The Burnley Boys

by Drew Black

  Jack's mind whirred, all the tidying up he and Tom had been doing over the last couple of months now suddenly made sense. Jack couldn't find it within himself to get angry at the old man though. Afterall, he'd been good to Tom and his family over the years. It suddenly came to Jack who Jessop reminded him of, Carry Grant!

  "Okay Mr Johnson, thanks for all the work over the summer, I've really enjoyed it. I'll be sad to leave though."

  "You're a good lad Jack, pass on my regards to Tom and his family, will you?

  "Of course, I will. If you don't mind me asking, what are you going to do, without the farm I mean?

  "Oh, I'll find something to do son, I'm sure of that."

  "You're not moving away are you?"

  "No sirree, you're not going to get rid of me that easily, I've bought a little place out in Padiham, once I'm settled in, you and Tom will have to come and visit me."

  Jack said that they would, but even then, he knew that it was unlikely to ever happen. Life was just a bowl of cherries. No friends, no job, whatever next? Thinking on his feet he said, "What about you Mr Jessop, will you be keeping the farm going?

  "Jack, that's Mr Jessop's business."

  "No, it's okay Bob." Jessop said smiling his Carry Grant smile. "The kid's got a right to know, it'll be common knowledge soon enough, anyway. Unfortunately, Jack, I’ve got other plans for the land. besides which I have my own people."

  "Well seeing as though I'm being paid for the week what if I offered my services for free, and if you've got nothing for me after that, then we'll call it quits."

  Jessop laughed out loud, so loud in fact that Old Man Johnson almost dropped his coffee. There was something about this kid that Jessop liked, and on reflection he supposed he could find him something to do on the estate. "Call up at the house tomorrow, eight o'clock sharp. Do you know where it is?”

  Jack nodded, everyone in Burnley knew Jessops House. It was so huge you could hardly miss it.

  "Ask for Ted Jackson, he'll be expecting you. You work for free mind."

  Jack nodded again; "Yes, Mr Jessop, thank you."

  "And I can't promise you a job at the end of it, you do understand that, don't you?”

  "Yes Sir."

  "Good lad, now run along, Mr Johnson and I have business to discuss."

  "Okay, good luck in your new life Mr Johnson."

  "Good luck to you son." Old man Johnson replied with a wry smile.

  Next morning Jack set off for the Jessop estate bright and early. He'd decided that if he did get a summer job there, he would invest in a bike. He'd set his heart on a Raleigh three speed, but he had nowhere near enough money saved up to buy one yet. It was quite a trek to the estate, and then he had to make it up the driveway, which was at least half a mile long. When he eventually reached the front door, he knocked on it before taking a step backwards. The house was magnificent. It was constructed entirely out of sandstone and had at least ten bedrooms. The gardens were equally exquisite, full of colour and manicured to perfection.

  He heard a bolt draw on the inside of the large oak door. He expected to be met by a maid or a butler, but when the door opened, he had a pleasant surprise because in front of him stood a young girl, she had the most striking face, and her jet-black hair was cut short almost in a boy's style.

  "Hello, how may I help you?" she said in a non-committal tone.

  Jack was fascinated by her high cheek bones, and dark, almost black eyes. "Uh, Mr Jessop said I was to call at the house, and ask for Ted Jackson, he's got some work for me."

  "I think you mean Mr Jackson." the girl with the high cheekbones and brown/black eyes said with a wicked smile.

  "Yes, Mr Jackson, that's the fella." Jack agreed recovering some of his composure.

  "You'd better come in then, mind you wipe your feet first though, daddy goes mad if anyone treads dirt into the carpet."

  The hallway was vast, it had a stone floor and white walls. He followed Jessop's daughter into a large and airy waiting room. The girl sat on the arm of a chair, picked up a telephone receiver, dialled a three-digit number, and looked directly at him. Jack was tempted to avert his gaze, but he resisted. Finally, after what seemed an age, she said "Hi Ted, I've got a young man here reporting for work, daddy told him to ask for you." She continued to look at him as she spoke. She twisted the telephone flex round her index finger.

  "Your name Jack?" she asked

  "Yes, it is, Jack Davies."

  "Yes, it's Jack. Yes, okay Ted. Yes, I'll tell him. Okay, bye." She hung up the phone. "You're to report to the stables, he'll meet you there. Turn right when you leave the house, follow the pathway round for about two hundred and fifty yards, and they're there on the left."

  "Okay, thanks for your help." Jack said walking towards the waiting room door.

  "By the way, I'm Sam."

  "Sam?" Jack said returning to her,

  "Yes, I was supposed to be a boy." she said wrinkling up her nose which gave her face a much warmer, almost little girl type of expression.

  "Pleased to meet you Sam." Jack said holding out his hand.

  Sam shook it. "Pleased to meet you." but already the warmth had drained out of her face. "You'd better run along, Mr Jackson will be waiting for you, and there's one thing you'll learn quickly Jack, no-one who works on this estate keeps Ted Jackson waiting."

  Her eyes held his gaze, and for a moment he felt transfixed, until finally he made himself break away. "Thanks again for your help Sam." he said leaving the room.

  "That's okay." she replied smiling to herself.

  As Jack walked down the pathway heading towards the stables, he got the distinct impression Sam was watching him. However, he resisted the urge to turn around and look back at the house. Maybe he was just imagining it?

  Down at the stables Ted Jackson was waiting for him. "Are you Jack?" He asked in a gruff tone.

  "Yes, Jack Davies." Jack said holding out his hand.

  "Right Lad," Jackson said ignoring the invitation to shake hands, "you can start by mucking out the stables, ever done it before?"

  "Yes sir, I used to work on a--"

  "Okay, when you've finished, come to my office." Jackson said pointing at a stone building in the distance. "If I'm not there give me a call on this." Jackson handed Jack a tin-plated whistle on a string. "Blow it once and I'll come and get you. Now, I'm finding you work because Mr Jessop has told me to, so make sure you do a good job. I don't want to have to be clearing up after you, you hear. I haven't got the time or the inclination."

  Jack nodded, and Jackson turned on his heels and went mumbling off into the distance. Although Jack felt as though he could swing for the ignorant old git, he was determined not to give him even the slightest reason to criticise his work. There was something about this place, something about Jessop, that seemed right. He did not know why, but it felt as though he belonged here.

  Jack worked hard all day long. Jackson made sure that he was kept busy. He'd seen a couple of other workers on the estate, but neither had made any attempt to engage with him. However, this suited Jack, the work was enough for him.

  At the end of the day Jack was invited in for a meal with the rest of the 'team', which consisted of Jackson, two old boys that he'd seen earlier, and a lad of about sixteen called Matt. To his surprise, Sam served up the meal which was a stew.

  “You had a good day Ted?” she said addressing Jackson but looking at Jack.

  "Yes, thanks Sam, we've got a lot done today, haven't we boys?" To which everyone voiced their agreement.

  "Well, eat it before it gets cold."

  Little chance of that, Jack thought observing the rafts of steam that were rising from each of their bowls. Jack caught a glimpse of Sam as he disappeared back into the kitchen. Nice bum he thought, before reminding himself that he was here strictly on business. Besides which, the last thing he needed was Jackson catching him eyeing up the bosses' daughter. Yeah, he felt sure that would go down really well with Jessop. He stifled a giggle.<
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  They ate in silence. Jack thought about initiating a conversation, bit then thought better off it. Instead he decided to heed the advice of one of his mother's favourite sayings, which was; when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

  After the meal, Jackson bade them all a good evening. As the four of them left the house, Jack's earlier thought about the need to invest in a bicycle was vindicated, the other three all had them.

  Seeing Jack was on foot Matt asked him where he lived.

  "Near the reck." Jack said.

  "Oh god, I live in the opposite direction, but I can give you a lift to the main road, if you like."

  "That would be great thanks."

  "Don't let Jackson get to you." Matt said as he worked to get up some speed. "He's not that bad once you get to know him. I just think as far as you're concerned, he's just a bit annoyed because he usually likes to hand pick his own men that's all."

  "I'm only here on trial until the end of the week."

  "Yeah, but if you work like that every day, he'd be hard pushed not to recommend keeping you on."

  "Why, did he say anything about me?

  "No, he didn't say a word about you, well not to me, anyway but you made a breeze of all those crappy jobs he gave you, besides Mr Jessop is the kind of man who likes to keep his finger on the pulse. Even though he wasn't around today, he'll still make it his business to find out how you've got on."

  The next day Jack got more of the same as far as the type of work was concerned. However, he was heartened by what Matt had said to the previous evening, and if anything, he went about his work with even more gusto.

  Ted Jackson was more amused than annoyed with how the new lad was shaping up. Prior to meeting Jack, he thought he was capable of breaking any kid, but he had to hand it to him, he had a sort of single-minded determination about him. In fact, he reminded him of himself, he even looks a little bit like I did at that age Jackson mused. if he'd been a philanderer back in the day, he would’ve suspected that Jack may have been one of his offspring. He massaged his chin and had a chuckle to himself. He concluded that Jack would soon exhaust all the nasty jobs that Jessop had insisted he give him, but that was hardly the lad's fault, was it? He supposed they could use another pair of hands, especially in light of them taking over Johnson's old place. Even though much of the heavy work would be carried out by contractors, who Jessop had been delighted to inform him would be working more or less gratis on account of the favours they owed him, they'd still have plenty of extra work up there to keep them busy.

  3

  By Friday night Jack was totally exhausted. As the team sat down for their evening meal, Jack found the conversation a bit livelier. He learned that Sam was in fact sixteen and was about to start college in September. She was taking business studies. Apparently, Jessop was grooming her to eventually take over the business from him. She already helped with the administration side of things, and assisted Ted Jackson in running the estate.

  Jack was yet to be informed of whether he was being kept on or not. "I'll have five minutes with you after dinner Jack." Jackson said as if he had been reading his thoughts. Jack braced himself for the bad news. However, he could not pretend to himself that he wouldn't be disappointed if he wasn't kept on. He'd miss seeing Sam for one thing, she wasn't like the girls at school, she was feisty and independent, she seemed to know exactly what she wanted, and even more importantly how to get it.

  After they'd all finished their meal, everyone said their goodbyes and wished Jack good luck, Matt gave him a wink as he got up from the table. Sam started to clear the dishes and afforded him a friendly smile as she did so.

  "Right young man," Jackson said clearing his throat, "you've worked extremely hard this week, and it hasn't gone unnoticed. I've discussed the situation with Mr Jessop, and we've decided to offer you a position here until the end of summer."

  Jack felt elated, inside he was jumping for joy, but he retained a calm exterior. "That's great Mr Jackson, I won't let you down, I promise."

  "I'll make sure you don't Jack. The hours are Monday to Friday, eight until five and Saturday eight until mid-day. Your pay will be twenty pounds per week.

  Jack's heart skipped a beat, no-way did he expect to be paid so much, it was more than double Old Man Johnson had been paying him. He'd be able to afford to buy the Raleigh three speed in just over a week!

  "Are those terms okay with you Jack?" Jackson asked already knowing the answer, the kid had probably never had twenty pounds of his own in his life before.

  "Yes, that’s just fine Mr Jackson."

  Sam stopped her clearing up duties to congratulate him. Jack felt like hugging her, but then thought better of it.

  "Mr Jessop said take tomorrow off, unpaid of course. So, we'll see you bright and early on Monday morning Jack." Jackson informed him with a grin.

  "Okay, thanks very much."

  "Oh, before you go, there's one more thing."

  Here comes the catch Jack thought, but no nothing could spoil this day, he was sure of it.

  Jackson pushed an envelope across the table to him; "Go on," he said, "open it." Inside there was four crisp five-pound notes "Your wages for this week, plus a small bonus for working so hard."

  Jack sat there not knowing what to say; "I can't accept this." he said finally. "Mr Jessop and I struck a deal that I'd work this week for free."

  "Don't be silly Jack, you've earned it. Trust me, Mr Jessop wouldn't be giving it to you, if you hadn't would he Sam?"

  "Ted's right Jack, dad's not the type to throw his money around."

  “Well, please tell him thank-you, I really appreciate it." Jack said slipping the notes back into the envelope. he tucked the envelope safely deep into his pocket, said goodbye to them both and stepped outside into the evening sunshine.

  Jack hung out with Tom on Sunday afternoon. When Tom called for him, he initially thought he wanted more help with his reading, but to his surprise the subject never even came up. It felt as though it had been six months since he'd seen his buddy instead of just over a week. Tom was full of his job, but not in a condescending way like his elder brother John, no Tom was genuinely interested in giving him an insight into what his workplace was like. Tom thought that Jack was winding him up about Jessop and The Johnson's farm. Tom was intent on going to see the old farmer and was disappointed to learn that he had already left. His spirits lifted though when he learned that he'd asked after him and told Jack to pass on his regards to him and his family.

  The rest of the summer holidays went by rapidly. Jack flourished working on the estate whilst Tom found his feet in the real world.

  4

  Jack would miss working on the estate, he'd really taken to working there, and although the work was tiring, he found it enjoyable, and of course there was Sam, he was going to miss her more than anything else. As the team sat down for what was Jack's last meal Mr Jessop came through the door. Everyone automatically stood up. However, he waved a hand at them to indicate it wasn't necessary. "Had a good day Ted?" Jessop asked his foreman.

  "Yes boss, we got through the workplan, plus a bit more besides."

  "I believe this is your last day with us Jack."

  "Yes Sir."

  "Come and see me in my study before you leave, will you?"

  "Yes Sir."

  Jessop smiled his Carry Grant smile and disappeared back through the main kitchen.

  Sam started to serve up their meal. "This is a special treat for everyone, on account of it being Jack's last day, fillet steak." she said smiling at Jack. "I didn't want dad to see, not that he'd mind, but the one time he comes down here, I'm serving up steak." Everyone laughed politely.

  Jack's mouth watered at the prospect of eating prime steak, as he had never eaten it before.

  "I wish you'd leave every day." Matt said tucking into his meal.

  As soon as Jack had finished Jackson instructed him to go and have a quick wash and brush up before going up to see Mr Jessop. Jack got up from th
e table and said his goodbyes to them all. "Where is your dad's study Sam?" he asked her.

  "It's straight down the hallway Jack, the last door on the left, you can wash your hands in here." she said showing him to the scullery, just off the kitchen.

  Jack made his way down the hallway, which was extremely cool considering how hot a day it was outside. He knocked on Mr Jessop's study door and waited.

  "Come in."

  Jack opened the door and entered the room which he found to be much in keeping with the rest of the house. It was another large and airy room, that had a grandfather clock ticking away in one corner. Jessop was sat behind a highly polished walnut desk which was situated off to the right of the room.

  "Hi Jack, come in, take a seat." Jessop said pointing to the red leather Chesterfield Chair that was positioned to the side of his desk.

  Jack sat down and felt the coolness of the leather against his palms as he placed one hand on each armrest. Jessop swivelled his chair to his left to directly face him.

  " I believe this is your last year at school Jack?"

  "Yes, it is sir."

  "Are you going to college afterwards?"

  "I doubt it sir, we can’t really afford it."

  Jessop nodded, "Well I've had nothing but good reports about you from Ted Jackson."

  "Really?" Jack said sounding somewhat surprised.

  "Yes, don't be fooled by his manner. He's a tough task-master Ted is, he runs a tight ship. That's why I employ him. But he's also a good judge of character and gives credit where it's due."

  Jack raised his eyebrows and nodded. when he considered it, he supposed Jackson wasn't a bad old stick, really.

  "Anyway Jack, if you’re interested you can come and work for me. I've already asked permission from your parents and your headmaster obviously, but the ultimate decision is yours. Your starting salary would be sixty pounds a week."