Chapter 24

“I went to the hospital, said what I was there for, quoting the doctor’s name, and that got me in to see her. She looked so pathetic, small, sad and bruised, that my heart went out to her. I chatted to her for a while, telling her I was Mrs Sharlene Hargreaves and that we had a loving home where she might be able to recover among other lovely girls, some of them only a few years older than her. She asked if there would be any men there, so I admitted that my husband lived there, but that he would stay out of sight as much as possible, and promised that the other girls would be there to support her as much as she desired.

I told her we had a small garden if she wanted to be out in the fresh air, but she said she might be seen by men. I explained that we had a big house sitting on its own on a large former air base, so there would be no men nearby or even within sight of the house. I didn’t mention the new warehouses and other businesses on the base, as they are a fair distance away.”

“So you brought her here? Jenny, you say? Does she have a surname?”

“She must have, but won’t give it or she has forgotten. One thing was clear to me. That fear in her eyes was not just through the rape episode. There is something more. For a start, she doesn’t want to be identified for fear of being sent back to where she came from. I have no idea if it was a children’s home, foster home, or a family home where she was abused in some way. We’ll get the story eventually, but I don’t want to consider sending her anywhere. I want her to stay for a while, if she is able to fit in.”

I frowned.

“Sharl, where do I fit in within this scenario? It sounds fairly long-term.”

“I hadn’t thought that far ahead, dear. I was more concerned with Jenny and her immediate survival. I am sure we can somehow find her a place where she won’t meet you directly. If we give her a room upstairs, she can come down each day after you and Marjory have gone to work, and retreat upstairs before you get home.”

“So I never get to see our visitor?”

“Oh, I am sure we can sort something out, where you will be able to see her and she can’t see you. That way you will know what she looks like and you will see how much she needs our help. The poor girl is so skinny; she needs fattening up to normal weight for a girl her age and height.”

I chuckled, “All you girls are fattening up now, but that is with your pregnancies. Jenny just needs lots of feeding, I get that. Can we afford to feed her?” I finished with a laugh, as if another mouth woud make much difference to our massive weekly grocery bill.

Sharl’s eyes widened as she remembered.

“Now that’s funny. The doctor said that he had a fund that he could access to support a recovering rape victim. It is a fund set up by a church as an outreach mission to the community. I think it is the church he goes to, for he seemed to know that the parishioners are well off. He said it will pay for Jenny’s food and keep for at least a year,” she said.

“I can live with that,” I answered. “It encourages me to stay out of the girl’s sight as far as possible, but a year – yeugh!”

“See what you think of the girl in reality before you write her off, darling. If she has no family worth going back to, and I suspect that may be so, she might be a daughter for you.”

Gruffly, I acknowledged, “I will have to wait and see. I don’t fancy dumping her back on the streets if she might face the same difficulties with males. She would be terrified of being alone on the streets.”

“Exactly so, my darling. That is why we must do what we can to encourage her to stay with us. We can be her surrogate parents until she is old enough or fit enough to stand on her own feet. Possibly we can enrol her in a self-defense class for women in the near future. In the meantime, we have split our mealtime routine in half. You will eat with half of us girls, and Jenny will eat with the other half in the kitchen. She will understand what we are doing for her; but that way we can prepare the food for all of us at one time.”

I suggested, “And you can introduce her to household duties, so that she gets training for a future life on her own, in a job, or with a husband.”

“Jimmy, give her a chance to enjoy her childhood; she is thirteen, or only just fourteen I think! We will show her what we do around the house, but she will not be pressured into any tasks. We will wait for her to ask to help. That way, she will be in control of her life, and not in the bad way as she was forced into before now. This time, she will have the opportunity to think about her life and what she wants to do. That means no ordering her around, especially by you, for you are a man. It will take time before she sees you as anything other than a threat, my dear.”

Me, a threat? The very notion astonished me. However, I accepted what I was being told, and agreed that my life would be circumscribed by this sudden addition to our family group. My life up until now had been a pleasurable one, with more and more female diversions making me a grateful husband to my expanding collection of wives. Taking on a shattered young girl as a less than wonderful responsibility would be my penance for enjoying myself so much in recent months.

“Very well, Sharl. For the present and near future, you have the responsibility of organising our family so that we offer Jenny the best possible environment for her recuperation. You will also be our contact with your doctor friend, your gynecologist. It is a man, I gathered. Aren’t most gynecologists women doctors?”

“Yes, dear. In the same way most midwives are women, but a few are actually men. If a man or a woman has a talent in that direction, and is trained for the job, the gender should not matter. Think of how many centuries women had to put up with all-male doctors for all female ailments, Women were not allowed to practise medicine for so long, without any justification other than male prejudice; the spurious concept that women could not do a man’s job. It took two world wars to show that women could be welders, machinists, and other former men-only jobs. Then the men came back from fighting their wars, and demanded that the women be dismissed so that men could return to their men-only employment. The fact that the job market had expanded dramatically through wartime production didn’t seem to get through their thick skulls.

This story is one that you told us about in our luxury cage, remember?”

“Yes, Sharl. You don’t have to remind me of that. I told you that story as part of of my teaching you that women were more than fuck-partners; they were valuable individuals in their own right who could achieve things in society, given the right circumstances. You all learned that lesson well, and much more, to the extent of demanding me as your husband; all three of you.”

I adapted over the next few days. Marjorywas able to be introduced to Jenny, but I remained in the background, to be heard of and discussed but not seen.

I focussed my attention on work instead. There was a lot going on.with the transfer of staff and equipment, plus all the paperwork that any business amasses over the years. Much of it remained as an archive in filing cabinets and cupboards, and as far as possible, the units were moved complete with their contents; paper doesn’t like being exposed to the elements.

There was a problem with the Boardroom, for it had wood-panelled walls as well as the overlarge Boardroom table. The table was dismantled by the movers and taken to the new site without a problem, but the wall panels needed the attention of expert carpenters to dismantle them without damaging the sparkling French-polished wood surfaces. The carpenters wrapped all the pieces in protective bubble film, marking each piece with its position on the wall.

At the new premises, a replacement boardroom was constructed on ground level by the architect with an enhanced entrance hallway to approach the imposing door. The whole structure was built within a steel frame that supported the room and entrance hall. The steel frame was extended fully to the roof, within a new polished wood casing for the steel pillars and an imposing crosspiece at the top with the same wood finish. The crosspiece incorporated a huge Y for Yeats. It all emphasised the importance of the Boardroom as a focal point of the business and a reminder to the whole staff that Chairman Yeats was in charge.

I checked beforehand with Marjory as soon as I saw the architect’s drawings and panicked about the cost to the business and to Marjory, but she heartily approved the design, telling me, “This is an important statement of the board’s central place in the Group’s organisation. The architect saw this fact and made the design reflect that importance in the new building with its very high roof. Tell the Chairman that the Investor likes the plans.”

I told Emerson that, so he dragged me with him to see the Chairtman, where he announced, “Hargreaves says The Investor has viewed the plans for the Boardrom and approves the design and the expenditure.”

Chairman Yeast looked me in the eye, knowing the full facts.

“Is that so, Jimmy?”

“Yes, sir,” I answered. “I liked it too; a clever design, if perhaps expensive. That is why I checked with the Investor. The design was approved at once.”

“Good. Emerson, you can tell the architect that he has full approval for the final Boardroom redesign. Was that all?”

“Yes, sir, except that the transfer to the air base is moving apace; no hazards so far.”

“Ah, yes; the air base. I understand it requires a name now that it is our own industrial estate. I have thought about so many possible names, but I have come down in favour of a general tone of simplicity: Top Flight Industrial Estate. That covers its previous existence, describes the quality we apply to our products, and also has a flavour of being upmarket. Does that meet with the approval of either or both of you?”

I quickly jumped in with, “Great choice, sir! It has everything we asked for.”

Emerson followed on with, “An excellent decision, Chairman.”

“Fine. Mr Hargreaves, can you organise a sign for the main gateway to announce our name, with space for the list of tenants below? I suppose this means replacing all our stationery and advertising logos, and so forth.”

“I’ll get right on to it, sir. If we choose a high quality paper and an attractive font, our computer system with a color printer can produce all the stationery we need. The same applies to our advertising templates: they are all on our computer system now, so these are easy for us to alter our address and add the site name.

The large sign at the front gate is what will take time to get in place. We will need smaller signs for any other entrances, vehicular or pedestrian gates. Do you want the main sign to be enamelled steel, or would you be happy with aluminum or acrylic?”

Chairman Yeats waved a hand generously.

“Get me pictures of how it would look with each of these materials, and I will go with the one that looks best and can guarantee to last 25 years without maintenance other than cleaning. The price is not the major factor, as this is us portraying ourselves to the world, but adding diamond-studding or other furbelows is overkill and is Verboten, Mr Hargreaves!”

“Don’t worry, sir. We’ll find you a good sign that you will be happy to approve.”

Later that day I was able to meet with the architect, Geoff Britton, and got a chance to express my wishes.

“What I envisage, Mr Britton, is a curved arch over the gateway...” then he stopped me.

“Hold it there, Mr Hargreaves. We never start with a possible design. What we do is draw up a specification of what is required, and the design has to suit these parameters.”

“But it is so simple,” I argued.

“Is it? How high does the lowest part of your arch have to be?”

“Well, the height of the vehicles going through.”

“There you are: your first specification: establish the minimum clearance needed for the gateway. Find the tallest vehicle likely ever to pass through, add six inches clearance, and that tells you high up the sign must start. Get it now?”

“Oh, yes, I see what you mean. Go on.”

“Width of the entrance: is it wide enough for two large trucks to pass each other at roadway level. It is no use having a narrower sign overhead if two trucks cannot pass each other safely. An overhead sign usually suggests the width of the road below.”

Ah...” I uttered stupidly and meaninglessly, but he went on.

“If you are unsure about the tallest possible vehicle, then costs shoot up, for if the vehicle height is escessive, such as a mobile crane, you have to be able to swing the sign to one side, like a gate, to avoid it being hit by the vehicle, such as I suggested. A much better solution to that possibility is to have two signs, one on each side of the gate, as that solves the height problem and is a cheaper outcome overall.

I stuttered, “I never believed designing a sign for a main gateway was so complicated.”

“And that is why I am an architect and you are a manager, Mr Hargreaves: we have different jobs that need different skill sets. What I need from you is a description of what you want this sign to do, plus the wording and any logo, and I take it from there.”

“Okay. The sign has to be clearly visible from well back, with the logo and the wording of the name large and obvious. The names of tenants can be smaller, so that the driver should stop and confirm he is at the right industrial estate before driving in. The road entrance is wide enough for two trucks to pass, with care, but it is better if one truck enters or leaves at a time, for the safety of both. The sign, or signs, have to be low maintenance, requiring regular cleaning only. The face of the sign can be stainless steel, aluminum or acrylic, whichever offers the best in viewing terms, will last a minimum of 25 years, and is not excessive in price. I would leave it to you to decide on fixings to the ground, and the height for placing the face of the sign; probably at a height for a truck driver to view easily from his cab.”

Geoff Britton commented, “I might angle the sign slightly face downward, to make it easy to see from a car as well as a truck. At night that would permit headlight reflections to show up the sign but without glare in the driver’s eyes. That may also cut down on dirt collecting on the face of the sign.”

“You are a very practical man, Mr Britton, and I appreciate your talent.”

“As long as you appreciate my bill later, Mr Hargreaves!”

“I am sure it will be nothing more than deserved, Geoff.”

I left him with the GPS coordinates for the main gate, so he could examine the ground where the signs would have to be erected. His design would incorporate fixing details for the contractor’s installation work; depth of the concrete base and so on.

When I checked my computer’s email, there was a message from the Chairman announcing the name of the base was now confirmed as: Top Flight Industrial Estate. It showed as copied to all our business contacts. That meant I had to get the architect started on his work, so I phoned him to let him know the immediacy of the signs.

It also meant that when I arrived at the gate at the end of the day, I had to inform the gate guard of the new name that now applied. I also sent an email to the security company to inform them that the new name of the facility they were guarding was to be used with immediate effect. It turned out they were on the Chairman’s distribution list, so they already knew the name.

They were also very much on the ball, for by the time I got to the gate with Marjory, there was a hand-painted board nailed above the door of his cabin, declaring this to be ‘Top Flight Ind. Est.’.

My words were now redundant, but I took the opportunity to inform him that a pair of signs would most likely soon be coming to adorn both sides of the entrance he was guarding.

“Thanks, Mr Hargreaves. I was told the change of name, and a colleague brought this sign and nailed it above my door so that we were already prepared. I’ll be glad to see more professional signs here. It will enhance my position as well, as it will make our service more prominent to visitors. Can we get our company name added to the signs?”

“It is a bit early to think of that, I’m afraid. Get your company to put a decent company sign at your booth in the meantime. If your company gets the job on a permanent basis, we can see about adding their name to the signs.”

“We are not permanent now?” he asked with a frown.

“No. It was permanent for the Air Force, but at the moment your company is staying on while we conclude negotiations on a new contract. The security is currently at a lesser level than the Air Force demanded.”