Chapter 6

Jenny finished chewing a piece of succulent beef and paused to swallow before she spoke.

“What my mother wants, and what I want, are two different things, Bob. She is pushing me to escape home and, I suppose, grow up and stand on my own feet. Just because I am living at home doesn’t mean that I haven’t grown up and become capable. My father prevented me from exploring possibilities with boys, and now at my age I have to be looking at men, not boys. You were still a boy when you met Sandy, but now you are a man with the life experience that helps you be an asset for your wives.”

I followed what she was saying, but I was unsure what she was getting at and going towards. I quickly found out when she went on, “That is why I think I might want to explore the first steps with you. I never got the chance at the right age to get experience this way, and Carol says you are great; though she may have her own personal reasons for thinking that, with no valid comparisons with other normal males. I have spoken with each of your wives, and sounded them out, and they have every one given their approval for me to learn boy-girl activity from you if you are willing to take part.”

Ah, now we get to the crux of the matter.

“Interesting,” I admitted. “I am always willing to teach, if the pupils are keen to learn, but remember I need to have the permission of my wife Sandy before I do anything other than our routine activities with other people.”

Her eyebrtows went up. “You seem to be under her thumb, Bob,” Jenny remarked tartly.

I refused to be annoyed by this accusation.

“Not at all, Jenny. She and I, we are a pair, and we would each do anything for the other. I consult her because I respect her opinion, as should you.”

Jenny said grudgingly, “If you insist.”

“No, no insistence. This family works on agreement, not force of any kind, thus I do not insist on anything except agreeing with each other. We can discuss and argue about some matters, but we end up by agreeing on the best solution. You have been an only child for so long that you never had to work with a sibling and come to an agreement with him or her, and your father did not give your opinion any chance to develop its own views; it was only his own outlook that counted with him. Your mother also had to give in to his constant pressure, so you had no good example to follow. So, talk to Sandy and my other ladies about how we agree on things, then you and I can talk more about what you can learn here.”

We heard a little more about Jenny’s father. He was going to trial in another month or so; and also that Patricia had started divorce proceedings on the basis of past abuse of her. She was using Sandy & Georgie’s father to act on her behalf in the divorce claim. Interestingly, Daddy first tried to persuade her to go for a judicial separation as a cheap and easy option at the Sheriff Court, whereas a formal divorce action is more complicated. It has to go before the Court of Session in Edinburgh, and that means engaging an advocate to pursue the action there; an expensive measure.

Patricia paled at this information, but doggedly asked Daddy, “If I can afford to, I will do it, as I want to be shot of him permanently!”

Daddy Thompson thought for a moment, then enquired, “You know Bob McIntyre, don’t you?”

“Yes. He is married to my daughter’s school friend Carol.”

Daddy studiously avoided the reference to Carol as my wife and suggested, “Speak to Bob about the costs, and say I was thinking that our firm’s legal aid budget might be explored. See what he says to that. He works for me and attends to certain matters that I devolve to him as part of his training.”

Patricia blinked, but accepted his words at face value.

“Okay. I’ll do that this evening. Jenny tells me we are invited to dinner again.”

“Sandy and Bob are generous that way,” agreed Mr Thompson. “Sandy has well-paid employment, and Bob has an inheritance,” he explained with some vagueness about the family finances, so that Patricia would not fret about the generosity of her hosts. He was careful to refer to me and Sandy without saying that she was my legal wife; just as names. He knew I would be cued to act as if I was accessing a company budget for legal aid, whereas it would actually be coming out of my very deep pockets.

So it was that Jenny and Patricia arrived for dinner, with Patricia attired in her best dress, and saying to Sandy, “Do you mind if I speak privately to Bob about a matter to do with my divorce? It seems he looks after the law office’s legal aid budget?”

Sandy knew perfectly well that no such budget existed and guessed that this was just a ploy instigated by her father for her and Bob to finance the advocacy for Patricia. She replied after a moment for thought, “Just let me have a quick word with Bob, so we can arrange things with the meal timing and so forth.”

She found me and dragged me forcibly by the arm into my new study. When that happens, I know it is something important.

“Darling, Daddy has sent Patricia to see you about the law office’s legal aid budget, as you administer that for him. You can see that this is a pretence, Daddy’s way of asking you to pay for the Court of Session costs in Edinburgh, including the advocate. I know you will do that, my love, but pretend it is a company budget for those with less finance behind them, and it is supported by donations from anonymous philanthropists. That will be easier for Patricia to accept without much in the way of questions.”

I quickly agreed that I would bring her through to my study and we would have our coffee there in private, to discuss the financial implications of a divorce.

So that was what happened. We had our dinner then when it got to coffee time, I invited Patricia to have her coffee with me in my study. Once we were sitting down and had a first sip of the beverage, I asked her what she needed to know about the legal business where I worked.

I gave her my spiel about confidences, “I must warn you I can’t give formal legal advice, as I am not a qualified lawyer, Patricia; only a personal opinion.”

She waved off the warning. “Oh, it is not that. It comes down to money, I’m afraid. George handled our finances, and it seems I am left with very little to work with; certainly not enough to pay for an Edinburgh lawyer at the Court of Session: what do they call him? An advocate?”

“Yes. An advocate is a solicitor with specialist training for the higher courts in Scotland. He advocates for the plaintiff. Because of that, they are paid at a higher rate. For such problems, to help folk who don’t have the wealth, we have established a legal aid budget within our business. We invite benefactors to assist, those who see the need to help others anonymously, and they contribute towards this fund. Mr Thompson makes the decision about who to help, and I get to work out the financial details. I gather that you don’t see any benefit in a judicial separation, which is much cheaper?”

“None. I want George out of my life forever, and if it takes all I have, I’ll do that; but if you can help in some small way ... with part of it at least...”

“No, if Mr Thompson decides you need help, our legal aid budget pays it in full. You don’t have to pay anything towards the cost. It has to be that way as it keeps things simple and we don’t end up having to decide on tax liabilities and so on. It suits us better this way, I assure you, Patricia. Tax rules can be a damn nuisance at times.”

“My goodness! All the costs? This is more than I expected...”

“Let me tell you, Patricia, that the donors to the fund get a tax benefit as it is listed as a charity, but by the same token the charity has to keep accounts of disbursements, and a simple total to a beneficiary is clear and obvious, with no complications such as part payments from the recipient. Simplicity is the key.”

“Well, if that suits the Fund, I will have no objections,” she accepted with a smile.

“Great. We will proceed in that vein, and once Mr Thompson, on completion of the case, has worked out all the costs with me, he will submit an accounting to our Legal Aid Fund which I administer for him, and get a cheque in return. It is as simple as that.”

I was making up all this as I went along, but it had a simplistic logic to it, and I wanted it kept that way for me to pay my father-in-law when the divorce proceedings were complete. Patricia was delighted to have it complication-free.

We drained our coffee mugs and returned to join the others, who were mostly in the nursery playing with the children, except for the two whose turn it was to clear the table and get the washing-up done. I usually helped with the dish drying and putting the stuff away, so I had escaped that chore today. While the eldest kids are willing to help, they are too cack-handed to be trusted with the crockery. Their tuition starts by drying dinner knives and forks with a dish towel, but not sharp knives; too dangerous.

Patricia resumed chatting with my ladies, and Jenny was having fun teaching Martha, Georgina’s daughter, the words of a traditional rhyme she remembered from her own childhood. The sneeze was accompanied by actions, making it expressive. “Atishoo!” said the Provost. “Atishoo! hoots toots, I must get me a pair of watertight boots, For I’ve got a cold, and it’s in my head, And I am off to my – atishoo! - bed.” Martha thought this was hilarious and went into screams of laughter, especially at the “Atishoo!” parts that Jenny embellished with a massive pretend sneeze. Jenny confided to us that she picked it up on a guising night at Halloween from another child when they went door-to-door to say or do their tricks and be given a handful of nuts or sweets, or even a small sum of money, as a reward for your performance. The aim was to collect as many treats as possible, so you went with a small shopping bag for carrying your prizes home to show your mother prior to consuming your goodies. It was a tradition that looked to be declining as families moved more and more, resulting in less neighbours whom you knew, and more importantly who knew you as a local child and would invite you in. You didn’t wear a decorative mask as that would hide your face for recognition, or you took it off after you arrived, so they could see who you were. The tradition of guising derived from an ancient belief in spirits who might come out in the darkness at Hallowe’en [All Hallows Evening: the evening before All Hallows day], and so you disguised yourself in some way to prevent the spirits from recognising you as you went out and about the streets on that evening. Jenny’s rhyme about the Provost (The elected head of a Scottish burgh council) featured an old tradition that colds came from getting wet feet, whereas nowadays it was established scientifically that colds were caused by an infection. After the war, the Common Cold Research Unit for the UK was set up in Salisbury in 1946 to attempt to find out what was the cause of the common cold. Thousands volunteered over succeeding years to be infected and tested in isolation conditions. It was treated by the volunteers as a free holiday away from normal life, as all costs were covered in the research. By all reports, you were well fed there, as that encouraged more volunteers next year. According to New Scientist, by today the scientists had identified at least a hundred different virus variants that caused the disease symptoms, which is why there is still no specific antidote to the common cold, and the medical advice about dealing with a cold boiled down to: treat the symptoms, and keep it until it gets better. No-one ever seems to have been recorded as having died directly from the common cold, so treat the symptoms; that is all you do, then wait for it to clear up on its own. On Sandy’s next visit to Glasgow, primarily to deliver her lecture, she visited her broker for an update on our own holdings, and hear more gossip about what George Smart was investing in. On her return, she was full of the interesting questions she had fielded after her lecture. “I was amazed at the naivety of some students. They imagined that because their course materials told them the best way to approach a business task, that must be the only way to do it. I had to explain that if the Company Board is full of old men who based their views on what worked half a century ago, you first have to show them what was NOT working for the company, before you can convince them that new ideas are worth considering, and explain in what ways and under what business conditions the new ideas can benefit the company. You always have to show them that your new ways will make them more money than the old ways did. Money is what counts for them; always. It is the only metric they follow.”

I contributed, “In our case, we also had to clear out the criminals and the dead wood in order to have a Board that functions for the good of the business.” “I didn’t mention that, Bob, for it is our private information. I like to teach students to think for themselves, and not blindly follow some other businessmen’s past tactics. Every tactic and choice of tactic has to be adapted to the local circumstances. There is never a perfect solution that you can just apply; just a way of thinking about solutions. It is simply an extension of what university is for: learning to think clearly and effectively.” “I get you, and it makes sense even to me. What does our broker have to say about our holdings?” “We are doing well, on the whole. Things are developing rapidly in the grocery sector, he reckons, and there is money to be made there over the next few years. We have invested more as a result, as people always have to eat. Again as always, drinks are going to be a plus venture for us, and he is keen on the construction industry’s prospects, even though they have their ups and downs depending on the economy. When I told him we had established our own construction business group, he congratulated me on my foresight. I told him it was mostly coincidence and serendipity, to which he said, ‘I should be so lucky!’ I asked, “What did you discover about our rapist’s activities?” “Fortunately, he had used the same broker, not that there are very many top class brokers to choose from in Glasgow, so he was able to brief me in confidence, once I told him that the man had been arrested and would be going to prison for a long while; and it was his wife who needed the information for a divorce.” “And...?” I pushed. “And he has been putting twenty pounds a month into his investment account for at least fifteen years, and even more once the mortgage on the house was paid off. Apart from the property holdings, he has a minimum of six thousand pounds invested, mainly in the publishing sector. He has a holding in Penguin Group and recently invested, at our broker’s recommendation, in Pergamon Press, a private scientific publisher that has just gone public. I have authorised our broker to buy us into that business as well for there is a worldwide market for academic periodicals bought by universities as a data source for their departments. Publishing your work in a journal is an important requirement in academia. Each submission gets peer-reviewed by the journal’s expert consultants before being accepted, so that gains your published article considerable respect. Almost every university subscribes to these journals, and the expanding education sector worldwide makes the publisher profitable.” “Oh? I hadn’t known that. Another gap in my knowledge, but one that hardly affects me. As long as you are au fait with it, Sandy, that’s fine. Much more to the point, is Patricia going to be able to get half of that investment?” Sandy shrugged. “I can’t say for certain, as it depends on the judge hearing the divorce, but I would put money on her getting half, and possibly more if the judge veers that way. Rapists tend to get short shrift in court cases.” “That’s what I wanted to hear. Any way that we can pass on this information to her without causing problems for our broker friend?” “I can simply tell her that my contacts suggest that there is a considerable sum salted away in investments, and she should ask for half of what exists. I can tell her advocate the name of the broker. Actual figures for value can vary depending on when the assets are sold and what commission you have to pay the broker conducting the sale for you. “Still, if it is at least six thousand, that is a fairly massive sum for her to get a chunk of. You might imply that the total might be in excess of five thousand, and say that without giving anything away.” “I can go with that,” Sandy accepted, and at the next opportunity gave Mrs Smart the information she had gleaned. Patricia was overwhelmed, saying, “All that money put away and I didn’t know about it and didn’t see any of it? That monster! If I could, I would kill him for what he put us through!” Sandy did her best to calm her down. “Patricia, think! He did nothing to physically harm you. You just went along with less spare cash than you otherwise would. Did you ever have to do without a warm coat or a new dress for a special occasion?” “Eh? I suppose not. When I needed something like that, George would pay for it. We just had to use a particular outfitters; I don’t know why.” “Umm...” Sandy mumbled, and Patricia picked up on it. “What? What are you not telling me, Sandy?” “Well, your family accounts show regular payments to that outfitters. All the clothes were bought on hire purchase, so there was no sudden outlay for him. George arranged it so that routine payments were made to the shop, and as a result there was no interruption to his savings structure. Nothing was allowed to stop him shovelling cash into his investments every month, sorry.” “So we still have to keep up these payments until they are scheduled to end?” Patricia almost wailed. Sandy held up a hand to stop her and explain. “No, Patricia. I spoke with the shop manager, and he agreed that you could pay it off early in the circumstances, with the interest part curtailed. I made that payment on your behalf, so that debt has been cleared. Later, I can list that cost as a charge on George’s assets, prior to the court splitting them between you, for they were all his legal responsibility as stated on the hire purchase agreements.” “Oh, thank you, Sandy. That was generous of you.” “Not to worry. It will be paid by George in the end,” Sandy assured her. Patricia smiled. “That sounds good,” she agreed. Sandy changed the subject by adding, “Just so you know, Patricia, Jenny has asked Bob to teach her about intimate relations between a man and a woman. Carol bragged about how Bob helped her get over her fear of the opposite sex, and told Jenny that Bob was worth speaking to about doing the same for her, as she never got to engage properly with boys as a teenager. Bob consulted me, as he does, and I advised getting her to think seriously about it for a while. Just so you know, Carol ended up asking Bob to fuck her, to prove to herself that she was over the rape!” Patricia’s face expressed shock for a moment, then she did some thinking before saying, “My Jennifer is in some ways quite innocent, due to her father being over-protective of her, compared to his terrible behaviour towards other girls. I am not sure what to say about this suggestion from Carol. As Bob’s legal wife and mother of his son, what do you think I should do? Should I put my foot down, or should I let her off the family leash and leave it up to her?” Sandy spread her hands to express the awkward difficulty in choosing. “It is really up to you as her mother, Patricia, but in my opinion Jenny is an adult now and should make her own choices about her life. How do you see her? As a daughter in need of guidance, or as a grown woman who should decide for herself? Either way, she needs some way of learning about personal relationships.” Patricia looked at Sandy with renewed respect. “You speak wise words, Mrs McIntyre. However ... did you really permit Bob to have sex with these other women; the ones who now call themselves his wives?” “That is a truly difficult question, Patricia. In the case of my older sister, I started by helping her see that not all men were like her former intended, who dumped her in favour of a younger woman. I pushed her and Bob together, with the idea of getting her used to relating to a more tolerant and reliable man close to her, in a confidential environment. The effect of that effort was that she fell in love with Bob when she found out what he was like. I went with the flow, and tentatively offered her a chance of being a second wife to Bob, but not a legal wife as that was not possible. She jumped at the chance of having him as her man on a permanent basis, and she joined us on our honeymoon. She participated wholeheartedly in that familiarity, with no birth protection as she was keen to be a mother, whereas I was more focussed and determined about completing my degree course. That is another story, but we both got what we wanted. Next was Janet, our waitress at a local restaurant. In discussions with her, we came to realise that she was hiding in Gourock, and slowly discovered that she had absconded from family pressure in one of the North-East fishing ports, where an extremist church group had a great deal of control over their families and tried to keep marriages within the group. To avoid a forced marriage, she enrolled in a course in Aberdeen, which took her away from home, and there found a female friend who financed a disappearing act, allowing her to now be in Gourock on the other side of the country and with her folks knowing nothing about where she had gone. She had a good job here, but otherwise was a deliberate loner until she met us. Between me, Bob, and Georgie, she was persuaded to become more socially engaged with us, and eventually she decided she wanted to adopt us as her new family and actually join the family. She became another wife. It was Janet who pointed us to Carol, for she had befriended Carol as they were two lonesome girls both avoiding society in general, and in Carol’s case, men in particular. They used the same boarding house to live, which was a female-only boarders regime. I could go on, but in effect, Bob simply acted as the good man he is, and the girls fell in love with him. He in return gradually fell in love with them as his new wives, and thus we came together as an extended family.” “He didn’t push them into anything? That seems surprising.” “Not to me. The example of Georgie showed that you can’t get Bob to push women into anything: he respects them too much. If anything, he is the one who gets pushed.” “So what about Jenny? What is likely to happen with her?” “As always, it is up to her to respond to Bob in whichever way she wants to react. I might lay odds that she will behave much as the other girls did; but I may have it wrong. I can’t be right every time, so who knows?” Patricia was stoical. “She needs to learn to be a woman in a man’s world, and I would rather the man be dependable than not. Ask Bob to get close to her and see if she wants to know more about men.” There was no rush on my part, but my wives all ganged up on Jenny and told her that she needed to learn from Bob about love and loving. These were just words to Jenny, so she approached me and said that my women were pushing her to find out from me about love. She seemed unsure of herself. I happily described how me and my ladies acted towards each other with mutual respect and admiration, until Jenny said, “They told me you would teach me about relations between a man and woman in a more physical way.” “Oh, you mean sex?” She blushed and admitted, “I think that was what they were getting at. I know about girls giving birth, but what I know little or nothing about is the preliminaries to getting pregnant. I didn’t get to date when I was a teenager.” I enquired gently,. “You are interested in getting pregnant? All my wives took that route, more or less. Sandy remained a virgin until we were married, but the others chose to experience sex prior to joining the family. Phyllis was the only one who was told she had to get pregnant by me if she was to be accepted into the family, but she was a special case: she was pushing us to get into our household, so we raised the entrance fee, sort of! The others were all willing volunteers; girls who wanted to have a baby with me.” All Jenny could say at first was, “Oh.” “Oh? Oh what? Oh, yes, I want a baby; or oh, no, I am not ready to have a baby; or Oh, dear, I don’t know what I want? Or something else?” Jenny almost stamped her foot in frustration at my pressure on her. “Damn! Stop rushing me, Bob. I want to learn the first steps before real sex; the stuff that seems to be called foreplay; the sort of thing that starts with kissing...” “Now that I have plenty of practice at, and you may have seen some of that between me and my wives. Sometimes I get a quick kiss in passing, as they head to the nursery to cuddle or feed their baby. When there is nothing important to distract us, it is more passionate, include fondling of her breasts and nipples, and my hand or hands on her bum to pull our sex organs closer.” “Nothing in between?” “Well yes, there is tonguing – tongue in the mouth – which some folk like and others don’t care for, and me kissing neck, nipples and breasts as the occasion allows. Oh, and I forgot; there is the more formal kissing of the back of the hand as a formal social nicety. I think you and I know each other well enough to skip that.” She jumped to what I said earlier:”Nipples and breasts? But you would have to get naked to do that!” “Not completely naked, but the top half, certainly. That exposure is also an excellent opportunity for me to admire your breasts and observe how they enhance your torso. I assume you have breasts that you are proud of? Your clothing suggests that you are adequately endowed in that department.” “You want me to strip so that you can look at my breasts? Are you serious?” “Jenny, look at it logically: How can I see what your breasts are like unless you bare them first? Even a bra can disguise your breast size and shape. All of my ladies are quite proud of their chests, and those who are breast-feeding have larger breasts for a while. I am attracted to their breasts, no matter their size. Breast size is usually relative to overall dimensions.” “How can you talk about women’s breasts so blatantly?” “It is just human anatomy, Jenny; female organs for feeding babies. It is humanity’s need to reproduce that makes them more erotic, and I suppose most women also see them as a way of attracting a man, on the same basis. Most men are brought up to see them as an attraction in a female.” “God, you are so damn logical, Bob. Shut up and kiss me, so I get a start on learning about this part of humanity.” I gave in and swept her into my arms and gave her an initial kiss; nothing too sensuous, but letting her know that she was a woman and I was a man, then released her. She seemed to like it, for she said, “Again, Bob.” I repeated the kiss, with a bit more emphasis, and held her to me for longer. She melted a little more this time. I could feel her breasts pressed against me, and I suspect she did too, Jenny remarked, softly, “Hmm ... that was better. We need to practice this a bit more often. Please?” I asked, “Often today, or often later?” “Can’t we do both?” Jenny queried. “Just a little more today, as time is pressing on us both. So just a few more kisses, then we must part to our other obligations.” We kissed a few more times, and I introduced some tonguing to see if she liked it. She did, but was surprised and made it the last for a while. “Thank you, Bob, but this has to be the end for today. I need to do some serious thinking, and probably speak with Carol again.” I accepted this as a sensible conclusion, and we left it at that. I was under no compulsion and she was under no time constraint either. Sandy spoke to me later about the interlude and thought I had acted wisely. “There is no promise of anything further, so Jenny is left to make her own decisions. That is how it should be, my dear Bob.” It was several days before Jenny returned to our house, as Carol was busy with her beauty salon chain, and Jenny preferred visiting when Carol was there, as her school friend was desirable company when help was not required as a second-string baby-minder. In fact, Jenny became fascinated by Carol’s involvement in the beauty business, and asked if she could help in some way. Carol was unsure, but said she would discuss it with her boss, the owner of the salon chain. “What are you thinking of?” she asked Jenny. Jenny was slow to answer, so Carol demanded, “If you are serious, you must have something in your head about it, surely.” “I do, but I was not certain if it would be relevant,” Jenny replied at last. “It was with helping with the babysitting that it came to me. If some of the potential clients for the beauty salon have a small child to look after, then if the salon offered child-minding as an extra service while the mother was getting her beauty treatment, that might encourage more and younger women to use the salons. After all, the chain uses the brand name ‘Extras’, doesn’t it?” Carol was intrigued at the thought. “How do you see this working?” she pressed Jenny. She admitted,”Well, if some of the employees were mothers themselves, like you are, they would have relevant knowledge and experience and could double up as childminders when not too busy with other customer duties. I have noticed lots of shops where the counter staff stand around for ages, waiting for customers to arrive.” “That sounds workable, Jenny. I’ll certainly pass it on as your idea. My boss is amenable to sensible proposals. Come to think of it, we could possibly have a joint staff-room and nursery, with sound insulation panels to keep the child noise away from the customers. If staff are there for a coffee break, they would also be there for any child problem. Really, we would need to always have a staff member with the children, for safety cover if nothing else, but if some of the beauticians are mothers, that means the staff would be able to deal with changing the tots if necessary, and comforting any that started crying for any reason. Taking that a little farther, we would be in a position to employ women with the right qualifications that are tied down by having a small child. The salon could accommodate the child and let the mother work. Yes, I can see this being a bonus both for staff and clients.” “I am glad you liked my suggestion, Carol,” Jenny smiled in pleasure. “I also thought that each salon could employ teen girls like Naomi as babysitter starters, with the beauty staff on duty able to pop in and supervise regularly.” Carol’s eyes widened, and she responded, “That would fit well with all the rest, Jenny. Leave it with me to broach the subject with my boss, to see what she says.” She did that the very next day, and got a positive response. She asked Carol to institute these changes as soon as was practical, including the structural activities to either make the existing staff-room soundproof, or make a new joint staff-room and nursery if the space allowed. Her only concern was the number of children that could be accommodated without disrupting the profitability of the salon. Then her business mind kicked in. “Of course, if we make a small charge for the child-minding, at a rate per child, that might cover our costs. Children of staff would of course be free, up to two kids. We couldn’t cope with a staff member bringing five kids along to work!” Carol suggested, “Make it age-dependent; say, up to age three is acceptable. Slightly older children would be looked after by relatives or commercial nurseries, and schools take them from five.” “That makes sense, Carol. We can go with that. Look at each of our salons and see what is possible, space-wise. If space is tight and there is an empty shop next-door, we could use it as the nursery and perhaps be a bit more commercial if there is demand for such a service. Empty shops can be negotiated to a cheap lease, in my experience.” “Boss, can we do anything for Jenny Smart, the girl who suggested this plan? I know her well, and she is worth a look. She is ages with me.” “Has she any more ideas, Carol? Anything that we can use for the business?” “I’ll have a word with her on that, boss. Timescale on the babysitting options?”