Chapter 6

Then what use was it going to be to me? Was I to be reduced to stealing from the past to sell in the future, to make money? It would be more ethical to start a business and run it profitably to make money. What did I intend to do with my life, and also why?

I had not really examined my future life prospects with any definite goal to it. I had been more concerned with getting good results in my exams so that I could go to university and get a useful degree. Mind you, the basis of a university is to learn important things; get a good education.

Looking over that thought, I rendered it down to its basics. Getting a good education is intended to help you start a good career, or become a recognised expert in a specialist subject, like Paul Dirac did in his single-minded approach to quantum physics and its mathematical theory in the 1920s: a weird guy, but still a genius. My mathematics teacher was a fan of his work.

What do you end up with in any single-minded pursuit in society? Is it all either a quest for financial success, or academic recognition, or in the case of religion or politics some high position of authority? What was to be my own aim in life? Where did I want to be by retirement age? Alone or with a wife and children? At my age I was not looking for a wife, just a girlfriend, and not doing too well at that either.

This worry about my future was an unusual idea to explore at the age of seventeen, but at some point in life you have to decide what you want from your life, and how you are going to go about it. This time machine had spurred me to start thinking along these lines rather earlier than usual.

But I didn’t want to be pushed towards an unknown girl by someone with an ulterior motive. The choice had to be my own. If I ever got involved with that Alexandra, it would be on a business footing, I was sure.

I returned to the gold question. If the selling price for the house in Gourock was roughly the amount of gold hidden in the machine’s innards, the user must have planned that well ahead. If one assumed that the back portion of the residence was an actual house, perhaps he intended to move there at some point, under a new name, with the selling restrictions ensuring that only he would fit the requirements. Then how would he live? He would need an income to be able to live comfortably at this coastal resort. Was there more hidden in the laboratory than I had found? His nest egg for when he decided to vanish from the sight of his criminal masters? That had a some logic to it, so it might be worth further exploration of the laboratory or the store rooms.

That was for another day, for my timing for the day had me establishing some intentions at Gourock that would leave my mother from questioning me any more. Time to go for a walk on the coast road and see what came to mind.

I walked out of the estate agent’s place, not paying particular attention, and bumped into a girl who was about to walk in. She was of similar height to me.

“Oops! Sorry!” I exclaimed as I grabbed her to steady her and stop her from falling over. “Didn’t look where I was going.”

She found her feet and tried to thank me for catching her, but I pointed out, “It was my fault for crashing into you, and I apologise.”

I took my first real look at her face, and she was a stunner; a lovely, intelligent, face framed by neatly brushed blonde hair falling to her shoulders. I was amazed.

“Wow,” I went on. “You ... you are beautiful!”

Then I blushed at blurting out this accolade, but she patted my cheek and said, “Thank you. Not many people are so nice.”

“You deserve it; that’s all. Sorry, I should introduce myself. My name’s Robert, or Bob if you like.”

She smiled cheekily and said, “You want me to bob if I like? I can do that,” and she neatly curtsied, her hands holding her skirt out to the sides.

I blurted again, “No, Bob is my familiar name; that’s what I meant ... oh, you knew that, and were making a joke? Clever girl.”

She steadied herself and became more serious.

“And you can call me Sandy ... if you like!”

“Thank you, Sandy. We must stop meeting like this,” I finished with a smile, my own demeanour now restored.

Sandy stopped moving, to take a closer view of me, noticing that I was a mere stripling, even if her height. She remarked, “Not bad-looking for a young man, good looking as well as intelligent: a useful combination. Going to University yet?”
“Not yet. I am in my last year at school. Don’t know what I should do next.”

As the conversation steadied, the door opened behind me and a familiar voice called out, “Sandy? What are you doing here? I see you have met our client.”

“Client?” Sandy took another glance at me. “You hiding something from me, Bob?”

The woman from inside chided her, “Now don’t go bothering him, Sandy. He is an important man, hoping to buy a house through us.”

Sandy again ran her eyes up and down me, trying to see what she had presumably missed before, and made up her mind.

“Important? Nope, he is a teenager about to leave school; that’s what I see. Why would he want to buy a house, anyway? Parents wanting rid of you, Bob?”

The estate agent woman was offended.

“Sandy, that is no way to speak to a client! He has just become heir to his grandfather and wants a house of his own.” Then she halted and spoke to me, “I am sorry; I shouldn’t have revealed that, sir. Forgive me speaking out of turn, and forgive my sister for being such a nuisance.”

“Your sister? You mean, this is Alexandra? But ... Sandy ... of course, short for Alexandra!”

“Yes, and she shouldn’t be here anyway. What is going on, Sandy?”

“I got a phone call from the University early this morning to say that two of the professors are off with flu, and they are postponing several classes, so I have a day off today. I expected a better welcome than this.”

I jumped in, “All my fault entirely, Sandy. Your sister thinks we might get along, she said – once she heard I had some finances!”

“Georgina? You didn’t try to fob me off on him?”

Georgina replied, “Not exactly. He might need business advice, so I told him that was what you were studying, but he says he has inherited his grandfather’s business adviser, so didn’t need you.”

I corrected this statement.

“Not exactly, madam; can I call you Georgina?”

“I suppose so, as you and Sandy have met.”

“Well, I was saying that my grandfather had his own adviser on business matter, and I thought, repeat thought, I might be expected to continue with him. I have not decided what I will do on business matters. Perhaps Sandy and myself could have a chat about it over a coffee? I can manage that with the meagre finances I have at the moment. I have yet to get access to my grandfather’s money.”

Sandy laughed and nodded.

“We can go Dutch for the coffee, Bob. I have a small bursary to work from.”

I offered an arm, and Sandy took my elbow, quite ladylike, and we walked along to the nearby cafe.

We entered, and there were plenty of empty tables, but before I could offer, Sandy told me, “Let me order the coffees, Bob. I am known here. How do you take yours?”

“As it comes. I don’t have special preferences in my hot drinks; just milk, no sugar, is all I ask. The brand can be whatever you fancy.”

“Right. Go get us a table by the window, so we can admire the scenery if we get lost for something to say.”

I was grateful for the suggestion, as I was no great conversationalist with girls; especially with beautiful ones.

Over the coffee, she quizzed me on my business needs, and I had to come up with something fast.

“I am not at that stage yet. I have been informed that I am the sole heir of my grandfather, but I have no idea what this amounts to, just that it is a lot of money; or perhaps a lot of assets. He was owner of several businesses, but my parents were never told in detail what he was doing, as my father and he were not on speaking terms for many years. I have no idea what caused this fault line between them. I suspect my father thought I was too young to appreciate the ins and outs of their dispute.”

“Oh, that is sad,” Sandy commiserated. “So you can’t do anything about taking on his business assets until it goes through the lawyers?”

“That’s about it,” I agreed.

“Pity. I can’t advise you about matters that you don’t know anything about!”
“Don’t worry about that,” I told her. “Your presence is more interesting than your advice for now, if that doesn’t sound too forward.”

I was slightly worried that she might take offence, but she just laughed, and said, “Presence is certainly more interesting than absence, but I believe you mean it as a compliment, and it is very welcome to be seen that way.”

I blushed again, and she remarked, “I love it when you blush. So many men seem to think that blushing is not manly, but that is wrong. I love it when you blush like that.”

Then she seemed to retreat from her forwardness. “Please do not take it as me being pushy, or that I am interested in your money – when you get it. I like that you are not coming on to me like some of the other students at university. You have a naturalness that makes you more ... attractive, if that is the correct word; perhaps interesting is better.”

I tried to change the subject.

“Tell me about your studies, and what your intentions are for the future.”

“Pretty boring, actually. Business & Management, with Economics as a linked degree. It is not all studying, for the university has many clubs and societies you can join and participate in. I could have got a flat in Glasgow, but I prefer commuting by train, as I can sit and get engrossed in one of my books during the journey, certain that I will not be disturbed. I also like to be able to look out at the river every so often and enjoy the view.”
“I can appreciate that,” I told her. “I am appreciating the view here.” I was careful to be looking out the window as I spoke, but I was really talking about viewing her next to me. This was the first time I had really taken a romantic-type interest in a girl. Most of the females at school were just fellow students to me.

Sandy took it as what I was seeing outside.

“Yes, I have always like the Clyde estuary, once you get away from all the shipbuilding and industrial areas. Even places like Largs are attractive. I always like to go to the cafe on the front – Nardini’s, and have some of their ice cream. That shop seems to have been there forever.”

“Yes, it does. I have been down to Largs a couple of times and went in there, just to be able to say I had been. My parents couldn’t afford more than the basics, but that was fine by me.”

“Your mother wasn’t bothered that your grandfather wasn’t giving his son some of his cash?”

“I didn’t know about it, and possibly my mother didn’t know either. The dispute went back a long way. It was quite a surprise when I heard about the will.”

I was getting into my fabricated story about my rich grandfather. In reality, my grandfather on my father’s side had died around the time I was born, so I never met him. On my mother’s side, she had loads of siblings, so what assets her father had would have been spread widely around the family when he passed on. No-one would have got much.

Talking about assets, I would have to search the other panelled equipment in the laboratory, to see if there was any more gold stashed away. I was beginning to see the late inventor as a man preparing to eventually disappear so that he could survive. He probably had a hint in his mind that once the arch-criminal had his hands on the space/time machine, he would become an embarrassment that had to be got rid of. He therefore planned to make his escape first; but his bad health scuppered that plan. I was sure that was what happened, and so my assumption was that he must have prepared a nest-egg for his future, but in his past, using the house in Gourock as his base.

Sandy became thoughtful for a while.

“So you are used to not having much money?”

“You could say that, but I never thought I was deprived; neither did my young brother. We both ended our primary school years as dux boy, so not bad for a possibly deprived background!”

“True enough. I did well at school, and got enough Highers to be accepted at Glasgow University. I suspect from speaking to you that you will do well enough also. Any plans in that line?”

“I had in my mind possibly doing a BSc in chemistry, but it is still a notion, on the assumption of becoming an industrial chemist, as they are fairly well paid. If I am no longer short of the readies, then getting a degree may not be a priority anymore. I may concentrate on family life, marry, have a few kids, that sort of thing.”

“I see. I eventually want to have a few youngsters of my own, but after I have graduated and have a paying career to support that life. You haven’t asked me what age I am.”

“That would be a dangerous route to take with a woman. I might guess her to be older or younger than she is, and end up with egg on my face!”

“I don’t mind admitting that I have just turned nineteen, so I am a wee bit older than you. Does that bother you?”

“Not at all. If you are at university you must be about that age, though you appear younger than that, I must say. Do I look like a schoolboy?”

“You don’t actually. Some of the male students at the university don’t look any older than you, though looks don’t tell you everything. My own father was a few months younger than my mother when they married, and he joked that he was her ‘toy boy’. He seems to have invented this term, as I have never heard of it.”
“What does he do for a living?”

“He is a lawyer; nothing fancy, but gets along with all the usual legal requirements of life: wills, property transactions, business contracts, representing clients in court cases, and providing legal advice in disputes, etc.”

“You didn’t think of going into the law yourself?”

“Sounded too boring to me, but certainly it is well paid. No, my interest in mathematics and finance persuaded me that a business degree, with economics on the side, was the way to go.”

“Interesting. What do you think of gold as an investment?” I wanted her advice on gold, and she was happy to impart her view.

“Mostly satisfactory, especially in troublesome times, but occasionally gold can drop in value. The general trend since we came off the gold standard, has been upward.”

“Oh, yes. What is or was the gold standard?”

“It was a time when the pound’s value was related to the amount of gold held by the government. It began in 1821. Prior to that, the international standard was silver.

For many years the inflow of gold continued, to the benefit of the UK, but when we hit a balance of payments crisis, some of that gold had to be sold to cover the deficit, and at last the government finally had to come off the gold standard, and let the pound find its own value. Since then, the pound has mostly depreciated, and gold appreciated, which is why gold is the asset of choice when there is any perceived instability in the markets; the stock markets that is. The gold standard meant that the government had a fixed price for gold so that did not change much.”

“So what made then decide to leave the gold standard?”

“First and mostly, it was World War One that did for it, as the cost of the war meant that the government could not pay for all the munitions and the troops without reference to the amount of gold held, so they came off the gold standard as a short term solution. The government went back to the gold standard in 1925, but gave it up in 1931 because of the Great Depression and slowly all the other great nations did the same. The reference standard now is the US dollar.”

I sighed. “I wish my teachers had been so succinct when it came to politics and economics in history classes. Everything is intertwined, but they made it seem all about battles and agreements between nations.”

“An awful lot of history is ignored in school, to make it easier for the pupils. The first world war was the first time many women got meaningful jobs in factories. Prior to that, most women could only take menial work; domestic service and repetitive tasks such as sewing garments or tending machines. The lack of men, who were needed to fight the war, forced the government and employers to recruit women to do tasks that only men were permitted to do before then. The same thing happened in the United States in the second world war. Women became welders building ships, for example. It was an eye-opener for us women on both sides of the Atlantic, I can tell you.”