Chapter 12

Once the notice was placed in the window we bade everyone goodbye and locked the store up.

Jenny decided to go to school although she really didn't feel like it, "I've got to meet it head on" she declared. "It'll be hard enough without all the supposition that will take place."

On the way home Jess confided in me she was not able to manage the store on her own, De Vent took control once Dad was out of the picture, now she has to face it on her own. She didn't feel confident that any of the sales staff could take over the job; they were good people but didn't have the aptitude to run things.

I pondered on the problem for a while, "I know that I'm only seventeen Jess but what say we both give it a go, I can't see myself going back to school again, I doubt if they would have me back anyway. I feel confident in myself and I don't think you are incapable, with both of us supporting each other I reckon we can make it work."

"Do you think we can Jimmy? You seem to be lot more mature since the bang on your head; I'm willing to give it a whirl if you are. I do think we should talk to Ron before we commit ourselves though, there could be some legal hitch regarding your age."

We stopped by at Ron's office, his secretary said he was with a client but shouldn't be too long, she expressed her horror at the way De Vent attacked me and the way things shaped up. A little while later Ron came out of his office and escorted his client out.

"Hello you two, what brings you to my humble office?"

"Humble my foot," laughed Jess "it's a palace built on the misfortunes of your clients."

We all had a bit of a chuckle before getting down to business.

"What are the rules regarding someone Jimmy's age taking control of the store? What we want to do is both of us manage it, I'm not confident enough to run things on my own but I think with Jimmy sharing the responsibilities we might make a go of it."

"OK, firstly Jimmy is only seventeen so he can't legally sign any contract to purchase goods, he can't sign for credit nor can he approve credit to customers. You can do all of those things so I don't see any problem, also the fact that he owns 51% of the store lends a lot of weight should anything arise. How long before you are eighteen Jimmy?"

I was gob smacked, "I honestly don't know Ron, I don't even know my own age." Ron looked in his diary, "your birthday is in another four months, then you can legally take control, until then Jess you must be the figurehead."

"The other thing we need to discuss is John's funereal, I don't know if he had any relatives and I think it would be uncharitable for us not to pay for it, so could you take care of the necessaries Ron?"

"OK Jimmy I'll look after that, I'll sound around to see if anyone knows of relatives." Jess spoke up "he was always a loner, he never mentioned any family."

When we arrive home the clean up crew that the Coroner had arranged was waiting for us, I showed them my room and they said that the carpet and underfelt would need to be replaced as the blood and brains had saturated them. I told them to go ahead but to get the replacements from our department store which would be open on Monday.

When they had taken the carpet and under felt up they took them away, letting me know that the recarpeting was our problem, they only did the clean up. I went up to my room and opened the window to allow the smell to dissipate.