Steve’s Year

Chapter 3

India

Revision 16

Alone? Or Not

She'd be ok. Steve had offered to go up to the airport with her, but she'd said he’d have enough to do with his own work and the two girls without that as well. 

It was almost a normal day, leaving the house around 8, but this time with her suitcase all labelled clearly for Mumbai. She’d left in plenty of time, and found her way to the car park, onto the transfer bus and through check-in and security without a real hitch. 

Even tracking down Peter wasn't too hard as he was, as she should have expected, at the same departure gate. What did catch her by surprise was that he was not alone. He seemed to have someone with him. It was .. ..Vanina, the sales assistant in the homeware department, and they seemed to be particularly friendly, at least until they saw her approaching. 

“Are you part of this trip as well?” she asked innocently. 

“Partly” replied Peter on her behalf, but with a flat finality that indicated to her that no farther questions were expected. Vanina seemed excited and conversely Peter looked furtive and twitchy. He shepherded her onto the flight ahead of Eloise and moved himself in beside her taking Eloise's allocated seat. She frowned at him 

“Take my seat just there. It's a window.” 

She decided not to argue and was soon joined by a tall thin gentleman who looked to be of Middle Eastern origin who nodded politely at her, but didn't speak. 

She braced herself for take-off, and once cruising she noticed that Peter in front of her was sitting well over to the edge and that his arm appeared to be crossing the gap between the seats. It also occurred to her, from her experience with Steve on their settee of an evening, and the positions they sometimes twisted into when one of the girls appeared unexpectedly, that some physical contact was being maintained. So that’s why he couldn’t just leave this trip to her!

It also became clear that the guy next to her spoke little or no English. Neither did he speak any of the varieties of Arabic that the air hostess knew. He was confused by the offer of a drink, not knowing how much it would cost but held out a palmful of British coins. Eloise managed to signal to him to put them away and again for the snack that appeared soon after. She figured out how to use the headphones, and then showed him. He frowned in a disappointed rather than cross way until she found the channel for classical music and he lay back in his seat with a thankful grin in her direction. 

Snippets of Europe drifted past as she looked out of the window through breaks in the clouds, and then turned to her document folder to pull out the sample contract that Steve had walked her through. She'd revisited the annotated points that were important to her with the expectation that the legal stuff common to all contracts would be ok. Getting some rest would also be important as they were spending 3 hours in Dubai in the middle of the night before the second half of the journey.

They landed for refuelling and her new friend pulled his case from the overhead locker. Inside the terminal she followed the herd towards the transfer lounge but was surprised to feel a heavy hand on her shoulder. She surged and stopped, panicking that it might be security. It was her Middle Eastern friend. He smiled disarmingly and pointed to the direction sign for the lounge. Then he pointed to himself and then to the exit sign. She watched his sadder expression as she let his hand run all the way down her arm from her shoulder where he had stopped her. He touched her hand and raised it slightly, very gently kissed the back of it, and gently let it drop. He smiled, turned and was gone. 

Eloise waited, frozen to the spot as she watched him disappear into the crowd and through the door. How absolutely charming!

She had been concerned about language differences in India, but now, as she wiped a surprising tear from her eye, she was confident that there would not be a problem.

She continued the journey in contemplative mode. It would not be easy with this new situation with Peter and Vanina, but he’d said absolutely nothing about her keeping quiet about it. And she was suddenly disappointed that there had been no mention of even a small bribe. She drifted off to sleep thinking that this would probably not the first time Peter and Vanina had slept together.

Immigration was scary with Security silently accusing her of everything but the transfer to the hotel was amazing with the landscape and glimpses of the desperate poverty of the shanty towns embedded in the culture. Eloise would have liked a running commentary from Vanina, but only managed a few words as Peter glowered in the background. It was nearly lunchtime, locally, and Eloise was hoping for an afternoon nap to catch up with the time zone change, but Peter had been taking advantage of every snack available on the flight and instead they took a taxi to see their first supplier. 

Scary! Row upon row of sewing machines buzzing away, making sure she was fully awake.

“I am very pleased you have come to give me next years order” their host was saying “And I have contract ready for you, Peter”

Eloise had lagged behind and had stopped to examine a finished dress checking the hemming and the seams. It looked near perfect. So much better than last years shipment. Yes, she could sell this. But this upturn in events was short lived 

“No” Radesh said, “that line is not for you”

“But it's good, and good material” she remonstrated, 

“Sorry but that line is already full capacity” he said as he hurried them past the production lines towards a smaller area. 

“This is where the East team is based”. He announced. “Product is very competitive on price” 

She picked up a sample from a large but neat stack of garments. The hem was ragged, the stitching uneven and the ends unfinished. She’d seen this quality somewhere before!

“I'm sorry….” she began but was cut short as Radesh moved them along and into a small office.

“Here we have the contract. You can sign here, and here and then we have plenty time for lunch.” 

She picked up the contract and scanned through it quickly. 

“Radesh, there's nothing in here about quality. I'd like a clause that says that if the quality is not up to standard we will be refunded the cost”.

“Why you want that? You no trust me maybe?” he asked crossly

“Because the quality in the first room was acceptable, and we could sell those garments in the UK. The quality of the sample in the East team would be unsellable in England”

“I knew you were going to be difficult” Peter turned on her 

“Don’t be silly. We can't buy product that will simply be consigned to the basement for five years”. 

“But the East team are the future. They are my expert apprentice seamstress team, see e a s t”. 

“Do you have a junior team as well that would be the j e s t team” 

“No, no jest here” 

But Eloise assumed he’d missed the point.

“And I also want to know if repeat orders are a possibility. That is, if the line sells particularly well, what’s the lead time for getting additional stock?” 

“Not possible” replied Radesh “because shipping time is eight weeks and that would take you to the next season”

Eloise raised more questions on payment terms and exchange rates as well as colours, fabrics and alterations to designs. 

Radesh was getting increasingly agitated and Eloise had to keep telling herself to keep calm. But without the extra contract clauses and seeing the quality of what he was anticipating shipping, there was no way she was signing anything and the atmosphere in the taxi was frosty 

“Radesh is very upset” fumed Peter 

“But we can't buy product just because he's upset. He should have reserved some of his class A capacity for us, not that apprentice rubbish. Look Peter, my job here is to help with purchasing product that we can sell. That way I protect the company’s revenue stream and my team’s jobs and bonuses. I'm not putting all that on the line just because a guy I don't know might be upset”. 

“I knew this was going to happen” 

“Of course you knew. Gio told you. That's why he sent me. To prevent you signing up to a pile of dross in the first five minutes so you can get back to the hotel and into the sack with Vanina. Anyway, there are other suppliers, aren't there?“

“There's dozens, but I’ve no idea how reliable they are. I heard that the North India Fabric Corporation is reputable, but that's in Calcutta.” 

“Ok. Do we go there?”

“I'm not going three hours north on a plane to speculatively arrive at an unknown factory with unknown products when there's a contract right here waiting to be signed” 

“Peter, you’re acting as though signing the contract is the only objective”

“It is my objective”

“You mean that after that, the purchasing activity is finished, and then its someone else’s problem to sell it and make a profit. Well, there's no way we're signing up to Radesh’s rejects. Its garbage and we can't afford to waste all that money” 

“It's nor wasted. Radesh tells me that order would keep many of his staff from starving in the ghettos” 

“Fine, but there’ll be other people we can save from starving in the ghettos that are working in another facility that produces quality we can sell. And anyway we're not here on a charity mission. Not with company money. At least I’m not”. 

“Well I'm not going to Calcutta“

“In that case. I'll go on my own” 

“You can't. It's not safe. Women can't travel round on their own in this country. Its not France or Germany or somewhere”

“Don't be silly. It might be a problem if I went by rickshaw or even a train. But I can't see what harm can come in a plane” 

Hotel reception found her the number and Harish Ventakaramen agreed to meet her the next day. He too warned that safety could be an issue but suggested that his assistant Radika would meet her at the airport. 

That evening, she had dinner on her own as Vanina and Peter nestled in a secluded corner table with candlelight. It wasn’t a problem to her. She knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. It was never going to be sociable, but she’d been sent to do a job, and that, at least in her book, did not extend to being with Peter 24 7. That aspect had been solved for her and she’d leave that to Vanina.

It also gave her a chance to re-assess what her objectives were for the trip and she updated her notes. This may not make it to the final report, but it was ready to be included if she wanted to. 

Ventakaramen was a portly, well dressed, amiable man in his late forties. He listened intently as she explained what she was interested in. Then he gave her an informative and relatively brief overview of his company, their products and their ways of working. 

“I have my chief designer spend a lot of time in Paris, New York and Milan” he told her with pride “Of course, many of the catwalk designs are impractical for everyday women and men, so we try to pick the best ideas and build them into our range” 

Eloise mentioned returns, and he smiled at her, a broad calm confident smile 

“My dear Mrs Beresford, there is no need for that clause because I have every confidence in our quality control. I will show you when we walk around the production facility. However, again and also because I have every faith in my quality control, I have no problem adding that clause to the contract because it will never be used, so it matters not to me if it is there or not. So if you want it, so be it”. 

She watched the girls in the factory buzzing through seams and pleats at a frightful pace. She picked up a finished dress and studied the hemming and the fabric grade before he stopped at the QA station. 

“Here” he said raising a long sleeved blouse from a pile on the counter “Here is an example” 

The QA manager took the garment from him and explained “This has been rejected and will go round again. It will be completely dismantled and then if possible, be remade a couple of sizes smaller to reduce waste. You see why? There is a slight tear under the arm where the fabric has been cut incorrectly. On this one, the hem is ragged. It has not been finished effectively, so it will be redone and resubmitted for inspection again” 

Eloise checked her watch

“Yes, said Ventakaramen “It is getting late – nearly dinner time”

“Yes” she replied noticing that she sounded quite weary “This is all much more interesting than I had anticipated”

“But, Mrs Beresford, I am very interested in doing business with you, and I think my products will suit your purpose”

“I agree, but I need some time to work out the quantities and consider the details”

“Perhaps you could stay in Calcutta tonight and we talk about the details in the morning”

She nodded, But I don’t have a hotel booked

“No problem, I will get my assistant, Radika, to book a room. And she can change your flight as well. That way we have enough time to properly consider the options. And I will join you for dinner if you don’t mind, to save you being by yourself. And look, here. I give you this. UK size 12 if I’m not mistaken, so you have new dress for tomorrow and you can check the fit of our product on yourself. And in case you think maybe I am up to the monkey business, I bring my wife to dinner too. I think you will like her too”.    

Eloise was much more comfortable with that suggestion. Here was a man who was keen to do business on her terms, who understood the issues and who she felt she was beginning to trust. She smiled quietly to herself as they moved on to the fabric warehouse where he showed her the stock of raw materials, and finally to dinner at her hotel.

“And do you mind me asking who you been supplied by before this time?” 

She mentioned Radesh, and that he was upset at not getting the order this year, but that she couldn't place it if there were going to be quality issues 

“Ah ha! Hence the clause on quality! Which of course is no problem for me. I understand now. But of course Radesh will be very upset. Yes, very very upset. You see, I do not like to talk bad of my competition, but I do not mind talking bad of Radesh. You see, he does not make garments. He buys from Malaysia where they are cheaper, and incidentally, less of quality. He imports them to Bombay, then he resells them to western stores” 

“But he took us through his workshops” 

“Oh no, that workshops is his next door neighbour. It belongs to Rohan Mahindra. You may have seen is very good quality, but also be very expensive. All Radesh has is a small office to the side of Rohan’s premises, although I believe he sometimes sets up a temporary workshop in an annex next door to show you his teams working. But the reason Radesh is unhappy is that he has probably already bought the consignment from Malaysia”

 “Of course”, continued Ventakaramen, “I could offer you an incentive, if you would be interested in something personal. Is very common practice here in this part of the country”.

Eloise looked confused “Forgive me please but I’m afraid I’m not very familiar with practices in your country, but at the same time I don’t want to insult anyone accidentally”

“Sometimes” he confided lowering his voice to a whisper “we get gentlemen from Japan or Middle East and they like me find them a young lady as company for their evening. But of course it is not often that we get ladies such as yourself coming to see us on their own” 

“I, of course, do not approve of such matters” his wife said with a mischievous smile “but then, its not for me to judge because a girl has to earn a living somehow”

Eloise tried hard to look shocked, but the whole culture was so different she failed to be surprised.

“I don't think anything of that nature will be necessary” she smiled “I just need some time to consult my requirements schedule, work out some quantities, and then we could talk about the costs, if that suits you?”

Back in Ventakaramen’s office the next day she found her heart racing. She remembered Steve on the verge of getting cross with her. Its so easy to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Keep your nerve right through to the end. 

She bit her lower lip, hard, and decided to sign. Giorgio had specifically said a contract wasn't valid unless she'd signed it. He'd said nothing about Peter having to sign it as well.

They shook hands “You will not be disappointed, Mrs Beresford, because I am honourable man. And also I want your contract next year as well”

“Thankyou Mr Ventakaramen, but now that we have signed the contract and agreed the costs, there is something that you might help me with. There is roll of fabric in your warehouse which is very interesting. It was a part roll, with vibrant orange and flecks of blue and green and other colours on a black background”

“Ah yes” he said “This is the end of this roll. There is not enough to make a new batch, and in any case it is very hard to work with. Needs much hand stitching as the weave is so fine, and of course, being silk, it slips in the machines if they try to go too fast. So I don’t think we can make you garments from this”

“No, I was hoping you could tell me where I could buy some of this” 

“I can give you this roll. Is not really of use to us, because there is not enough to make a complete batch”

“No, No, Please, I’m not looking for an incentive. I would buy it from you, but I won’t take it as a gift”

“I understand” he said as he read the tag “There is just over 20 yards left on this roll. I sell it to you at what it cost me. That would be – oh I need to think to convert from rupees”

“Yes please. That would be amazing. Can you ship it with the first batch?”

The flight back was uneventful, as was the taxi back to the hotel in Bombay as she reflected on the events of the last two days. But she was also pleased. She’d got a result. And with these in her Spring collection, she should make an early dent in their annual target. Plus she had several samples in her case. This was Ventakaramen’s idea. ‘You’re worried about quality? You take these, and one of these, and this. Then you can compare what I send in the batch to the sample I show you today’. Oh my, what a contrast from Radesh. And Ventakaramen had also said that he might not even send the invoice until he hears that she is happy with the consignment. 

It was early evening by the time she made the hotel, and the last thing she needed was Peter on her case. But then again, a soothing gin would help her sleep, and unwind the excitement. Peter wasn’t in the bar. But Vanina was, and she was looking both upset and frightened, or maybe just cross.

“Hi, do you want a drink?”

“Yes please. A large vodka ice”

”Actually, Vanina, you look as though you could do with it”. 

They sat at a table overlooking the garden and watched the bats and insects buzzing across the lawn and through the trees. 

"You see, Eloise, my uncle has said I must have nothing more to do with Peter, or he will tell the rest of my family. It is great shame on the family in my country if you have an affair with another man" 

"So are you seeing him back in the UK as well?" she pried 

"No, just here in India. He pays my flights and hotel so I can come back and see my family, so long as I sleep with him" 

"Yes" she replied without emotion 

"You are not shocked? That I agree to do this thing?"

"No. Sounds like you get by far the better end of it, I mean as a commercial deal" 

Vanina was quiet, and drank most of her glass 

"But, Eloise, now if I have nothing to do with him, I have nowhere to sleep. It is not safe for a woman out there on the streets alone, and my uncle has contacts here in the hotel. They will know" 

"Well, you could stay up drinking all night" she said with a hint of mischief. Or, she thought, see if there's some other guy in the bar who would give you a bed for the night, but she refrained from saying as much out loud. It wasn't her place to take sides, or to make judgement on the Indian culture, or indeed the morals of an Indian woman in England, or even in India.

“Do you not have family in this area?”
 “Yes of course, but they think I have my room here at the hotel”

Eloise nodded, now understanding the dilemma 

"There's a spare bed in my room, if you want" she said at length. 

"Really! I think you may just have saved my life" 

It was mid evening when Peter showed up. Eloise and Vanina had taken dinner and were now back in the bar, with Vanina looking like maybe she would just stay there drinking all night. She saw him coming in and fled out onto the veranda. He sat down opposite Eloise, but said nothing. 

“Good evening” she opened quietly still taking in his unkempt demeanour, unshaven, and by all appearances had been drinking all day. And, she mused, maybe yesterday as well. 

"I'm finished. Eloise. This is the end" 

Eloise had no idea why it would be, but decided that she didn't need to know, unless of course he insisted on telling her.

Another large scotch arrived uninvited

“I went to see Radesh yesterday”

"You say that as if maybe he wasn't there when you got there" 

"No," said Peter quietly and completely without the venomous disdain he had previously displayed. "He was there, but I wasn’t allowed through his factory" 

"What happened? Is it closed or something!" 

"No, I saw the A Grade lines through the windows, but the East lines have gone. Radesh says he has let them go as there is no work for them. So we have no contract to take back to Gio. And Vanina is having nothing more to do with me, and now Sandra’s bound to find out”

Eloise stayed silent. It was a sad state, but entirely of his own making, and totally predictable

“And not just that…” he continued sadly “…if Vanina’s family find out about us, the penalty for her in her village is death by stoning. So I can’t go back to my room and now I have nowhere to sleep”

“Well, don’t even think about it. There’s no way you’re sleeping with me”

Peter registered no emotion on the rejection.

“I need another drink”

He came back with a another large scotch without inviting her to join him

“But” said Eloise as he sat back down “You can go back to your room, because Vanina is sharing with me tonight. She said the same thing earlier, and I offered her the spare bed in my room”

Peter took a large gulp from his glass and slouched back in his chair shaking his head 

"Thankyou for that" and took another gulp 

Eloise looked at him, the big bully before the trip, now the broken wreck, drinking himself into a hole. 

"Look, Peter, there must be other manufacturers. I mean, India’s a big place 

“Yeah, there a place in Jaipur I went to two years ago, but its a damn long way to go" 

“But if that's where we need to go, we should go there! We've got a job to do!”

"No, Eloise" he responded with sudden animation "You've got a job to do. Me, I'm finished" 

She continued to look over at him, perplexed 

“You’re supposed to have a job here too! Oh dear! Look, Peter. How did you get into all this mess? I mean, you're not an avid follower of fashion, and you've no real ambition to buy the right products, and, you seem happy just to give up" 

“Huh, how did I get into this mess. Well, Eloise, I'll tell you.

In between words too slurred to be comprehensible, Eloise pieced together the story. 

“But” she said eventually "It sounds like an expensive way of doing that. Surely you could spend a lot less and just stay at home" 

“No, no. It was a business trip. There's something special about getting it on with a colleague while you're away on business. And it didn't cost anything" 

“But Julia books the flights and hotels? 

"Yes, but Julia’s expenses are checked out by Pierre..." 

"And" completed Eloise "yours are checked out by Annabelle, so no one would notice the flight was booked twice" 

So… she eventually figured out, they’re sitting in the hotel bar, and this guy comes in and starts talking to him, and tells him that they can get the products they need much cheaper, and less hassle from him. He says he represents a number of manufacturers in the Far East, so Peter signs up with him. That's how he met Radesh

"So, less time taken up with business, more time in bed with Vanina" she completed

"But now I find out that Radesh is her uncle and if I don't buy from him, he'll blow the whistle on me with Gio, and with the rest of her family, and with Sandra as well. Which means that I have no contract, no Vanina, no wife, no job and no future. And do you know why. Why is that it's all because of you. It's all your fault"

Eloise was furious to be blamed for everything 

"No, Peter, no it's not. You got yourself into this mess. I .." 

She stopped. He seemed to have crashed out, then just as suddenly he twitched and raised an eyebrow “If you hadn’t started interfering, everything would have been all right”

“No it wouldn’t. You’ve been buying rubbish and playing away from home and its finally caught up with you. I couldn’t stand by and watch the company go broke because you want to spend the purchasing time bonking another member of staff. I’ve got responsibilities to my team, and my company, and…” but this time he really had crashed out.

Peter missed breakfast, but managed to surface by the tail end of lunch. Eloise had spent most of the morning in the garden, checking her schedule, reviewing her numbers and thinking that maybe she ought to fly to Jaipur but hoping that Peter might participate as well.

He looked rougher than ever, and his voice had dropped an octave to a croak. Vanina was nowhere to be seen, but Eloise had already decided she was not her responsibility. She was old enough to look after herself, and in any case, Peter said she had loads of family around. He had another large whisky in his hand 

"We should be flying to Jaipur this afternoon, although tomorrow is also a possibility" she said coldly. "You're not going to be able to fly if you’re still drunk. And anyway, you're supposed to be at work" 

"There's no point. I'm finished. I feel like I'm already dead" 

"Don't be so daft." 

She took the glass away from him "Now, you go back to your room. Lie down in the dark for the afternoon, and sleep off some of that alcohol. Then, get up, get cleaned up, get tidied up and then we'll have dinner and try to work out a plan of recovery." 

Peter simply acquiesced. He was too far gone to argue.

But Eloise wasn't intending to sit around wasting even more time. How would that look on the report to Gio. One contract in Calcutta and then sit around for three days doing nothing. 

She put on the new dress that Ventakaramen had given her. It made her feel better, almost confident, and took a hotel taxi back across town to Radesh’s office. He wasn't there, but then, that's not who she'd come to see. She wandered around uninvited through the lines of machinists until she found what looked like a supervisor. 

"I'm looking for Rohan Mahindra" she said to the puzzled looking guy. She felt that he had not understood as he said nothing in reply, but then without a word he turned away and disappeared, returning with a tall sad looking well dressed thin man in his late fifties. The new man looked enquiringly at her 

"If you are looking for Radesh, then his office is next door, over that way" he pointed with a very straight finger as if instructing her to leave, although Eloise would have preferred a wave in the general direction which may have been less forceful 

"No. But thankyou, I'm looking for Rohan Mahindra" 

"In that case, you have found him" 

"Is this your facility here? The output quality is very good, and I like the designs" 

"You were here before, were you not? Talking with Radesh?" 

"Yes, on Wednesday" 

"Its always the case" he said sadly "Radesh takes this route through to his office and his customers think that this is his workshops. It is all sad for us. We make very good product, but is not cheap like Radesh" 

"But I don't want to buy from Radesh. His quality is very bad. I cannot sell that in England" 

"Our quality is far superior. Here, you see how straight is this seam" he responded picking up a loose garment from the table beside them. But he still sounded despondent despite Eloise trying to maintain a smile

"Yes, I know. I examined some of your product the other day, and that is why I have come back" 

"Perhaps then I can show you around our centre" he said, just marginally brighter

"I'd like that. But do you have the capacity to make more garments for me?" 

"Ah. yes. That is what Radesh will tell you. You cannot have this product as it is already full capacity. Yes? Well, no. It is not full capacity. I can increase capacity at a day’s notice by moving my teams around. No. Full capacity? I will make as much as anyone wants to buy!”

She talked through her notes with him, his mood and interaction becoming more friendly as he began to realise that she might just be serious about the real possibility of an order. 

“It’s not a huge order” Eloise said “But I would prefer to buy directly from you rather than a wholesaler in Europe. That way I have some unique designs which helps us to be competitive”
 “We have many designs that you find suitable for England. And we can make modification if you can describe what you want. And don’t be afraid of placing a small order. All orders are treated with much importance to me”

They came to a draft agreement. She asked about follow up orders as she had with Radesh and Ventakaramen 

"Oh, yes. Is no problem. Of course, follow up orders come by plane, although the freight charge has to reflect that, otherwise they would take six weeks, and that might miss the season" 

“Six? But do you not use the same shipping as Radesh?”

"Oh yes!" And for the first time she detected a laugh from Rohan “Radesh will take eight weeks because the customs men open every one of his consignments." 

He lowered his voice "That is, ever since he hid half a hundredweight of hashish in his container. Although, of course it is only a rumour" 

“Oh my goodness! What happened to it”

“I'm sure it's only rumour to explain his delays, because if it was real, Radesh would be driving the Jaguar, and if it had been intercepted, he would be in the pokey, so it must just be the rumour. But all the same is good joke on Radesh” 

"Which he well deserves" 

They agreed to meet the following day and Eloise headed back to meet Peter for dinner, only half expecting him to be sober enough to eat.

Peter was in the dining room, although he had another glass in his hand. But by the time Eloise had finished her main course, Peter had simply pushed the food around his plate and sighed heavily on at least a dozen occasions. 

Now, less hungry, she was more inclined towards conversation, but no, he hadn’t seen Vanina, and was not looking forward to going to Jaipur. 

“That’s good” she replied “Because I don’t want to go either. But we are going to see Rohan”
 “Who”

“Rohan, Rohan Mahindra. He’s the guy with the Class A quality line next door to Radesh that Radesh wouldn’t let us look at”

“Yeah, but its already maxed out, so it’s a non starter”

“No it isn’t” she contradicted more pointedly than she’d meant to “That’s just a distraction from Radesh because he knows he can’t compete on quality. So tomorrow morning… “

“You go Eloise. You know what you’re doing.”

“Oh for goodness sake! Get a grip. I’m trying to set things up so that the report will look satisfactory. And you’re just wallowing in self-pity because you can’t hump Vanina”

“Its not that – well not just that. Its you. You’ll dob me in when we get back, and …”

“Listen, dummy. Last night you were moaning about four things. One Vanina. I can’t do anything about that. Its entirely up to you and her. Two, contracts. We’ll be going back from a successful trip – well I will. I’ll sign with Rohan tomorrow, so that’s contracts sorted. Sandra  – maybe she will find out, but you can just tell her that you and Vanina had a couple too many drinks one night and it got out of hand. Of course she’ll be upset. Probably yell at you, and not talk to you for a week. Then it’ll all be over. Gio? I have no reason to angle my report against you. Why would I do that? Just because you sabotaged my fashion show, doesn’t mean…”
 “How did you find out it was me?”

“Ah ha – so it was you! But it still doesn’t mean I’ll stitch you up. There’s plenty of positive notes coming out of this trip, and I for one will be concentrating on these. So I’m going to see Rohan. You can come if you want to. Or you can spend the morning thinking up good excuses as to why your bar tab is so high”

Rohan was exceptionally charming the following morning, and made her extremely welcome. She went through the schedule of requirements, and he listened patiently. He updated the contract with her requested paragraphs on quality guarantees, exchange rates and shipping arrangements and finally, they signed. It was only when she was leaving that she noticed something else interesting out of the corner of her eye. She crossed to the back of the work area and took hold of one of the misshapen short silk dresses on the isolated rack. The stitching was somewhat erratic, and the finish was imperfect but she recognised them immediately. 

“Oh. Eloise, please do not look at this. It is of very poor quality” 

“Yes, Rohan, I know. But what is it doing here?”

“Ah, Eloise, it is sad tale. But I lend Radesh some money as he is very much in need one day. Of course, and I should have known this, he does not pay me back. So, and I am ashamed to say, I raid his office and I take the only thing which is there and it is this rack of silk dresses. But you came straight over here. I find that strange”

“I got a consignment of these from Radesh. They were unsellable in England, so they all sat in my warehouse for over a year. Then…” she hesitated thinking of the best words “….someone I know got hold of one, and she adapts them into something very special. Look, the fabric is beautiful. It is the sizing and some of the needlework that makes this so bad. However, we have now run out of these, and I would be interested in buying this entire rack from you”

“Of course I would be pleased to get rid of it. But I have one condition on that. And that is you do not say to anyone that you got it from me. I cannot have them thinking that this is the quality of my product, because I want the orders from you for the Autumn season too even if that sounds like I jump the gun”

“Rohan, if the quality of the consignment is up to the standard of the samples you showed me, there won’t be a problem with that”

And sure enough. Rohan delivered the entire rack the next day in a large suitcase, much to Vanina’s surprise

“I didn’t know we were supposed to take the stock with us!”

“No, Vanina. Only some of it”

On her own, early on Monday morning she headed for the airport to make sure that she had enough time to check in the extra outsized suitcase. But on the plane back to Dubai, Vanina and Peter seemed to be back together. Maybe it was just that the risk of stoning was less on an Emirates plane than in a rural village. 

Eloise was happy to let them get on with it and concentrated on getting her notes up to date and catching up on some sleep. But there were some things that continued to scratch away at the back of her mind. And nowhere was better for lack of interruptions than a good eight hours sitting in an armchair with someone bringing food and drink at random intervals.

She rewrote the report for Gio, trying to play down Peter’s complete incompetence while not diminishing her part. And then not blowing her own trumpet so loud that Gio would ask what part, if any, Peter had played. And trying to find an excuse for Peter which did not simply allude to humping Vanina. And of course not mentioning Vanina at all. And then considering what would happen if Gio did find out and thought that she was covering up for them.

But Gio considers himself to be extremely busy. So maybe it doesn’t need a day by day diary. Just – went to see Radesh.

Radesh - poor quality, more interested in taking us to dinner than showing me the production facility. Contract not renewed. 

North India Fabric Company, Calcutta - new supplier to us. Very keen to do business, interested in a longer term relationship, not just one order. 

New supplier in Mumbai, again keen to do business. Very impressed that we chose to go to India to see the production facility rather than just wait for them to come to England with a few samples. Excellent quality, but more expensive. We should consider setting up a separate more up market section within fashion. Signed. Draft deal for the Autumn collection on the table, but open to as many changes in designs as we need. Rohan has indicated potential minimum timescales for changes, which is helpful. Although he says he will do everything he can to accommodate us. 

I feel much more comfortable about the outcome and our ability to sell this stock rather than confine it to the basement for five years. Oh, maybe not that last bit. 

Peter caught up with her in the transfer lounge in Dubai. I suppose you'll be submitting a report to Gio” 

“Yes, it's only reasonable to update him on the outcome. I'll let you see it if you want” 

"Yeah" he replied with much more enthusiasm than she could ever have anticipated 

"It's quite short" he said leaning forward to her seat on the plane. I thought you were going you write more of a diary” 

"I was. But then I thought it might not be appropriate, in the circumstances. And Gio is a really busy man, so I cut it back to the bare minimum. I can't actually see him being interested in the exact manifest. You know, just how many pencils, midis or A lines we've committed to" 

"Thanks" 

"See! You're not doomed, not yet" 

Back at home, Holly and Geneviève were getting excited. "Mummy will be on the plane by now! Maybe she's about to have dinner, or maybe it's breakfast. Gen, what time is it on a plane if its moving through so many time zones?" 

"Depends," said Genevieve vaguely. "Most people just stick to their departure time zone because they don't understand it. What you need to do is move your watch to whatever the landing time zone is, then go to sleep and when you wake up you’ll look at your watch and that will set your expectations”

But Eloise had already moved her watch to London time and was fitting in a bit more sleep. Peter and Vanina would no doubt go home when they landed, but she was planning to drop in at the store to get her update on the trip in first. 

"Are we going out to the Castle for dinner tonight” Holly had asked 

"I don't think so, but you do like the Castle don't you!" 

"All the food there is so yummy. And especially the puddings" 

"Yes, but mummy will have been eating in restaurants every day for a week now. I think she'll be very tired and will probably appreciate some home cooking instead" 

"What about we make one course each" suggested Geneviève" 

Holly nodded "maybe an evening at home with mummy would be better. Daddy could help me make a crunch cake like we did the first day we came." 

Back at the airport, Peter and Vanina disappeared together without a word. So much for cordial departmental relations! But her car started first time. It was so much better after Steve had sorted it the day she took Daniella to the hockey match. 

Gio wasn’t in when she got to the store, but she busied herself with catching up on events and taking a view of the fashion show. She felt that takings were down against last year but not more than the previous three months had been. And the negative impact of bringing sales forward did not appear to be materialising. She did her expenses and took them up to Annabelle.

“How did it go” she asked brightly

“Oh Annabelle. I’m so pleased to be back. It went! It was hard work, interesting, challenging. But overall it was successful”

“I’m so glad. Must have been difficult leaving your little girl behind”

“Yes, but she’s pretty resilient”

“Oh, Eloise. These expenses are international, so they go to Gio. But don’t worry, I’ll drop them in to Julia”

She was unpacking her case when the girls bundled excitedly through the front door. Holly was first to wrap herself around Eloise as she reached the foot of the stairs. Geneviève got her a drink and they sat down eager to hear the highlights. She gave Geneviève the present she’d bought. Holly looked at it strangely “it’s a multiple page marker” explained Eloise. “The heavy tabs on it mean that you can just knock it quickly and the weight turns the page for you. Apparently it was developed by sitar players for when they’re learning a new piece”

She talked for a while about the markets and the crowds, people of all ages begging on the streets and the incessant interruptions with everyone trying to sell her something.

“But I brought you something as well, Holly. Its in the hall. It’s a bit bigger than Genevieve’s, but to be fair it cost about the same”

Holly bundled out to the hall and stood staring at the large suitcase.  

“Is it a large suitcase, mummy?” just as the front door opened.

“Mummy’s home!” announced Holly

“Really? I was wondering how her car would have got here on its own” replied Steve, but Holly carried on regardless “Mummy’s brought me a present. I think it might be a big suitcase”

“Is that a hint she’s packing you off somewhere?”

“Oh, I hope not”

“Are you planning to ship Holly out somewhere by putting her in that case?” he asked as Eloise joined them “It’s a good plan. If we’re all going, we can ship Holly on ahead and save buying her a ticket. Ouch!!” as she finally thumped him.

“You can have the case as well if you like but its what’s inside that I hope you’ll like”

“Oh. Wow. Oh look daddy! How many are there?” she exclaimed rummaging through the pile of silk that had spilled out onto the floor”

“I really don’t know. It was a whole rack. Apparently they’re unsellable anywhere in the world, and the man I bought them from was very pleased to see the back of them”

“So why did he make them”

“He didn’t. He acquired them as part payment for some money he was owed”

They all sat at the table till late, catching up and sharing the last of Holly’s crunch cake washed down by far too much wine before Holly broke into the Cointreau. 

Finally with the girls upstairs in bed, Steve collapsed onto the settee in the living room. Eloise stayed back in the kitchen doing some unnecessary tidying. Not once had she thought that this was not her home and it felt absolutely wonderful to be back in her kitchen. She drifted into the living room with a quiet contented smile and headed towards Steve. 

“Oh! Eloise” Just stop right there”

She stopped abruptly wondering what on earth could be going wrong

“Could you just turn right around, go back to the hall and come back in again”

Unquestioningly she retraced her steps. There was no hesitation about it. This is the type of thing that made being with Steve so interesting. Don’t waste time asking why, just do it and invariably enjoy the result. She twirled in the doorway and headed back towards him watching him studying her as she crossed the room, but with a more nervous curious smile. Steve got up as she got to the settee and took hold of both her hands

“Thankyou.”

Her inquisitive looked tempted him to continue

“That was the most wonderful thing I’ve seen, possibly ever. Just watching you float across the room towards me is just mesmerising” 

Yet again she felt tingly in every part of her nervous system, the way she had so many times now as she sat down with him and allowed herself a complete collapse. Now, together in the living room she felt truly at home as they kissed

“I’ve been looking forward to exactly this for over a week now” she whispered

“But was it worth it?” Steve asked bringing her back to a different reality

“Yes” she said tentatively “I achieved my objective. So we have two new suppliers and I think it will work out. They appear to be guys you can work with. But I refused to sign with the old supplier”

“And what did Peter say to that?”

She related most of what happened, “But” she said eventually “There’s one thing that bothers me. About two years ago, we had a consignment from Radesh go missing. It had gone to Birmingham by mistake but we got it back. But now, over in India, I was told that at the same time Radesh was trying to smuggle drugs in his containers and that one of them went missing and I can’t help but think the two incidents are related”

“Maybe you could talk it through with Bruce. He’d be able to say if its worth investigation or if coincidences like that happen all the time”

Cue Lonely Ship by Millenium

"It's shorter than I was expecting” Gio said glancing through her report “I was anticipating more of an epistle, from you" 

"Sorry, Mr Grenasius, I thought Peter only gave you the contracts" 

"Yes, but I don't remember saying that that was enough" although he had raised just the hint of a smile at this point. 

"I can write you a more comprehensive report, if you would prefer" she replied somewhat crestfallen "I still have all my notes. I just thought that would give you the high level you would need without taking up too much of your valuable time. What additional information would you like?" 

"There's nothing in here on exactly who did what, or on the mood or ambiance of the discussions. Especially between you and Peter. I was hoping I might get an insight" 

"Hmmm" 

"Which is interesting. For instance, am I to believe that you went to Calcutta on your own? Because your expenses are for one return flight to include a change of date. Oh, and Mrs Beresford, only one hotel room?" he raised another hint of a smile. 

Eloise stifled a gasp. Maybe she'd stitched herself up in trying to cover for that undeserving pair. 

"But no, this report gives me what I need to know if I am also to trust that you have spent wisely. And is it not an interesting coincidence that Vanina Chandrey from homewares takes her annual vacation at the same time as Peter travels to her part of India? Mrs Beresford. This is the information I need, and I think I understand why you have chosen brevity. In fact I am moved to commend you on your discretion, even if, in this case, it may be a trifle misplaced" 

He held his arm out for a handshake. "I congratulate you on a job well done, in circumstances which I expect were less than ideal"

“Thankyou Mr Grenasius. But there’s one other thing I’d like to mention to you”

“So why is it not in the report?”

“Because, at this stage its only a hunch. Somethings niggling me. I’ve talked it through with a friend of mine who is in the police force, and he suggests I talk it through with a colleague of his. Its not directly related to the store, but I want to make sure that the store’s reputation doesn’t suffer if my hunch is right, if you follow me”

“No, Mrs Beresford. I’m not sure I do. But what I think you’re saying is that something might happen. And if it does, it will be such that I’d tell you that you should have told me about it before” 

Eloise thought that maybe she'd been a little incoherent when she was describing the situation to Bruce, but now she was more confident that she'd make a better impression, at least Bruce had understood enough and was interested enough to arrange to meet her at the store. It was gone 6.30 and everyone else had left as she sat down in her office with Bruce and his colleague.

"This is Thane. He's drugs squad" 

"Good to meet you Thane. I'm Eloise Beresford, and I'm manager of the Ladies-wear department in this store" 

"I haven't told Thane much, I thought it would be better if you can just describe the situation to him" 

"Ok. Bruce. Of course it may all be nothing. But its like this. I was over in India last week, setting up a number of supply contracts to ship in garments for our Spring and Summer seasons. One of the questions I asked is how long it takes to ship, that is, if I had a supplementary order, how long would it take to get here. The first supplier said 8 weeks. He was called Radesh, then later I asked the same question of a different factory quite close to his office. This time, Rohan said six weeks so I mentioned this difference. Now, I know that Radesh buys a lot of stock in Malaysia and resells it as Indian, and I was expecting Rohan to say that was why Radesh takes two weeks longer which would be his supply time from Malaysia. However, what Rohan said is that there is a rumour, or what he called a rumour, that every consignment that Radesh sends is opened and checked by customs. So I asked Rohan why that would be and he said it had been like that ever since Radesh had included a consignment of hashish in one of his containers. Now Rohan said it must be a rumour because if it was true and the drugs had been delivered, Radesh would be quite rich. And if it was true and it had been intercepted, than Radesh would be locked up. 

But there's another scenario. And that is that the shipment was lost. That is, it wasn't found by customs and it wasn't delivered to its intended destination. 

Now, at that time I remember one of my containers went to Birmingham by mistake and they were kind enough to deliver it back. But the reason this gets interesting is that I remember that in that container there was a consignment from Radesh. Most of it was rubbish, but that's another story. But also inside the shipping crate there's a mannequin. It was fully dressed in a corduroy midi skirt and a silk top. But the stranger thing was it was heavy, very heavy. We got two of our engineers to take it out, but since it was fully dressed ready to go, we simply set it up in the corner of the window. Later, we wanted to move it, but the girls found it was too heavy, we couldn't move if safely, so we just left it there and re-dressed it and it's been there ever since. So why would you ship a mannequin from India, as its not cheap? And why was it so heavy unless there was something inside it? And when Rohan mentioned this consignment, I oh maybe I just got over excited" 

"Over excited, may be. Maybe not. So where is this dummy now?" 

It's still in the corner of the window display where its always been" 

"Can we take a look?” 

They moved to the window, although none of the passers-by paid any attention. This would just be another re-dress of the display 

“If you try lifting this one….” Eloise said and demonstrated by lifting it and passing it to Thane. “….And then you try to lift this one….”.

Thane went to move it, but then seemed surprised at it was indeed really heavy. 

“I was going to break it open, but then I decided that I didn’t really need to know and, honestly, there was so much else going on at the time” 

"It must be damned well packed if there's only 56 pound of anything in there. That weighs more like 150"

 "But you're right, why ship it from India when it weighs a ton, without anyone this end knowing about it. You haven't still got the shipping docket have you?”

Eloise searched the back records. “Look here it is. That’s right, I remember getting a call from a guy saying it looked like he had our shipment of clothes and did we by chance have his. I remember saying no we didn't, but he forwarded our container anyway”

“Where was he working?” 

“Emmm. They were in Birmingham. A company called Mason Forbes“

Thane suddenly perked up 

“Did you say Mason Forbes? Are you sure?”

Eloise showed him the docket annotated with her notes. He consulted his notebook. “And April 17th. Well! Can I use your phone? “

“Andy, remember the Mason case about two year ago. What was the weight? 70 kilos. Good man. No. But stick around, I may need you.”

Thane retained his unnerving poker face, but reached into his pocket 

"Over excited? May be" he said doubtfully as he handed her a wad of photographs. 

“Do you recognise any of these people?” 

She studied each in turn 

"Oh my! That's Radesh!" 

"Sure?" 

“Yes, it's Radesh Charenderase“

“And any others?”

She squinted at the last one, then reached into her drawer pulling out a small piece of paper 

“It's pattern paper”, she explained. “It's semi transparent”. She put the photograph on the desk, then the paper, then she drew a pair of round glasses on the face, and then a mini skirt and shaded it in, overwriting the sari in the photo and held the two together. 

“Thane, if she looked like that, I'd say it was Vanina Chandrey”. 

Thane looked at her slightly askew 

“So if it was, where would I find her?”

“Usually in homeware. She's a sales assistant there on the first floor”. 

“Mrs Beresford, do you mind if we break open your mannequin” 

“Oh Thane! I thought you'd never ask!”

Two decent blows from a lump hammer in the back car park, and all hell broke loose. Thane opened the inner packaging, being careful not to spill anything, then sprinted back to the phone in the store.

“Andy, need you to get down here on the double. Simpson Greens department store on the Bridge. Rear car park and call Kate. Get her to put a watch on those two blokes from Mason Forbes in Brum, yes now, we’ll want to pick ‘em up just as soon and get a warrant” and dialled again

“Yes, boss, we’ve got the final pieces of the Mason Forbes case” 

It was hardly two minutes before Eloise heard a siren. Thane pulled his car over to where the dummy was lying around looking like a road accident, and was loading the contents into the boot. 

They went back inside quietly with the panic largely over but with the buzz still ringing in their ears. 

“This is the last piece of the puzzle. We had all the answers, what we didn't have was the consignment. You can't charge people with theoretical smuggling. But now!”

Andy arrived. “So our information was they'd done a dummy, we assumed they swapped containers to send us on a wild goose chase. But what it really meant was actually more literal.. Where is it now?“ demanded the new arrival,

“Boot of my car sir” 

“Any arrests? No sir, this lady just pointed us in the right direction. She’s got nothing at all to do with it. The brummy boys are on their way to sew it up at their end” 

The new arrival turned to her. “So we owe you a big thankyou. This will seal the case. You see, what you have there is a consignment that we lost track of. It's 70 kilos and if it was hash as you suggested it would be worth maybe 30 thousand. But its not,. Its grade A refined cocaine. Street value? Who knows? Quarter of a million?”

Steve finally drove in to pick her up about 10, with the excitement draining her last ounce of energy. They walked round to the Blue Boar with no great rush to get back. Steve had put the two girls to bed before he came out and a quiet drink, just the two of them, would be a better tonic than the living room with a bleary eyed Holly demanding to know what was going on.

“So” Steve summarised “All that sob story about him and Vanina was just a smokescreen for the real issues. So what’s next?”

“They didn’t say. They’re arresting the Birmingham fellas as we speak. I guess they’ll give Vanina and Peter a visit as well”

“They may just pop into the store. That would be exciting!”
 “Oh, Steve. Please. No more excitement.”

“Of course not. You’ve got to calm down a bit, think if you need a new dress for your Christmas Party on Saturday”

“My what! Oh my. Oh Steve I forgot all about that!– get me another gin. And if that wasn’t enough…” she continued as he got back with the new round “…its your office party next Tuesday. Yes, I remembered about that on the plane on the way back. I’ve been thinking what to wear, but I couldn’t decide. I mean, is it a formal affair, or just an informal get together?”

“I can imagine, we never really finished that conversation. I can’t remember why”

“I do. It was something to do with your hand being up my dress at the time”

“Hey, that’s unfair” he protested, prodding her

“I wasn’t complaining! I was just saying that’s what happened to the conversation”

“Well, I told you it’s at the Park Royal. It’s an official function, so there will be some speeches on the state of the company. You know, financial statement, that sort of thing. It shouldn’t be too boring, but what we try to do is involve everyone’s partner at least once a year. I think it keeps them interested, so if there’s a problem and we need everyone to chip in, there’s less resistance from the wives at home”

“Seems like a good idea”

“Yes, its been a bit of a roller coaster year. No, not just us. At work as well. Listen, Eloise, I think it would be a great excuse for you to get a new outfit. Something really special”

“Oh, I’ve got a couple of things that I think will be ok”

“Well, you know I think you look great in almost anything, but this year’s conference is actually very, very important to me, and it would really help me if you looked absolutely fabulous” 

Eloise was taken aback by the sudden intensity. Steve was always so laid back, but this just sounded so important 

“I do want to look good, for you.. .. I suppose the dress I’m thinking of is, hmm, 5 years old now..”

“Well, I think you should go shopping on Saturday and get a new one. Maybe you could take Geneviève with you, then you can have a second opinion. And she’s got a credit card on my account”

Airship Day

Light relief for Eloise was well overdue, but now it was finally the day for taking the airship to school. So much had happened since that little project began, but now Holly was buzzing with excitement. They’d tested it, and practised steering it. It was a two person job to get it in through an upstairs window, and that was the plan. Everyone in the competition would have to show their attempts during the double Physics period just after lunch break. Old Goofer had said that all three sets would be squashed into the large physics lab so that everyone was together. And Geneviève pointed out that that was on the first floor. And that’s why they’d practised letting it rise up to the window before flying it forward.

They’d already checked out that the window would open, and that it was big enough and now they just had to wait their turn.

“I’m not expecting a rocket launcher today, Holly” he said critically as they all trooped in

“No sir”
 “But you have built something I hope.”

“Oh yes. But its too big to carry up here with everyone else”

“Too big? So how…..”
 He was distracted by something that looked all too much like a cannon being assembled two rows back.

But the cannon fired and no-one was injured very much. The gliders flew and assorted missiles attacked unsuspecting classmates. And there was a beautiful model of a space capsule made from Lego. It didn’t fly, but there was no doubt it was on the theme of flight.

“Holly! Your exhibit please. What is it you’ve built? You said it was big?”

Holly moved to the front of the room and over to the side window. She opened it wide despite the complaints that there was a freezing gale howling in. Everyone looked on in anticipation as Old Goofer waited in some astonishment

“Holly, is this completely necessary?”
 But no answer was needed. Genevieve had opened the box in the garden under the window and was carefully holding on to the tether as she let it rise. Holly held the remote control in both hands as the airship appeared at the window and guided it in. She adjusted the weight on the tether cord to keep it at the right height and flew it across the lab and up the far aisle. Geneviève had run as fast as she could back to the side entrance up the stairs and now in through the door just as the ‘ship got to Max Starling. It was his cannon that had endangered life and limb earlier on. 

“Fire” called Geneviève loudly. Holly pressed the button and half a dozen smarties tumbled from the sky bouncing off Max’s desk. He jumped clean out of his chair, but immediately scrambled to catch the sweets before they rolled off the desk onto the floor. Holly made several other random drops amid a similar scramble before they landed next to Old Goofer’s desk.

“That’s surely not just hot air in the balloon is it?” he asked sounding quite impressed

“No, sir” said Holly “we tried hot air, but it wouldn’t stay hot enough. This is much better. Its hydrogen” 

“What!” he responded in panic remembering the impact of Holly’s previous attempt “There’ll be serious injury if that hits anything sharp and explodes! A bit like your first effort. Everyone stand well back” as alarm spread throughout the crowded room as everyone tried to back away.

“No, No, No Holly. No its not” corrected Geneviève quickly “Its not hydrogen its helium – it won’t explode. Its really quite inert”

“Ooops”

Going only marginally better was Steve’s board meeting at Riverside. He’d added ‘Personnel’ to the agenda and Jacqui wasn’t best pleased that she had no idea what to expect. Was it her whole department that was going to be discussed?

But no, this was just Steve being provocative. All he wanted to do was make sure that everyone agreed to his proposals for moving some people around to the company’s better advantage but heavily disguised as career progression. The issue Jacqui then had was that some of this completely ignored all her HR procedures. Especially Penny.

“Steve! Are you aware that she has no qualifications whatsoever?”

“Yes”

“So what makes you think she can run the facilities contracts?”
 “Jacqui, she doesn’t need to know the valency of boron to check out the progress of a gardener. She’s doing a good job of running the car fleet”

“Is she?”

“Is that: is she running the car fleet, or is she doing a good job”

“Is she running the car fleet”

“Yes. Who did you think was doing it?”
 “I… I don’t know! Heidi in call despatch, maybe?”

Steve shook his head “Heidi’s up to her neck. They haven’t increased headcount there for two years despite the increased sales, so Penny took that on when she moved from the café to ease the pressure”

“And I suppose that’s something you snuck in under the radar while you were in Production” accused Jacqui “Which is why I don’t know about it”
 “Nearly, Jacqui. Its something Matt snuck in under the radar while I was in Production”

“Hmmph!”

“Ok, but if it doesn’t work out we’ll just find her something more mundane to do. She’s really keen to try. All you need to do Jacqui is hire another receptionist so that I can steal this one”

“Ughhh” she gasped in exasperation. But she also conceded to herself that Steve now had an enviable track record in making seemingly madcap schemes turn out remarkably well.

Steve moved on to his plans for Lucy and Annabelle and Adam and Lisa with the intention of having everything in place early in the New Year with the announcements made at a special staff conference. 

“And then I’m hoping we can keep track of everyone because at the moment there’s quite a few people doing things that are way off their job spec just because they need to get done. The issue will only surface when either it goes unrewarded in their review or they leave and that bit isn’t handed over properly”

But for Steve it was progress and that was a good way to round off the week 

Eloise’s Christmas Party

Now with the weekend upon her again, and her office party to look forward to and shopping with Geneviève, Eloise reluctantly convinced herself that she ought to go into the store to update Gio if he was there. 

But Gio wasn’t in and she didn’t feel that leaving a message with someone would be appropriate. It was a strange situation, and shouldn’t impact the store, but she was also nervous that it had to be explained properly without Gio having any opportunity to jump to conclusions. And then, on her way down the central stair case, she very nearly bumped straight into Thane.

“Hi. I have a hunch I know where you’re headed. I’ll show you where it is.” 

She turned around and walked back up with him

“If I were you, I’d distance myself from this” he said quietly without turning his head

“Its Ok. Its quite normal for us to show customers where something specific is. We’re the first staff they come across being next to the front door. But I’ll leave you by the Toby jugs”

“What did I ever do to deserve that!”

Shopping was not something that had been on Eloise’s agenda, but Steve had almost insisted that she buy a new dress and shopping with Geneviève sounded fun even if it was unlikely to be relaxing. And in any case, taking Holly wouldn’t help. She'd simply say everything looked great. 

And so it was that it was Geneviève that waited outside the changing rooms, and pointed out that matching shoes would be difficult to find, and that she really ought to go short or long but not some 'nondescript thing in the middle' And it was Eloise that baulked at the idea of spending £500 on anything, never mind just a single outfit, and Geneviève insisting that it was absolutely imperative that she looked her very very best.

“Yes Geneviève, Steve seemed so unusually intense when he said the same thing. Its rather disconcerting” 

Geneviève turned towards her, now more serious “Yes, it is. But mummy, with everything that’s happened this year and daddy’s promotion, this really is very important for him”

That was unusually solemn but at least gave her a clue and she turned back wistfully towards the rest of the rack. She felt like just a pawn in the game as Geneviève insisted again that it was absolutely imperative that she looked her best and the cost was not a consideration. She didn’t actually know that Steve had been promoted this last year. The subject had just never been discussed.

But this dress was gorgeous. Satin soft, pastel but almost turquoise, beautifully delicate but contrasted peculiarly well with all of the shoes she tried on. And then there was the matching handbag!

The co-ordinated cardigan brought the bill to nearly seven hundred pounds. Eloise has never, ever spent that much in one shop. Even her wedding dress had been less than that, but then, it was 15 years ago. Geneviève was pleased with the result and reassured her that this is the sort of thing that Steve would think was fantastic “Eloise, daddy absolutely adores you looking gorgeous. And on this occasion, nothing less will do. Really!”

But Eloise still had to break the news to Steve about the damage to his wallet.

“Eloise is going to look unbelievable” Geneviève had said when they returned

“But” Eloise added “it’s costing a small fortune! Well, actually, a rather big fortune”

”If Geneviève is happy with it, then I’m certain you’ll look lovely” 

And then when he caught up with her and she told him much it cost he just kissed her and smiled and put both his hands on her waist “That’s how important it is that you look wonderful. Really Elly, it’s really, really important to me” 

Eloise still didn’t understand why, but felt uncomfortable quizzing him on it. She’d find out soon enough anyway. Maybe it was just important to impress his new boss, maybe his ex would be there and he wanted her to look better. Maybe he was trying to impress the new staff he’d acquired with this promotion? Maybe? But whatever it was, she decided she could live with it. And now she had precisely an hour and a half to get ready for her own department party.

She'd hung up the new dress for Steve’s party, sorry, conference, and was rushing through the wardrobe for something more appropriate. This was by intent an informal event, just so that people could chat with their work colleagues outside work. It wasn’t so much of an issue in Fashion, because they had such a good working atmosphere with banter bordering on insults flying around all the time and sometimes even out of earshot of the customers. 

In an attempt to be optimistic, she had booked a large room at the Park Royal with the intention of covering the cost from voluntary donations from her staff following the bonus payments, but she also knew that a number of other departments had cancelled their arrangements when the interim figures came out. 

Now, the tables had turned and Eloise had decided to pick up the bill herself. Well, not the drinks tab - that would be too much, so she’d leave that down to individuals, but the buffet and the room hire. 

The room had filled up rather more than she originally expected. Pierre had mumbled something in the executive corridor about possibly joining them if that was ok, and Eloise had just let it go with an ill-considered ‘sure’, what with the fashion show and then India and then Thane. So here as well as her own Ladies Fashion was the expected Menswear and Children and Baby to complete the Apparel division joined by Pierre’s finance department. But then she noticed that a few people from his back office function had rocked in, and here was maintenance, all the both of them, and furnishings too. It just looked like the whole store was crashing her party! 

Steve looked around at the chaos. 

"Wow. This is a big department you've got" 

But she had no time to reply as Gio appeared out of nowhere by her right elbow 

"Well now, Mrs Beresford. Someone who had the foresight and optimism to book a room, while everyone else, including myself I may add, chickened out on the back of the interims. Well done. Here you are riding in to rescue the company once again" 

Eloise's mouth hung open 

"Just make like you intended it all along" whispered Steve “And in any case, one of the objectives of the fashion show was to bring everyone closer together. Looks like you achieved that as well”

“But Steve, it also means I’ll need to swan off and play hostess to the senior management instead of being with you”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. But on the other hand, I don’t think there’s a social obligation to entertain gate-crashers”

He cast his eyes around the room. No, there appeared to be no one of business interest here at all. As far as he could see, this was going to be a purely social occasion. And not before time already. 

She introduced him to her girls, although he'd already met Brenda being Joe’s wife, and Joe was team leader on Steve's production line 2, and he knew the others from the fashion show, though he hadn’t been formally introduced.

Much of the chatter was about the trip to India with Brenda and Charlene getting excited about the new spring collection that would arrive early in the New Year. 

Retail was a different world for Steve, and he found himself content to listen, but it was not before too long that Gio was ringing a glass like it was a tubular bell and the room fell quiet.

“I just want to say” he announced sounding slightly tipsy “that a month ago this would not have seemed possible. But one of us, which I add was not me, was optimistic enough to keep their booking here, and confident enough to make sure it all happened with the success of her innovative fashion show. We all owe a huge thankyou to …. Eloise Beresford”

The whole room burst into loud applause as Eloise turned a brighter shade of pink. But all she could say was “thankyou. I hope you all have a good time”

"I always knew you were a hero. Now everyone else is finding out" whispered Steve as she dug her fingers deep in towards his right kidney.

Eloise managed to stay with him for almost an hour. But sooner or later she felt she would have to pay some attention to the directors, if only to thank them for crashing her gig. Steve had disappeared off to the loo but came back to see Eloise in a tight huddle with Gio and a number of others he didn’t recognise and decided not to interfere. 

He headed for the bar only to stop short. Annabelle was perched on a high stool surrounded by four younger guys. They had clearly already had quite a lot to drink and were closer than he would have wanted if he’d been in the middle. He tried to tune his ear in to their conversation above the background chatter, but only managed to make out something that might have been ‘not that kind of girl’.

He approached the bar and asked for a beer and a vodka tonic, because that’s what he thought Ruth had once mentioned and it looked like that’s what her glass had in it 

“Keep the change” he said loudly enough to create an interruption. She leaned forward and along the bar breaking out into a wide beaming smile as she saw him raise the glass in her direction

“Excuse me fellas. I gotta talk to this guy”

She slipped off the stool and grabbed his arm”

“Hi! Not with your boyfriend then?” he whispered close to her ear

“Sadly not”

“Buy the guys are making sure you’re not on your own”

“Oh Please! If that’s what younger guys are like, give me an older man any day”

“I got you a drink already. I thought you might need it”

“You star!”

“So you are on your own?”
 “Yes, but it’s the company party. Shouldn’t miss it really. There’s always plenty of people to talk to. I just got myself cornered by the apprentices, that’s all”

 “Doesn’t seem right that you’re on your own. Not for someone as lovely as you”

“Thanks. But actually I’ve got used to it”

“That’s really sad. I thought you were out on the town every night and spent the weekend breaking hearts”

“That’s not me” she said more softly “I don’t think I’ve ever broken a heart. Which is more than…”

She stopped abruptly as he took hold of her hand and led her to a quieter part of the room

“Hey now! I can’t let you start getting upset. Maybe you’ve just been concentrating on your career rather than the social aspects. There’s plenty of time yet”

“You think so?”

“It’s a good plan – Get some experience and make some progress. Then take a family break and you’ve still got something to fall back on“

She smiled and sighed

“Its me that would be impressed if it was actually planned that way. But what are you doing here because you don’t work at the store, do you? Oh! Or has Eric invited people from some of his other interests like he did two years ago”

“No, I’m with Eloise”

“Oh! Of course. Yes, That figures. Is that all since you took over from her at the fashion show?”

“No. I don’t think I’d planned to be understudy. It just happened that way as I was already familiar with the plan. I actually work at Three Rivers.

“My best friend works for Three Rivers. Ruth Gilmore? I expect you know her?”

“Yes. Its not that big a company, although it is in danger of expanding”

“Really? Of course Ruth doesn’t say much about her work”
 “Really, I thought she’d tell you everything, I thought you said she was your best friend”

“She used to. Yes. But then I remember one weekend. It was way back in April maybe May. We were out and she said she thought she would be let go the next day. There was so much uncertainty and she was having a tough time. Then the next time I caught up with her she said she’d got a new job, but that she shouldn’t talk about it. And in any case there were too many bad things happening. It was around the time of that murder up at the woods, so I suppose that must have been something to do with it. But I didn’t press her on it. You know, she says a lot about the company and what’s happening, but hasn’t talked about her own work since then”

“That’s a shame”

“Yes, I used to feel left out. I’d tell her about the store. Not that anything exciting ever happens there. Its not as if we have embezzlements and murders going on”

“We’d rather not have that sort of thing at TRE either”

“No, but it gives you something to talk about. It makes you more interesting. Maybe that’s it. I’m just boring because nothing exciting happens in my life”

“Maybe you need to make it happen. But in any case you just suggested that this excitement was the reason Ruth didn’t talk about things”

“Yes. But there’s excitement and then there’s murder”

Not unnaturally Steve decided to redirect the conversation. The Event would never go away, but it didn’t need to be part of everything

“I agree, again” he said trying to sound final “But, you’re in the accounts department aren’t you? There must be loads of excitement there?”

She gave him a rather withering look, deciding this might even be sarcasm.

“No. Its bean counting. But its been a good job. Nice people, but I probably need to move on. In the store we buy stuff and add it up, we sell stuff and add that up and we pay people and add that up. Sometimes we write stuff off, and we add that up. I mean, in manufacturing there’s cost of development, cost of parts and components, build costs, cost of marketing. Maybe even maintenance contracts. They all need added up as well”

“I think you’ll find all companies have essentially the same stuff to add up. Just in different proportions to the whole thing. That’s what makes it possible to move relatively easily between market sectors. I think the thing that’s different is how much of each bit you get involved with, but you have to keep doing exams to get to the next level don’t you?”

Annabelle now was in her element explaining the system and how she had worked her way towards being fully qualified. Steve prompted her every now and then and she found that she was really quite excited by the prospects that she decided should be opening up for her now that she had passed her Chartered accountancy qualification. 

They broke out to get another round, and then another and Steve was beginning to think maybe he ought to go and rescue Eloise from wherever she was trapped, but this extra drink now made Annabelle really open up about how some day she’s be in control of the figures she produced, not just counting beans to someone else’s specification. But Steve was also finding out a lot about her, as a person, not just an accountant. She was single, articulate, ambitious, attentive, tactile and eminently likeable. The only thing he couldn’t figure out is why she didn’t have a boyfriend…..

“Oh! Hello Eloise”

“Hi Annabelle. You looking after Steve for me?”

“I think it’s the other way round. He’s made me feel so much better just this last couple of hours – Oh! You don’t mind do you?”

“Of course not, Annabelle. You can borrow Steve anytime you like – so long as you promise to give him back”

But just then, some other people circulated their way and both the girls were hijacked into something else, and Steve spent the next half hour talking to Gio Grenasius before finally catching up with Eloise again.

He wondered how Holly and Geneviève were getting on at the party that Danni had something to do with, but they had their taxi booked and he wasn’t really worried about them.

And rightly so. The party was going a whole lot better than the girls had expected.

Holly had listened impassively as Danni had enthused about this. It's really Tamara’s party but its impractical to go all the way over to her place so its at Sabrina’s house which is lovely. Its all archways and pillars and their garden’s at least a couple of acres, although nowhere near as big as yours. There'll be loads of people there. And Sabrina has specifically asked me to invite you and Geneviève. You might get a call from her tonight saying the same thing. There'll be loads of boys form St Eustace there as well, if you want to meet some.... 

And there they were. Except Sabrina had been hijacked to some food based issue in the kitchen while Tamara was engrossed with three or four boys crowding round her like bees round a honey pot. So it was Danni that had stepped in to play hostess. No surprise there, she'd said, but sometimes she did feel like she was taken for granted. Ok, so Tamara would be all grateful and thankful and would promise to make it up to her somehow that never materialised, and Sabrina would take over just as soon as the immediate panic had subsided. But really, Danni didn’t mind. It was a bit like having her own party, but without the hassle of clearing up afterwards and the inevitable squawking from her dad. And now she was introducing Geneviève and Holly to Graham and Liam but it wasn’t going smoothly 

"Danni, Tamara says you'll know where the secret stash of mixers is? The table’s run dry" 

"That's ok” said Holly "we'll be fine. Catch you later" 

She turned to Liam 

"Why don't we get a drink?" he invited "since Danni’s going to restock the table" 

Holly turned to Geneviève as if asking permission, and then there were two. 

"What's Danni gone to do?" 

"I think she's going to find some more of those cherry flavoured drinks" 

"I'm not that keen on cherry flavours. To me, they all taste like medicine” 

"That's because they are" replied Geneviève. The boy frowned as a gesture of don’t understand and please continue. 

"Yes, they're a preventative kind of treatment" 

He still frowned confused “How's that?" he finally asked in admittance that he hadn’t worked it out

“Well, they're non-alcoholic, so they prevent that nasty ailment called a hangover" 

The boy broke into a lazy laugh 

“That's my kind of humour. Names Graham" he added. 

“Do you have a middle name as well?”

“That is my middle name”
 “So what’s the first one?” she asked rather rashly

“Edmund”

“You don't sound like you like it much” 

“No, not really. I was thinking of calling myself Mundy. But no-one likes Monday's do they?”

Now it was Geneviève’s turn to laugh “And that’s my kind of humour! Don't you have another middle name you could use?” she teased

"Oswald” he sighed. “Which could be Ossie, or maybe just Swill" 

"Ok, I get it. Stick to Graham. That’s nice.” 

He grinned briefly "look, I'm terribly sorry, but I didn’t quite get your name when Danni was introducing us”

“Oh dear” she said crestfallen “I thought you were paying attention. But obviously not to me”

“I’m so sorry! It was rather rude but I was trying to hear what Chris was saying across the room. Something about the cricket square has been vandalised. Someone's dug a big hole in the middle of the wicket. But did I hear you're called Jen?” 

"Nearly, I prefer to use my whole name" 

"Oh, Jennifer. My cousin is called Jennifer, and she always prefers just Jen." 

"No, it's Geneviève" she smiled 

“Oh my! What a lovely name. I've never met a Geneviève before. Look, Danni will have restocked the table by now, let's get a drink.  And it's a bit loud in here, maybe we could talk on the terrace" 

It was quieter on the veranda overlooking the garden. The evergreen shrubs provided a variety of greens and a maze of paths criss-crossed the flowerbeds 

“I love gardens”, she said. “I bet it's a full time gardener that does all the work” 

“I expect so. I can't see Sabrina putting in much effort, and I doubt if her mum does much crawling around planting and weeding” 

He talked a bit about his home and about staying away all the time. Geneviève asked him about life as a boarder, and was surprised that he was staying with his grandparents and went to St Eustace as a day boy. He was looking forward to his 17th birthday in six months’ time and was already planning driving lessons and looking at ways of getting a car, like persuading his mum to buy a new one and give him hers. Genevieve talked about her car and how far she’s got so far as they took a walk around the garden before being interrupted by Liam and Holly who seemed to have acquired a parasite called Percy. Liam seemed like a nice guy too, but a bit subservient to Percy and Geneviève found it surprisingly frustrating to have this leach attached to them.

They migrated back towards the drinks table. Percy looked like he might become a permanent feature, and maybe that was his plan. He tried to extract her to the dance floor while Graham was getting her a drink, although that seemed a bit unfriendly or maybe she was just being naïve. Some other boys he knew milled in as Graham returned looking ever so pleased that she was still there. She tried to tune in to what Holly was saying to Liam, but picked up a rather different conversation instead

"It's not going to happen, Perc'" Piers was saying "honestly, she's just not interested in you. You're not her type" 

"I think she's just playing hard to get" 

“Oh yes?” replied Piers “She looks happy enough with Graham right now. Look, she’s not looking round the room, she’s not disappearing to the loo, she waited exactly where she was for him to come back – read the signs man!”

“Listen Perc, what about asking Sabrina again? Ok what about Clarry?”

“From what I hear, Clarry will go out with anyone" 

"In that case you should be in with at least half a chance" 

"What's that meant to mean!”

“She's got lovely eyes”

“And a body like a water melon"

“Sabrina?" 

"She's just too serious" 

"For goodness sake, Percy. Geneviève isn't exactly frivolous!" 

"Piers. Just get me another beer" 

But Geneviève had her own view. Go out with Percy? The only place I'd even consider going with him is to his own funeral and that would be just to make sure he’s really gone.

Graham interrupted her eavesdropping and she found herself smiling over at him. He was polite, interesting. She’d never found a boy interesting like this before. Ches in Oz was interesting, but that was a whirlwind of self-preservation.

“Geneviève” he was saying softly “Can't get over the name. Have you got a middle name as well?“

“Yes, that is my middle name” 

“Ok, so what's your first name that you're avoiding?”

“I’m not really avoiding it. I.. I just prefer to use Genevieve. Its what everyone knows me as”

“Oh, come on” persisted Graham playfully “I told you all about my name”

She turned to face him directly, suddenly crestfallen to a sad serious expression. She hesitated with tears forming in her eyes. She started to say, but hesitated again

“Genevieve, I really didn’t mean to upset you. Really I didn’t. Look, lets just skip it”

“No. No its ok. Its Tabitha” she said slowly.

“Wow. I never met anyone called Tabitha before either. That’s a beautiful name too…” he said finding that he was gazing straight into her eyes

“Yes, I think it’s a lovely name, but I don’t use it. It belongs to a previous life in a different place, a long long time ago that’s all, and I don’t talk about it”

He gently put his arms around her in comfort and was elated to find how softly she just folded in to him even if it was briefly as they headed back out towards the garden 

“Oi! Graham!”

“Oh my goodness, gasped Graham. Look at the time. The mini bus will be here any minute to take the boarders back, and that includes me. I’m staying at the school while my grandparents are away”

“Well, its been great meeting you, so thankyou for the evening”

But Percy grabbed his arm and hauled him away before anything else could be said or done.

On her way home with Holly, she had trouble getting him out of her mind. It had been a wonderful evening, although the plan had been to meet more people.

That night she fell asleep with some difficulty and woke suddenly from a dream that she replayed in her head uninterrupted in her pitch black room – It was a jumble of all sorts of things that were going on in her life. It seemed to start at the party with Percy interrupting everything but this was interspersed with events from a year ahead mingled with some that she wished had already happened….

‘Listen, Genevieve, we boarders have a fairly set routine most of the week, but I just wondered if maybe you’d be free on Wednesday evening. We could meet up, have another chat, maybe grab a bite, or the cinema if you prefer?’

‘Oh, Graham! Wednesday’s no good for me’

‘Ok, I guess I just had such a good evening I wanted to go round again, just greedy I guess’

‘No, Graham. Its just I can’t make this Wednesday’

‘Someone else?’

She heaved a large sigh

‘Not some one. Lots of people’ she hesitated again ‘I’m ... I’m giving a talk at the college. Apparently the number coming has gone up to about forty so its been moved to the college lecture theatre’

‘A talk?’

‘Yes on my personal experiences. It’s a personal perspective on my hobby. It’s a bit specialised’

‘No surprise there. Can I come along?’

‘If you like. But its to a specialist club, so there an admission charge for visitors. I think its three pounds, which is a lot, but there is coffee and cake afterwards’

‘If you’re going to be there, then I’ll come along. By the way, what’s the specialist subject?’

‘Vintage car restoration’

His jaw fell open

‘You are joking?’

She shook her head. ‘Sorry to be boring’

‘Boring! No way. Dad’s got a 1949 Humber Snipe. That’s vintage I think’

‘I can’t think I’ll have much time, but it would be nice to know someone in the audience apart from Sir Mark’

‘Sir Mark?’

‘Yes. He’s the only other person in the world with a car the same as mine’

The dream jumped to ‘Wednesday’ and nervousness had set in as she made her way unnoticed to the front of the auditorium. She set her papers out on the lectern and tested the projector, silently rehearsing her opening. She smiled at Mark as he came in clearly looking for her. He had set this up, and she remembered his phone call asking if she’d be prepared to do it. Yes, she’d said, but under the name T G Bergstrom, not Miss, Mr or Mrs. Mark had played along and kept this secret even from the chairman of the association. A distinguished, well dressed tall gentleman interrupted them that she recognised as Duncan Erdmann.

‘Hello Geneviève. What a lovely surprise to see you here. Are you with Mark, maybe? Oh! Or maybe he’s invited you to give a recital?’

‘No. At least not yet. But Mark did invite me’

‘But please excuse my interruption Geneviève. Mark, is your man here yet?’

‘Yes, and pretty much ready to go’

‘Excellent, well, we’re waiting on quite a number more. I think the change in venue has confused the Birmingham group, but the delay won’t be much. And you’re sure you don’t need my introduction?’

‘Absolutely certain Duncan. Its all under control’

‘All very mysterious if you ask me’

As if that wasn’t enough, her nerves were building as more and more seats filled up. 

‘Not to worry’, she said” I have an idea to keep everyone entertained”

‘Oh excellent’ said Duncan hoping that maybe she’d play a short introduction but not wanting to insist. She sat down at the Bosendorfer that had been pushed to just off centre stage, replaced by the lectern, adjusted the microphone and tapped it twice. That worked, and she started playing. The hall quietened as she played, and Mark eventually dimmed the auditorium lights even as more people arrived. She finished her Grieg. ‘And now its time’ she said to herself ‘That was impromptu, the easy bit’

She finished, and got up from the stool curtseying to the applause and looking to Mark for a sign. She picked the mic off the piano

‘Thankyou so much’ she said as she took up her place behind the lectern. And in case you were concerned that you’d got the wrong venue, a very big welcome to this meeting of the National Vintage Car Collectors Association. My name is Genevieve Bergstrom, and I have been invited to share my restoration project with you. I do hope you find it interesting.’

There was some discernible murmuring from the audience that faded as she opened her first slide 

‘The project started just over a year ago when we moved to a house with a large woodland. My father was very busy at work, so I was volunteered to sort out a few minor details about the property. Like where the boundaries were, because as far as I could see there were no fences. This brought me into contact with a number of the neighbours, all of whom were elderly farmers. At first they were relatively reticent about discussing and agreeing this subject with me, although I tended to look older than 15. However, its surprising what a generous supply of home-made fruitcake can achieve. During these conversations I was told lots of stories and tales and in particular one about a house that was in the middle of the wood that had been abandoned in 1943 in the middle of the war. So of course I had to set out to find it. 

Having been left alone for forty odd years the vegetation had taken over. This second slide is a picture of me making yet another attack on the approaches, and if you look very carefully you can just make out the shape of the house through the undergrowth. For the technically minded that’s a Husqvarna 845 pro chainsaw that I persuaded daddy to get me for just this purpose. You know, quite often classic car restorations start off as barn finds, but in my case I first had to find my barn.

But I got there, and inside the garage - was this. Its in remarkable condition for its age. It’s a 1922 Lanchester de Ville Laudellette. It took me another few days to clear enough space to haul it out using my old land rover, and we borrowed a trailer to transport it back to the workshop near the house.

Throughout the project, Dad didn’t help me much although he did help with opening certain doors. And with loading onto the trailer because there were so many angles to look at the same time to avoid damage’.

She described the early stages of examination and dismantling the body to expose the mechanical components and chassis underneath.

‘Sorry to interrupt, Geneviève. Are you saying that you did all the work yourself, you’ll be aware that a lot of us engage specialist engineers for such tasks?’ asked a voice a few rows back

‘Yes. Yes indeed. But when you have as much money as me, you have no choice but to do it yourself. Uunfortunately going to school doesn’t pay very well’

‘So is that you doing the welding?’

‘Yes, Yes, that was interesting. I went on an introductory course here at the college. I saw a poster mentioning it in the library. Apparently, it was supposed to be for apprentice mechanics, and you had to be over 18. Trouble is no-one told me that. So when I turned up to sign in, there were a few interesting glances. However, when you have a dozen 18 year old apprentices and one girl in a short dress, the delays don’t last long!’

 She paused for a ripple of humour through the audience. The atmosphere had calmed and there now seemed to be a large number of happy faces who were beginning to realise that this was making out to be a good evening 

‘I practised the welding on building this rig which is designed as a test bed for the engine, so I didn’t have to continually take it in and out in order to test it while I did any work on the bodywork and chassis’

She continued describing issues with the rear suspension

‘But’, she said “One of the main issues was the supply of parts. Like when I decided that the steering shaft was beyond recovery. So I popped down to Halfords as you do, and had a look around their stock. A very helpful young guy asked what I was looking for so I told him. He then asked if I was taking the – expletive deleted. The point was that I was really looking for something similar that I could adapt. And that’s where Travis came in. I mentioned I had access to an AM400 mill so they suggested that if I was up for doing some alterations I could start with a shaft from a Ford Zodiac which matched the length and diameter that I needed, but some of the threading was all wrong’

She continued describing the issues, the problems and how she got round them. She got to her renovation of the conrods and the gap that had developed between them and the crank giving rise to an unacceptable level of slap. ‘No tickle guys, unfortunately’.

 She went on to describe how she had calculated mathematically the sizes and tolerances and displayed a number of stress curves showing breaking points. 

"Which is why when I was making the new steering rack integrated with the adjustable camber angles that the tolerances had to be so precise and described milling her own parts on her AM400 but needing the improved capability of the AM600 for certain elements. She failed to prevent the embarrassing incident at Three Rivers from gate crashing her dream and related the time she was demonstrating the precision to the shift operators when she was borrowing the 600. The machine had jammed and she had climbed onto it to reach down and clear the problem. 

"Trouble is, my hand slipped and I got stuck. But the guys were very quick to offer to grab a leg each and pull me back. Just one of the advantages of always wearing a short skirt" 

She was now into the closing stages, and describing her issues during the final few weeks, including buying fuel. 

“So why didn't you just drive it down to the petrol station? asked a known voice from the back and she recognised Percy even at that distance. 

She sighed and frowned 

‘You know ladies and gentlemen, one thing I was worried about in this presentation was the advanced calculus needed to calculate the stress graphs and breaking strains and the necessary sizes and tolerances and angles that I needed to input as parameters to the milling machine. However, everyone seems to have coped with that rather well, and I notice a number of you at the front here scribbling notes about exactly that. However, what I missed is that some bozo would be unable to add the 1 year project time onto my age when I started and conclude that 1 plus 15 makes 16, which is why I do not yet have a licence and that precludes me from driving to the petrol station.’

Percy was livid. Liam held him down by the arm preventing him from causing a disturbance, and Geneviève carried on ignoring him. She turned to her final slide. The project’s very nearly finished. There's only a tiny piece of the headlining that needs sewn up, and my sister is going to that in the next week, so my final slide is of me driving the finished article around the side of our garden. Can’t wait till I’m 17 and can take it out through the gate and I have every intention of passing my driving test in it. Thankyou so much for your time, and for listening, and I'll be happy to take any questions, now or with coffee which will magically appear any minute now” 

‘Sorry, its delayed. Be at least 10 minutes’ 

‘Ok. So any questions?’

A hand went up at the front and Duncan Erdmann rose from his chair. 

‘I’m Lord Duncan of Wessex for anyone who doesn't know me. My question is, Geneviève, are you open to proposals of marriage?’

There was a murmur of humour throughout the audience 

‘I mean, he continued, that was absolutely fantastic. Must be the best presentation we've had, maybe ever. And not just that, you opened with an immaculate piano recital’. 

Geneviève recovered from her initial shock. 

‘Thankyou Duncan. I'm going to, perhaps rashly, assume that your question is meant purely as a form of compliment’ 

‘Well, I'd have to talk to Lorraine about it first’, he quipped 

‘I can save you the trouble. I'm always open to new and interesting suggestions, but the particular issue you mention would be rejected, at least temporarily until I complete university, and I won't even start for two years. For the bozo at the back, that would make me 18 years old. Maybe, at that time, you could track me down and I would be delighted to reconsider in light of the situation at that time. I won't be far away.’

Duncan beamed at her – ‘good answer!’

There was another question on cam shaft angles and another asking the difference between a set of 8 and two sets of four 

She felt she could hear a snigger from bozo, who assumed that the question was a stitch up. 

‘It's to do with the tolerances. A set of 8 will all be made to the same tolerance profile, the two sets of 4 could be made to the same tolerances but have wildly differing profiles, although consistent for each set. I believe there is still a few minutes before coffee arrives, so to prevent anyone feeling short-changed, I'd like to conclude the evening with a recital of Shostakovich second piano concerto in C sharp minor’. 

She's only doing that to wind me up Percy muttered to Graham, but they were interrupted. 

‘Hey! Dad! What you doing here?’ asked Graham. 

‘You mentioned that a girl you knew was giving this talk, so I thought I really must come down and see this. Partly, you've never mentioned any specific girl before, and second it's about time a got my money's worth out of my membership’

The four of them made their way to the stage where Steve and Mark were already chatting. Graham got there first and Geneviève even beamed up at him so pleased that it had gone well, and that it was over now. Graham was elated, wallowing in the reflected glory and he kissed her very briefly on the lips. Hey, do I get one? asked Liam. Geneviève turned sweetly and very quickly kissed him too. 

‘And me’ demanded Percy 

‘No. You're a bozo’ just as Steve slipped his arm round her waist and gave her a squeeze. 

‘Hi dad, this is Graham, I told you about him from the party, and his friend. Liam’

Percy had been momentarily distracted by the arrival of the cake 

‘And?’ asked Steve with a glance towards Percy 

‘Oh! Him. Don’t worry about him. He's a class A, fully paid up, fire branded bozo’ 

Percy offered her a plate with a slice of cake ‘I'll get you coffee if you like?’ he offered. Previously he was cross and annoyed and fuming, maybe even insulted. But now, he realised that here was someone that was way out of his league. She was no older than him, but had done so much, and all off her own bat, got so many t-shirts, and wouldn't even give him the time of day 

‘Thankyou for the cake. But I think my coffee is already on its way’ 

And he'd blown it before he'd even started. The large house in its grounds locked away behind electric gates, the public school accent, his over confident assumptions, all counted for nothing with her and it tortured him to think that these social advantages were side-lined for someone like Graham whose only asset was to make her laugh. Graham, and Liam for that matter, had been introduced to her dad, and him? Dismissed as an irrelevance. He squirmed at the ignominy and faded to the background to wait for Graham and Liam as Lord Duncan approached. Oh my! That would be another opportunity he would have to forego. –

Geneviève sat up in bed and turned on the dimmed light. So that’s what my car restoration will be like she mused. And what of Graham? I don’t know his surname, I don’t know where he lives and I certainly don’t have a number for him. But maybe I’ll phone Danni and ask her – at the risk of making a fool of myself. It was only a short chat and a walk in the garden, but…..

Sunday morning pounced on Eloise almost as soon as she woke up. It would be Christmas day in 4 days’ time and she hadn’t even started preparing. There would be hardly enough time to catch breath! as she collapsed onto a breakfast stool in the kitchen to take stock.

 Geneviève came to the rescue around lunchtime “Yes, I’ve got a few things organised. Look I made a shopping list and this is the menu… oh, sorry. What I mean is, this is my suggestion for the menu. If we get this sorted, then me and Holly can go to the supermarket tomorrow while you and daddy are at work. If that might help?”

Eloise had been wondering when she’d possibly find time to go shopping, but now the advantage of having an organised, responsible daughter as well as Holly was becoming apparent. Which then meant that time on Monday should be available to organise the post-Christmas sale at the store and make sure Charlene was ready to hold the fort while she took time out with her new family over Christmas.

So that was sorting itself out although Eloise felt that she was continually nose diving into each situation only to level out severely at the last minute and then soar up to new heights again.

But scary sometimes caught up with her. Yes, it was living not just existing. It was exciting, it had potential. It was all so different. It was everything she’d ever dreamed of. Was it also everything she’d ever been scared of? And sometimes she just needed to take time out to rethink it.

Geneviève stopped at the living room door and looked over towards her on the far settee. She looked contemplative with both her hands cupped around a glass, but was making no effort to drink it. Maybe she was upset as she hardly moved as Geneviève watched unnoticed for several moments debating whether to go on in or retreat silently to leave her in her own world. 

She had long ago decided against farther intervention in her dad’s relationship with Eloise, but now she was calling that decision into question. She wanted 

Eloise to be her new mum. She wanted her dad to be happy like he had been since she and Holly had moved in. And she herself had been more settled. Was that just that they now had a permanent house to live in? Or was it Eloise and Holly as well? And she knew first hand as well as from Holly what a state Eloise had been in during the gap. No. She had to do what she could to make sure it all happened, just the way she and Holly had intended it in the first place. She wasn’t prepared to let it all fall at the last hurdle.

With a concerned smile fixed on her face she slipped round the foreground furniture as Eloise finally noticed her and glanced up 

“Hi mummy. You ok?”

Eloise smiled weakly. She’d cried more tears in the last four months than in her whole life before that, even if most of that was tears of joy and Genevieve knew that. But at least this evening wasn’t adding to the count.

“I was just thinking”
 “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt”

But Eloise just smiled again

“Thinking backwards or thinking forwards?” continued Geneviève 

But she still looked very lost in her own world

“Its all very different isn’t it?” whispered Geneviève thinking that would interrupt less.

“Yes” replied Eloise wistfully “So many huge surprises, and every one bigger and better than the previous one. And each time I’ve told myself I won’t be surprised by anything ever again”

She looked over at her as Geneviève sat down next to her as she continued “But the biggest surprise of all will be when the dream all comes to an end”

“Do you want it to come to an end?”

“NO!”

“Sorry, just thought that you might not want daddy and me any more now that you’ve got so much else”

“So much else?”

“Mummy, you’ve got your confidence back and your financial security and you’ve got so much potential at your work now that your MD knows who you are and what you’re capable of. And you’ve got your independence from Nick one way or another. Just think. You went to India on your own and that’s all about confidence”
 “Yes, and I’ve got Steve to thank for every one of these. But I’d give all these up if I can only keep Steve” 

“But you can, mummy. Daddy wants you to stay more than anything”
 “Does he? But its all living the dream”

“I’ve been living my dream too. I dreamed of having a new mummy one day. And since October I’ve been dreaming it would be you”

But now Eloise did start to well up again “Really?”

“Really, mummy. And we can all live our dream…”

Eloise glanced questioningly at this last comment

“... Mummy, the most important thing that I learned from my first mummy is that you never know what’s about to happen and so you have to take the opportunities when you see them. The future is too unpredictable. I know you can make plans, but sometimes you need to change them because things happen that you can’t control. But even if everything else changes you’ll still wake up tomorrow to whatever is left, even if its only you”

Eloise felt her mouth go dry and a strange tingly feeling overtaking her as she folded her arms around her new daughter

“Isn’t it me that should be looking after you?”

“Yes, when I need looking after. But mummy, right now its your turn. We all need to look after each other. I know I’ve got so much to look forward to. Like my piano exam and Christmas. And next year we can all go on holiday together in the summer and getting my car finished and that’s only a start. I want to do all these things and more will appear out of nowhere, so I’ll have to prioritise the most important, even if its not always up to me. Sometimes things just happen that change everything”

Eloise studied her looking for clues to her real emotions

“And if something doesn’t happen, you’ll just change the plan and …”
 “That’s right. But mummy, its not just one dream. They’re all separate. There’s always something to look forward to. But the other thing I learned from my first mummy is that life is always shorter than you think it is”

[ cue Love Will Find You by Khymera ]

And this, thought Eloise, is why this little girl lives life at a break-neck pace all her waking hours, playing her piano, building her car, making precision mechanical parts on her lathe, wielding a chainsaw like it’s a machete in the forest… And that’s all before she starts on her house and whatever it is that’s’ stuck up in the treetops that she’s been hunting, And Holly seemed to be following in her footsteps. She started letting go of Geneviève

“You’re right Geneviève. I’ve got so much to look forward to too. And I’ve got you and Steve to help me make it happen…”
 “…and Holly to give you a hard time if it doesn’t!”

It brought a smile to her face as Geneviève gave her a big hug 

“Come on. Let’s go and see how much of a muddle she’s getting into making dinner before Steve gets back”

“And we can all live the dream”

“You mean until something goes wrong”
 “Yes, but even if everything went wrong you wouldn’t go back to where you were before and we’d each make a new dream and live that instead” 

Monday morning, and Ruth was on his case first thing 

“So, you were out with Annabelle on Saturday. I wondered why she didn’t make it to the Boar”

Steve thought for a moment. This was paraphrasing the situation from a slightly obtuse angle 

“Yes. She told me all about Accountancy. She’s convinced that factory beans are much more interesting than retail beans, at least when you’re counting them”

“I’m sure you didn’t ask her out just to talk about her work” Ruth snapped accusingly

“I didn’t ask her out! We just both happened to be in the same place”

Ruth was not convinced, but she could just imagine Annabelle talking all night, correction - all evening, about accountancy

“She’s ever so pleased at passing her CIMA, although I never really understood what that means”
 “Ok. The more exams you pass the more levels you go up and the more complex beans you're allowed to count. The problem she’s got is that there aren’t very many complex beans at the store. 

However, as R&D ramps up and accelerates the new product range we will need someone to work out all the cost implications of that. I think that those beans are complex enough. Its not really Cheryl’s thing. I’m not sure Louis can actually count and Jasmine can count beans so long as there’s no more than nine of them…” 

“That’s a bit harsh!”

“…Daisy’s moved to the warehouse and Lisa is spinning round in ever decreasing circles because Jed’s been delayed and can’t join us till January 2nd”

“That all sounds a bit of a mess”

“Thanks for paraphrasing it so succinctly, Ruth! But sorting it out is something else we can look forward to in the New Year! But its also fair to say that if Annabelle is looking for more complex beans to count and we have a quite a few of them. And we need someone to help re-establish that department there’s an obvious solution.”

“Yes! Although she’s just passed these exams. Don’t we need someone with more experience.”
 “I think the whole of R&D will be figuring it out as they go along. We need someone with quite a lot of flexibility. Why don’t you check the diary and invite her along and we’ll see how interested she is”

Ruth was ecstatic. Annabelle had done so much for her especially when her mum was very ill, and she was her best friend and now there was the opportunity to help her career along as well. And they’d both be working on the same site.

The spell was suddenly broken when he gave her a small sealed envelope for her to take to Jacqui

“Do I get to know what it is?”

“Yes. After the meeting on Friday which you might agree did not go entirely smoothly its her invitation to go out for lunch today”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she says no!”

“Nor me, but at least I offered” 

Over at the store, Eloise was about to charge headlong into organising the post-Christmas sale. With that out of the way, she’d then have time to think about the possibility of setting up a separate part of the department especially to handle the more expensive range from Rohan Mahindra that might also take the Nightwish if Holly could make any more. But despite her best intentions, Monday’s full on schedule was interrupted just after coffee break.

“Sandra’s in there” said Brenda intercepting Eloise on her way back to her tiny office “You know, Peter’s wife”

“What on earth does she want?”

“No idea”

But forewarned was hardly forearmed as she breezed in with a cheery ‘Hi’

“I don’t think we’ve met before” was the frosty reply

“I think we may have. At the Christmas party last year maybe? Or were you at the one two years ago at the Royal”
 “I wasn’t at that one”

“Oh, well. Not to worry. We meet now. What can I do for you?”

“I was expecting that you could enlighten me on your relationship with my husband”

“My relationship? My relationship with Peter is purely business”

“But you went to India with him, on an extra ticket that he bought”

“I did? No, no. Oh dear! Sandra” she said sitting down “That wasn’t me. Although I did go to India. Now, how much do you know, and how much are you just guessing to fill in the gaps” she said rhetorically

“The extra ticket” Sandra pressed.

“Yes, the extra ticket. Sandra, how much has Peter told you? Oh! Let me start at the beginning and I’ll tell you what I know”

“Yes, I think you should”

Eloise poked her head out of the door “Bren! Do us a huge favour and grab two coffees from the café – and a small bottle of gin if they’ve got one”

Adapting her report for Gio to provide some protection to Peter’s professional career was one thing, even if he was completely unprofessional. But Eloise had no way of knowing what he’d been saying to his wife except that she, Eloise, was on the blunt end of it.

“Now Sandra, stop me if you know all this already. Peter’s involvement in India started three years ago. After Trevor left, there were a couple of contracts that had been finalised, but not signed. Mr Grenasius asked Peter to fly out to India to sign them. He’d never been to India and was a bit nervous. However, there was a girl in homewares called Vanina who is from that part of India and Peter decided he could get a few hints and tips from her. Now shop assistants don’t earn very much and she let Peter know she couldn’t afford a ticket to go home to see her folks, so one or other of them suggested that Peter could get an extra ticket but they’d have to, you know, share a room”

“Oh! So this extra ticket was from this Vanina, not you. I’ve never heard of her!”

 “That’s right. I had my own ticket that Mr Grenasius PA bought for me. And my own room”

“I’m so sorry!”

“No, please don’t worry about it”

“But I’m disappointed in Pete taking advantage like that. I mean, cheating is one thing but… And where do I find this Vanina? In homeware?”

”Its not quite that simple”

“Whyever not?”

“Well let me continue. You see. When Peter got to Bombay for the first time, he was introduced to a number of people, some of whom were in the clothing business, and while he signed the completed contracts it was only for the minimum order and he was persuaded to sign up with alternative suppliers for the additional stock that we needed. The cost was lower, but the quality was also lower and it became increasingly the case that we had significant stock left unsold at the end of the season. That’s what prompted Mr Grenasius to send me with Peter to India this time to make sure that we bought stock that was suitable for our customers. And no-one was more surprised than me to see Vanina at the airport with him. Well, out in Bombay, it became clear Peter’s contact was not all he appeared to be. I picked up on a number of issues and added two and two together and got about a dozen. When I got back to England I bounced all of these ideas off a friend of my boyfriend who happens to work for the police, and he thought it was strange enough to involve a colleague of his. The names places and dates rang a few bells, and the net result is that he popped over last Saturday and arrested Vanina, while his counterparts in India were working their end.

You see, Vanina was from that part of India, but her reason for going there was to liaise with her business partners in drug smuggling. She was using Peter’s purchasing trip as a cover for her own activities. She would sort that out saying she was visiting relatives, while he was supposed to be visiting suppliers, and then meet up in the evening. And of course, she was sure Peter wouldn’t say anything even if he found out because of this alternative activity of theirs”.

Eloise took a moment to draw breathe and another sip of her coffee, as Sandra sat forward in her chair in anticipation

“Well I never, in all my days!”

“So, while I have no doubt there was some, you know, activity, between them, I suspect it is more likely that Vanina started it in the first place to set up her cover story. But how is Peter. I appreciate he’s off sick at the moment?”

“Not good, Mrs Beresford. He firmly believes that his career and marriage and his whole life are all over. He’s almost suicidal”

“Well, I doubt if Mr Grenasius will keep him on as Head of Apparel, but there are other jobs around for a good tailoring salesman like Peter, even if he returned to the floor.”

“Do you think that’s an option? I mean, you must know how hard jobs are to find right now”

“I might be able to persuade Mr Grenasius but it would also mean he’d probably be working for someone that used to work for him. You know, a seniority inversion I’m told its called and I don’t know how he’d handle that”

“I think he’d be ok. If it was that or being out the door. You know, Mrs Beresford, I don’t think he could handle coming back to his old job. He’s nearly a broken man”

Eloise nodded in acknowledgement “And the other point is up to you”

“Other point? Oh yes, well every marriage has its issues and we have hit this sort of thing before. I don’t know if Pete ever really found out, but I promised myself that if the boot was on the other foot, I’d try to understand and keep us together if I could. You could say I owe him one”

“Well, either way, he’s not going to be asked to go to India again so there’ll be no reason for Vanina to see him again, assuming she escapes being locked up.”

But with Sandra taking up time, Thane taking up time and the fallout from the trip to India taking up time, Tuesday was suddenly looming large on the horizon and there was still so much to organise so that Charlene could run the post-Christmas sale. Eloise eventually admitted to herself that she would probably have to go into the store the next day despite her having booked the time off to prepare for Steve’s party.

End of Steve’s Year

Chapter 3

India

Next Chapter is Christmas