Chapter 24

At lunch time, I took the time to call Mr MacMillan to ask for an appointment. When I told him the nature of the business I wished to discus he made an appointment for me on Friday after school. Since it would take us about three quarters of an hour to travel there we fixed it for five thirty.

"I usually finish at five on a Friday," he said, "But for you I will make an exception and I won't charge you overtime rates."

"My, my," I responded, "A lawyer showing kindness and turning down extra money. What is the world coming to?"

"Now, now, Peter," He said with a laugh, "Be kind in return or I might just change my mind. I will see you at five thirty of Friday."

When I arrived late at the lunch table Rebecca asked what had kept me. I told her I had taken the time to phone my lawyer and gave her and the rest of the gang a resume of the call. They all laughed when it told them of my response to him saying that he would not charge me overtime rates. Charlie who was thinking of Law or Accountancy among his career options said that if I had responded to him like that, not only would he have charged me overtime, it would have been double time, and once again the gang laughed.

Before Classes started for the afternoon, Rebecca and I found a quiet corner of the school grounds and I informed Isa of the arrangements for Friday just in case she had something on, though that was less likely now that she was a full time mum. She told me that Margaret was visiting that afternoon but she would be leaving before it was time for her to come with me to meet Mr. MacMillan. She said she would feed the baby before she went and either take her with her or leave her with Joe and Katy.

When we met with Mr MacMillan the baby was left at home. When we had settled down in the chairs that he had set out for us, he told us that he was a little disappointed that Sinead was not with us. He had hoped to see how she was developing. Once we got down to business, Isa told him about the new company we were seeking to start and the reasons for it. She made it clear that my participation was not really necessary but that I had wanted to be involved.

After a few brief but pertinent questions, Mr. MacMillan told us that he felt this would bring about a reasonable return for any money I put in, especially if we had a mind to enlarge the company from its present modest base. Since she and Joe were of the same mind and they had arrived at a figure for the three way partnership, then he would release the money for the amount of my shares.

By the time we returned it was almost seven pm and Sinead was getting a bit fractious as she was nearing the time for her next feed. I think Joe and Katy were relieved to see us though they had enjoined their time alone with our new girl. Once she was fed and put to bed, we had a late dinner and I was able to bring Joe up to speed with Mr MacMillan's decision and his assessment of the situation.

"So he was quite pleased with the idea?" Joe asked. "And he thinks that we should go on and expand the business."

"That seemed to be his view of things," Isa confirmed, "And what's more I tend to agree with him. Since Margaret doesn't work and I will have time on my hands even though I am looking after a baby, we could well give Moira a hand

Without stepping on her toes; particularly if we are the ones who go out and canvas for new business. It would give us both an additional interest."

"I would have no objection to that, either," Joe affirmed. "There are a lot of small businesses who have ad hoc arrangements for the cleaning of their offices and as we already have contacts with them we could perhaps incorporate them into our scheme. We'll see how things go."

Katy and I listened to these exchanges with interest. Later when we were alone in our sitting room upstairs, I suggested that there might be a prospect of some summer work for us and perhaps some of the swimming gang if our company took off. A lot of the cleaning jobs meant an early start and also early evening work. If we did one or other or even a bit of both, it might cut down on our sleep but it would leave us free for most of the day. Katy thought that this would be a good way of earning some extra money for ourselves, but we would have to wait and see how things turned out.

As October turned into November we had another swimming competition and this time we did a lot better. I won both my races as did Katy and the other members of the team also swam well giving us an emphatic victory. As usual our parents were there and afterwards Bill Maclean suggested we should all get together and have a Ceilidh for Saint Andrews day. We could sell tickets and if we provided the food and paid for the hall the money raised could be given to Sport's Relief.

When we put this to the other parents and they thought it was a great idea as it was something in which the adults and children could all take part. It was left to Margaret and Isa to do the organising and find a hall that would be suitable for the occasion. They decided that as far as the buffet was concerned they would just bring in a small group of women who did this in their spare time and did it well. They argued it would nearly be as cheap as doing it ourselves and save a lot of hassle.

When we got back to school the news of the swimming team parents holding a ceilidh leaked out and other parents and teachers seemed to think it was a good idea and the demand for tickets began to grow. The headmaster got involved and offered the school hall. It also turned out that members of the school band had a little group that specialised in playing Scottish music and they offered to provide the music.

As other parents became involved they said they would help to layout and organise the serving of the food. What had started as a small enterprise snowballed into a school function which looked as if it might raise a considerable sum of money despite the short notice. On the evening of the Ceilidh over one hundred people turned up paying five pounds per ticket.

In the interval a bottle of malt whisky was placed in the middle of the floor and a Line was drawn across the room about twenty feet away and people were asked to slide pound coins at it, the object being the one that finished nearest would win the bottle. As the nearest coin was surpassed the rest were lifted and added to the donation for charity. The bottle of malt was worth about twenty three pounds, but there were over two hundred and fifty attempts to win the bottle before one coin lodged itself against and could not be dislodged.

This meant that this event alone raised the sum of two hundred and sixty five pounds. A raffle with prizes donated by the guest was also held and raised another two hundred pounds. By the end of the night our idea off a small ceilidh provided real fellowship and entertainment and a lot of sweaty dancers. It also raised over a thousand pounds for charity and this was duly noted in the local press.

I had gone in my Kilt and a Braveheart shirt while Katy wore a long tartan Skirt with a white blouse. She also had a tartan scarf draped over her shoulder like a plaid and we certainly looked the part of a highlander and his lady. In my other life, I had Celtic connections but this was due to the fact that one set of my grandparents had hailed from Wales and the others from Cornwall. However, I had never attended a Scottish Ceilidh before and was amazed at the variety of' really energetic dances we had to take part in from an eightsome reel, the gay Gordon's, the dashing white sergeant and strip the willow.

It was just as well I had a sixteen year old body or I don't think I would have lasted the night as Katy wanted to dance every dance. Even when she was dancing with someone else there was no rest for me as either Margaret, Moira or Isa claimed me for a dance. On two occasions I danced with the two of them at the same time as this was what was required in those particular dances. Nevertheless, like everyone else, I enjoyed myself but was glad to rest with Katy in the back of our car as we were driven home by Isa, who still did not touch alcohol because she was breast feeding her baby.

Toward the end of November the school brought in people to head up a day conference for the fourth fifth and sixth years on the future of our planet. If I was to sum up the themes I think they would have come under three headings;

Population, Pollution and Production.

They pointed out the problems of the exponential growth of the world's population which would double in ever shortening time unless it was somehow checked. Then there was the pollution which was produced and may well continue to be produced as emerging nations industrialised. Lastly they spoke about the dangers this contained for our world because of the way we were affecting our climate by all of this. The speakers at the conference were all convinced that we were living with a ticking time bomb and that this could have a catastrophic effect on our world within our life time.

The last time around as I remember it, the years of my teenage seemed to take forever to pass. Now as Peter and reliving this teenage time they seemed to be moving much more swiftly and I suddenly realised I was about to celebrate my second Christmas in this new body. Another difference was the fact that in this new body if everything went right, I would probably live twenty years longer than I would have done if I had not died when I did. This somehow made me much more aware of the environmental problems my world would be facing in that extra time which had been allotted to me.