousand pounds.”

  “The name and company is worth much more than a half a million Ken. We can make that in less than a year at the rate we’re going.”

  “Yes we can, right now. But, remember, we said that wooden toys might just be a fad and that people might not want to buy them one day. If no one wanted wooden toys the company wouldn’t be worth anything.”

  “Well I’m not selling the company if they’re going to close this shop. To sell and put everybody out of work is not fair. I’m willing to take a gamble on us continuing. How about you?”

  “I agree. I’d like us to continue. But not forever. I’m sure we’ll be selling fewer toys before long. Then we should sell, perhaps.”

  “When does he want an answer?”

  “I can phone him now and tell him we’re not interested.”

  “Okay. Let’s get it over with.”

  Ken picked up the phone and dialled his number.

  “No. Sorry. We’re not willing to sell.” He listened to the reply, put his hand over the mouthpiece then spoke to Bob.

  “He’s asked us to visit and talk about it. I think he will offer us more money. Do we still say no?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sorry, John. We still don’t want to sell so we won’t come to talk about it. Maybe in a year or two. Oh. Okay. I understand,” and Ken hung up the phone.

  “He said that they probably wouldn’t want to buy us in a year or two.”

  “Yes, I guess he wouldn’t if our sales went down.”

  There was a knock on the door and Lori poked her head in.

  “Excuse me, but everybody said they’d work over lunchtime if we’re going to be short of toys. I didn’t know what to tell them. Do you want them to?”

  “No Lori. If you say we’ll be fine for a while there’s no need. Come in, there’s something we want to tell you.” She came in and sat on her desk facing them.

  “We’ve just had an offer from the president of Great Toys. He wants to buy the company. We said no, we aren’t interested in selling.”

  “Didn’t he offer enough?”

  “He offered half a million pounds. Which isn’t enough we think.”

  “No, it surely isn’t,” she replied, “not with what we’re making now.”

  “The worst part of it Lori,” said Bob, “was that he only wanted to buy the name. He would close the factory and make our toys in his London factory. I hated that part of it most.”

  “I guess we both hated that part of it,” added Ken.

  “Well I’m glad you told me. It would be terrible to find out that our jobs were gone. Everybody likes working here and would hate to look for another job after working here. They wouldn’t find one as good as this.”

  “We’ll never close the factory unless it starts making a loss,” Bob said, “so don’t worry about it. You’ll know how we are doing financially before we do. We’d talk to everybody before making that kind of a decision, wouldn’t we, Ken?”

  “Oh yes. We’d do that.”

  “Will you tell everybody about the offer Ken?” asked Lori.

  “What do you think Bob?”

  “Sure. We’ve just said we’ll talk about things like that with them. Tell them at lunchtime.”

  Halfway through lunch Ken asked everybody to listen and he told that about the call from John Barker. Everybody except Lori and Craig was shocked but they quickly recovered when Ken and Bob told them they wouldn’t be selling. They answered questions afterwards and continued until everybody was satisfied. Bob noticed that Craig didn’t ask any questions, he guessed that Lori had earlier told him what had happened.

  Thursday was another busy day for everyone as they worked hard to increase the inventory. They made about a thousand farms and began making villages on Friday. Dave Posser called again and asked for another thousand farms a thousand villages and five hundred trains. Bob delivered them, returned to the shop and everybody decided to work until five o’clock. Early closing on Friday afternoons, they agreed, was stopped for now. At the end of the afternoon Lori said they had, roughly, three thousand farms, two thousand villages and seventeen hundred trains. She said she’d pin a list of what they’d got on the door and keep it up-to-date. Bob thanked her, for he was getting worried about how big Dave’s orders might soon become. Lori also told him that she had ordered twenty thousand boxes and they should be ready to pick-up sometime next week. “Do you want to collect them?” she asked, well knowing he’d answer “Yes."

  He sat with Ken in the office after everyone had left telling him he wanted to discuss money.

  “We are going to have a problem next week; there won’t be enough money in the bank to pay everyone’s salaries. Lori’s told me we’ve only got about £1,780. We’ll have to put some more in or hope that we start receiving money from the July retailers, the ones that we’ve delivered to. Trouble is, it’ll take a week for me to get another mortgage, although they might be quicker this time.”

  “I can look after next week Bob. I can lend the company £2,500 from my savings, £5,000, if needed. It’ll take only one day to transfer since the business bank is also my bank. But let’s wait until Wednesday before doing that; we might have some cheques by then. Did Lori tell you how much we’ll get from the sets we sold ourselves?”

  “Yes she did. £27,989.”

  “Well I bet some of it comes in soon. Not everyone waits until the fifteenth to pay.”

  “Yes, that’s right. All right. That was my biggest worry but there’s another one. Dave bought the first lot July 18th and that means that We-Have-It doesn’t have to pay us until September 12th. We wouldn’t get that until September 13th or 14th. So it’s going to be tight for several weeks.”

  “What are our weekly expenses these days?”

  “June’s was just over £8,750. With more people working for us and using more materials I estimated that July’s would be about £16,000. Our August expenses would be about the same. More, if we work overtime.”

  “We might have to do that, thanks to the BBC, but we can manage, it’s only the salaries we have to cover each week, almost all of the rest doesn’t have to be paid until the end of the month.”

  “I know, but I don’t want to borrow more money.”

  “Ah don’t worry Bob. Think of September—it’ll start rolling in then.”

  “I guess so. Lori added up what we’ll get from We-Have-It; it’ll be £91,212 and fifty pence!”

  “I guessed it must be over a seventy five. Minus our expenses we should net quite a bit more than fifty thousand. Let’s hope these sales continue. Hey, look at the time! I must be off. We’re driving to Manchester tonight. I hope the traffic isn’t bad. You’ll be in on Monday?”

  “Yes. Have a good weekend Ken.”

  “You too.”