Chapter 6: Lewis Gets a Cheque

Lewis woke up to hear his mum call upstairs, “Lewis, you’ve got post.” He got up and went downstairs, puzzled as he was not expecting anything. The letter was addressed to him formally, Mr Lewis Lucas.

He opened it to find a headed letter with a cheque attached. Looking at the cheque he nearly had a fit, it was made out to him for One Thousand Pounds. He showed it his mum, both of them awed.

He opened the letter up, his hands shaking. It was headed with the name and address of an engineering firm with an address about ten miles away. He read the letter with a pounding heart.

Dear Lewis,

I am the owner of the boat you saved from disaster in the lock a few

months ago. My staff member who had borrowed the boat has only

just told me what happened. I write to thank you for what you did

and hope you will accept the enclosed cheque as a token of my thanks.

Believe me, had you not been there and known what to do, the cost to

me would have been far, far, higher.

From what I have been told of your age and your very limited knowledge

of canals, your actions were to say the least remarkable. I would very

much like to meet you and show you round my engineering works.

If you would be kind enough to ring my secretary to fix up a date

convenient to us both, I will arrange for Timothy, one of my staff who

lives near you, to collect you and to bring you home.

I look forward to meeting you and thanking you in person,

Yours Sincerely,

John Graham

Managing Director.

Lewis passed it over to his mum, “Can I go mum?” he asked. “I don’t see why not,” she said, “At least you can thank him for the cheque.”

Later that day Lewis rang and arranged to visit that Friday. The secretary told him Timothy would collect him at ten o’clock, then bring him back during the afternoon. “You will have lunch with Mr Graham, the Managing Director,” she told him. Lewis thanked her then hung up.

He looked at the cheque again, thrilled. He had never ever had so much money. Peter and Gwyneth had sent him a fifty-pound note and a thank you card the week after it had happened. He had been delighted with that and had never expected anything else.

He went off into town to pay his cheque into his building society. Then settled back to wait for Friday.

Friday eventually came. Tim arrived at Lewis’s dead on ten. He knocked at the door and introduced himself. Lewis’s mum welcomed him in, and Lewis shook his hand. Kissing his mum goodbye, Lewis got into Tim’s old mini and off they went. Tim told him it usually took him half an hour to get to work for eight, but he had been given a late start today.

They chatted as they went, Lewis told him about his invite to see the factory and Tim told him he was nineteen, had left school wanting to be an engineer of some sort so had written to every suitable firm in the area. This one had been the first one to offer him an interview.

After the interview he had been offered a job for six months trial, then as the six months came to an end, he was taken on permanently as an apprentice. He clearly loved his job and liked his boss.

With lighter traffic at that time of day, in no time at all they were driving in through the factory gates. They parked up, then Tim led him over to the office building. “I’ll be leaving you soon,” he told Lewis, “But I’ll see you again during the day. Also, I’ll be taking you home when you’re through.” Lewis thanked him for bringing him. Tim grinned, “Thank you for the lie in.” he said.

On the way, Lewis had picked up that Tim was worried about something, but he hadn’t mentioned anything, so he had pushed it to the back of his mind. They went into the smart reception area where Tim introduced Lewis to the receptionist he had spoken to earlier in the week, then left to go to work.

The Receptionist buzzed to let the boss know that Lewis had arrived. A few moments later he came out. Lewis was surprised to find he only looked in his late twenties, he had assumed it would be someone much older. He came over with a big smile on his face, putting out his hand, he said, “Welcome Lewis, lovely to meet you, come on through.”

They went into a very smart office which had a big desk, but in one corner was a seating area with comfy armchairs. John led him over and indicated for him to sit down. “Would you like a coke or something else?” he asked. “I’ll have a coke please,” Lewis told him. John got two cokes out of the fridge, poured them out into glasses and handed one to Lewis. Sitting in the other armchair with the other coke, he said, “Well young man, so you are the one who saved my boat.”

Lewis blushed, “It was nothing,” he said, “Thank you so much for your cheque, I’ve never seen so much money, but you shouldn’t have.” “Nonsense,” John replied. “That boat cost me sixty thousand pounds and from what I’ve been told by my boat yard, if it had sunk in the lock, it would have cost ten thousand pounds or more to repair. I’d much rather pay you the thousand.”

“Now, have I got this right?” John asked, “You are fifteen and on the day that you saved my boat you had only been on the canal three days with no experience of canals whatsoever before that.” Lewis nodded. “Yet you turned up, saw what was happening, realised what would happen next, saw no one was doing anything so you took command, ordered things to be done and averted a disaster.”

“It seemed the obvious thing to do,” Lewis told him, looking a little embarrassed. “Yet no one else saw what you saw, or knew what to do,” John said with a smile. “That to me Lewis says you have an exceptional brain that would be very useful in engineering. I’ve invited you here today for three reasons. One was to meet you. One was to thank you for saving my boat and the other to show you round my factory. The reason for the latter one is that if you haven’t already decided what you are going to do when you leave school, to hope you will consider engineering as a career and will give me the opportunity to employ you.”

Lewis looked startled. “Wow, I haven’t really thought about it yet, other than I want to do something with my hands as I’m not over bright.” “Nonsense,” John said, “What you did shows intelligence, confidence and leadership. Don’t put yourself down. Anyway, the choice is yours. If you do decide when the time comes, I’ll tell you now, I’ll give you a job for six months, then if you turn out to be as I anticipate, I’ll give you a permanent apprenticeship.”