Chapter 20

“I think you may be pleasantly surprised, sir. Today the manager came up with an idea for a takeaway option that I liked. It was something I had not encountered before, so it shows that our staff can be adventurous. They are fully conscious of the need to attract customers and keep them coming back.”

“As always, you have a very positive attitude, Jimmy. I hope your expectations are right.”

Marjory phoned through to me at more or less the expected time, to say that my ladies had arrived, and the driver was boarding his new passengers.

I was quick to clarify, “Did the restaurant provide the pasty for the driver?”

“Yes, Jimmy. Surprisingly, the chef turned up with four pasties; one for the driver and the other three for the assistants. He demanded payment in kind. He gave them a survey for them to report their reactions to the pasty, telling them their forms would be very useful for the restaurant. The most useful return, not necessarily the most praising, would win a prize of a free meal at the restaurant.”

“Interesting.”

“Unexpectedly, the driver asked if that contest included him, and the chef told him it did. They all went off with their hand-held meal. Quite large it was. They should possibly offer a smaller one for ladies.”

“Hah. Marjory, pass that thought on to the restaurant manager; he may like to hear it as a good observation.”

I hurried down to Reception, to welcome my guests. I was pleased to see that they included Elizabeth and Isabella. It would be another exciting outing for them; a new adventure.

Checking my watch, I reckoned it was only a few minutes before the restaurant opened for lunches, so we made our way there; me leading and Marjory escorting the ladies.

The manager, Ronald Craigmile, opened the door before we got to it, and some of the early birds entered ahead of us. When I was spotted by the manager, he directed us to a long table set up at the far end of the restaurant, almost in an alcove which sheltered us from the rest of the diners. I thanked him for his perceptive planning, and he smiled.

“I am hoping this improves the ambience for our esteemed diners, and they will give us a high score as a result. Now, we have provided you all with printed menus so that you don’t have to use the staff facilities for choosing what to eat. Make your choices at your leisure, for you don’t have to go back to work at a specific time.” He glanced at me. “I am unsure of your lunchtime arrangements as a senior member of staff, Mr Hargreaves.”

I explained, “I have a flexibility that comes with responsibility. In part, today’s lunch is a work episode as I am using these ladies as testers for our proposed commercial operation. Take it that I don’t have to stick to a timetable, Ronald.”

“Excellent. I will personally offer our survey forms to your ladies, Mr Hargreaves.”

I asked the manager to provide a small sherry to the ladies as an aperitif, then we sampled the menu. I encouraged the ladies to try a variety of courses from the menu, so that they did not all have the same experience. They all were delighted at the menu the restaurant had for them to choose from, and the range of desserts had their mouths watering. The Black Forest Gateau was a particular favourite, but I went with the profiteroles as I wanted to discover whether they were using real cream for the center filling or not. It was real cream, I was glad to find.

The coffee afterwards was also excellent, with three different craft roasted fresh coffees on offer at various strengths. The one I chose was delicious.

The girls and myself also were assiduous in completing the survey forms. There was no sign of either father.

We had been so slow at eating, through talking as we went, that it was already two in the afternoon by the time I asked for the bill. The manager tried to say it was on the house as it was an alpha test, but I insisted, saying “We need to see what happens about payment in your establishment, Ronald.”

He accepted that argument, and fetched the bill, placed folded on a small plate and offered to me discreetly.

I opened it up, looked at the amount and calculated that this would be normal in any commercial restaurant, so I added a ten per cent gratuity, and signed the bill, offering my card to Ronald. He blinked at the added gratuity, but said nothing; merely produced his card reader and ran my card in my presence, thus guaranteeing no underhand card swiping to copy the card number. It was a trick I knew of, and obviously he had as well. That was why he did it this way. It got my wholehearted approval.

He murmured quietly to me, “This amount will go as a credit to your staff account, Mr Hargreaves, in payment for your actions here today.”

I gave him a gracious smile and thanked him for his kindness.

I collected my pack of women and escorted them back to Reception, where Marjory peeled off to resume her duties, starting with asking if the driver had arrived with the vehicle. The same Sheila told her, “The small van has come back, Marjory, but it has a different driver. It is now a female driver. Apparently the firm realised the passengers were all women, and ordered it to divert back to the firm’s base to switch the drivers at lunchtime. The woman was surprised that there were other passengers boarding for coming here, but she had been given orders, so took it in her stride and delivered them a few minutes ago.”

Marjory shrugged. “Makes no difference to us, as long as the vehicle is here when the ladies need it.”

She escorted them out to the passenger van, which had stopped right outside the Group’s front door. My ladies trooped aboard, then they waved to me and Marjory as they left for home.

I had been surprised that neither Mr Emerson nor Chairman Yeats had put in an appearance while we were at lunch, so I rang Emerson to ask about that.

“Ah, Jimmy. You noticed? Chairman Yeats decided that we should not disturb your meal or make you embarrassed by being personally welcomed by both of us. We went down and took a look through the doorway, just to see how you were all getting on. I admit that the Chairman and I both had a tear come to our eyes, seeing our girls so obviously happy; and Marjory there as well.

We did notice there were two unknown women in your party, and again we didn’t like to display our ignorance and perhaps put them ill at ease, or annoy our girls by not knowing who their friends were.”

“That was not really a problem, sir. These two ladies were our guests. They are staying with us for a while due to family problems, so we invited them to join us today. They have no connection to the Group.”

“Good. How was your meal?”

“Wonderful; as good if not better than we could expect at any decent commercial restaurant. I also noticed that the manager brought the card reader to the table for paying the bill. That was a sign of quality service, as my credit card never left my sight.”

“Why was that, Jimmy?”

“There is a financial scam where if your card is taken away to be put through their machine, it gets put through another machine which clones the data and you later get charged for something you didn’t buy, but it was charged to your card data. Our Mr Craigmile is clearly aware of that scam, and studiously avoided any hint of that as a possibility. That man is a manager worth encouraging, sir.”

“Thank you, Jimmy. I was not aware of that scam. In future I will insist that my card remains within my sight at all times.”

“That is a wise precaution, Mr Emerson.”

I later went back to the restaurant to be certain that my ladies had filled in the feedback forms correctly. He assured me they had.

“We got high scores from all your guests, Mr Hargreaves. That agrees with other responses we are getting from staff members. The highest praise comes from the executive level staff, I am pleased to say. It bodes well for when we embark on our commercial business. I have one worry, though.”

I asked, “And that is...?”

“The move by the Group to the new site. Moving the staff to the new site will remove the staff part of the business, which will leave us dependent on an outside clientele.”

“Unless you want to expand, Donald. I have a suggestion to make.”

He was suddenly attentive, all ears.

“Yes, Mr Hargreaves? What is your suggestion?”

“You are aware that our new headquarters will be at the former air base, a good few miles from here.

We have found that one of the buildings on site is the former officers’ mess, with its own attached kitchens of a similar nature to your own. There is also an accomodation block that we thought might be converted to a motel, with the mess made into an eatery of some kind. I was wondering whether that might be of interest to you as a second outlet, with a clientele from Yeats much as you have here, plus drivers and other staff from a distribution business that we expect to become established in another hangar shortly.”

His visage brightened even more, but he asked, “Would we have to bid for the franchise or whatever you see it as?”

“No decision as yet. I would think it best if you took a trip out to see the place, and work out how it might work for you and your division.”

“That might be a good idea. I had not thought of us taking on another venue quite so rapidly, but if the opportunity is available, I would be wrong to ignore it. If I take a trip out there, would it be a business expense, do you think?”

“Most certainly. You will be examining a possible site for an expansion project. If you need keys for access, my family who you met today will have the keys for you to look around inside the buildings. Call at the Commandant’s residence, which is now ours. If considerable expense is required to bring the premises up to your standard, I have access to an investor who can provide funds at a rate better than the banks charge.”

“Now that makes it even more, ah, interesting, Mr Hargreaves.”

“I will tell them you may be calling. I can give you our home phone number so you can tell them when you will call. One of them will no doubt accompany you on your inspection tour. If you show interest after seeing the premises, I can suggest to our illustrious leaders that you and your colleagues be given first refusal. I am sure Mr Yeats will want to encourage enterprise coming from his newest division.”

I was infected by his enthusiasm, and at once phoned home to tell them about this development. Fortunately they had arrived and were able to take the call. It was passed to Sharl who wanted to speak to me anyway.

“Hi, Jimmy. Before you tell me what you had to say, let me tell you what happened with us. I was puzzled at the switch of drivers, and was not convinced of the gender requirement story. I quizzed the woman, and eventually she told me the truth.

It seems our male driver this morning thought he recognised two of his passengers as possibly the women the police had asked him about, so as soon as he delivered the machinist’s mates to the hangar, he phoned in to his despatcher and asked what he should do. He was told to come in immediately while they thought about it, and by the time he got there they were sure of their decision. They asked him if the police had specifically asked him to report it if he ever saw them again. He said they had not, as they knew who the women were and would not need his evidence again.

The despatcher, the woman who owned the business, told him he was off this job and her daughter would take it over, so he didn’t get to see them again. The identification would remain uncertain, so not worth reporting at all, she decided.

I told the female driver that it was a wise decision, and called Elizabeth up front. Elizabeth told her she was happy; much happier than she had been in years, and would not like the police to be informed about her presence at a particular location.

The driver was happy to hear that, saying, “We had already decided to ignore the possible identification, as a business decision, and if you ladies want it to stay that way, we will keep to that decision of indecision. We want to keep your business as well. The cops can’t help with expanding our business!”

I told her, ‘Deal,’ and we left it at that. Now what did you have to say, Jimmy?”

I explained about the restaurant manager and his interest in the catering possibilities at our new base. Sharl promised to show him round all he wanted, so I said I would ask him to ring before he visited for entry.

I added, “He was delighted with your feedback forms, so I think we will be welcomed with open arms if we want to eat there again.”

Sharl giggled delightfully. “I would love to go back and do a repeat, if you can afford their prices, darling!”

“I have already been invited back, Sharl, so it is not a problem. Anything like this is a pleasure of mine to make my wives happy with their lives.”

“Fine. I’ll give our house number to him.”

I told her, “He’s Donald Craigmile, by the way – so you will know him by name. He can phone you before arriving on your doorstep.”

“Thanks. Any date or time in mind?”

“Nothing specific, but soon, so that he can make a judgement about viability.”

Sharl continued, “If he sets up business on this air base, he’ll be handy for us going out for a meal.”

“No doubt. Even if he decides to go for an outlet here, it will take some time to implement. It will be a couple of weeks before the Group moves here permanently, and it will take him several weeks to get his place here set up and in operation. I am assuming he will want to first make a go of the venue in town before expanding to the air base. Damn! We need to adopt a name for this estate, other than air base, as it isn’t an air base any more.”

“Oh? No-one has suggested a name yet? Perhaps something related to Copies or to the Yeats surname?”

“I can’t think of anything apposite, Sharl. Toss it around among the girls and see what you can come up with.”

“Hangartown? Flying Circle, like a ranch name?”

“Worth thinking about, at least.”

“Yeats Estate, then?”

“That is more like it, but don’t stop the suggestions coming, my dear. We need to offer the Chairman a range of names to choose from, so nothing too outlandish.”

“We’ll have a list for you to look at over dinner, Jimmy. Hopefully nothing that will make you choke on your food. Talking of which, we are still digesting the big meal we had at lunchtime, so we are planning on omelettes for dinner tonight; smallish portions. Okay with you?”

“Yep. I ate well also, so I concur with you ladies. Elizabeth and Isabella are not upset at being recognised by their driver, I hope.”

“No, they seemed to take it in their stride. Being with us gives them a buffer against any shocks like that. Getting a wise decision by the cab firm also helps, of course.”

The rest of the afternoon drifted along without adverse occurrences, so myself and Marjory arrived home at our expected time. Someone had been watching from a window, for the door opened as we approached and we were welcomed by a naked Isabella.

“Hi, Isabella,” I greeted her. “Nice to see you looking so nice!”

She blushed, and admitted, “I was told to be the greeter at the door, but we had Lily on scout duty to be sure it was only yourselves arriving; no strangers.”

“And the reason for you being unclothed this time?”

“My choice, to indicate my inclusion with the other women in the welcoming sequence.”

“Too formal, but accurate,” commented Marjory succintly. “If you two don’t mind, I’ll dash to get my shower.”

She pushed past, patting my rear end cheerily as she passed me.

I was left with Isabella still blushing all over with her nudity. “You like, Jimmy?” she asked for confirmation.

“I like,” I agreed. “You seem more comfortable with life now.”

“Today helped, being out at a meal together. I felt more part of the team today, and I was able to see Mom as one of your wives as we ate. She fits in too bloody well, if you ask me.”