When it was all over, the Press were clearly divided along political lines. Some asserted the conference was a great embarrassment to all right-thinking internationalists and a personal humiliation for the Prime Minster; others declared Britain was back, taking up its historic role as a leader on the global stage. Charlie was now so trusting of her fellow club members; she didn’t bat an eyelid at The Beacon’s treatment of her photos from the shenanigans in the Games Room.
One of the advantages of our side-by-side desks in the Media Room, was the uninterrupted view they afforded of the entrance to the avenue, the spot favoured by our Postie for leaving the van. Early one morning in late June, Charlie suddenly jumped up; ‘There’s at least a couple of letters, I hope there’s nothing distracting, I promised to get Kenneth’s gardening supplies this morning.’
Upon her return she thrust an invoice, come receipt, come cheque, into my hand. ‘What’s all this about?’ She enquired.
‘It’s a cheque from The Beacon, for services rendered. Not a bad little earner.’
‘I didn’t know photos were worth so much, I’ll pay it into the bank.’
‘Er, I’d hold fast on that one, for a week or so, if I were you.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, the short answer is your tax status just changed, the longer answer is you may just have taken a jump in your social status and career prospects.’
‘What?’
‘You, are in need of the best financial advice, and I don’t mean Brinkley!’
‘Go on.’
‘The date on this advice. That, if I’m not mistaken, is when you first had a proper sit-down chat with Wooley at the club, ages ago, and he took that snap of you in your fitness kit. This is him, or perhaps his proprietor, paying you for what eventually became the Page Three story. There may be a second cheque, perhaps twice the size, for the Games Room photos. They’ve bounced you, with a paper trail, into the official economy. How much have your tips come to in the last year?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe five grand.’
‘You need to start keeping a cash book, and start paying it all into a bank, start using card payments whenever possible.’
‘But I’m not going to be liable for much more tax, am I?’
‘Who knows, you may slip into a new code or category! Brinkley can do your books, but all this needs to be done, and seen to be done, properly. We need to end your employee status and make you self-employed. It’s time for you to meet the Banker, and this cheque is going to be your letter of introduction.’
‘Oh yes, and who might that be?’
‘Archie Layton, not sure of his job title this week, but he is number two at the National Bank in our great cathedral city, in other words, the new bank, three doors down from the old bank, he handles all business emanating from the latter.’
‘You want me to change banks?’
‘No, Archie will have you, wanting to change banks! He’s about your age. He thinks what the Trust does is just, oh so quaint and terribly amusing, he’ll have you with a portable chip and pin machine in your bag before you can say, “Step this way, sir”.’
In the days that followed, it became my habit, after spending an hour or so on father’s papers, to wander through to the bedroom window and stare down into the garden. One day I found myself squatting - it wasn’t the precise view, but close. The colour, the layout, and with the window slightly ajar, the smell, the distant sound of voices. I decided I’d better go and find myself some human interaction. Coming out of the pantry door, I walked in on the conversation.
‘We have a duty to our ladies and gentlemen Sparkwell... Good afternoon, sir.’
‘Oh, blimey! Not you as well Kenneth? I don’t think I could cope with being dragged down another rabbit hole. Cease and desist. Now, you two, bring me up to speed with the garden. I promised you both there would be action on renovating the shed and the possibility of a couple of cold frames. Where would they go in relation to your revived composing?’
I was given another tour. ‘Have you found the right kind of carpenter then?’ Asked Charlie.
‘Not exactly, I’m thinking of the guy, and his mate, who came to the rescue of the walled garden at Checkley Manor about ten years ago, if they’re still around. I shall have words with Gregson.’
‘Rather you than me, he sees you as the heir apparent, I’m just the hired hand.’
‘Well, you can’t have it both ways at the same time, you can switch roles back and forth with me but it doesn’t work with others unless you, can make them play along. And as I say, I can only take so much of it anyway.’
‘I’ll make the tea.’
‘You’ve upset her now.’
‘Good lord, have I?’
‘You’ve just told her she can’t have it all! She may be all for living in the moment, but she has a romantic view of the future. She’s had it tough in the past, so much so obvious, but you’ve made her feel deserving of it all. She needs to add the art of being the game and gallant loser to her repertoire. They don’t get that, those reformers at Beaconsfield.’
‘I’ll remember that.’
‘She doesn’t play sport; she rescues the injured. And does she know that you are content to be a big fish in small pool?’
‘I know you’d never have got away with this kind of park bench philosophy with my aunt, she’d have shut you down within half a sentence.’
‘Indeed, she was a master at evading the issue, or perhaps just asserting her own priorities. Don’t get me wrong, I’m having more fun than I’ve had in a long time.’
‘We’d better set up the table and chairs.’
‘We can probably leave them out now, I’m told we’re in for a long and glorious summer.’
‘Now whose being romantic about the future!’
When Charlie returned from her first encounter with the Banker, I was anxious to know how it went; ‘Well?’
‘He’s back-dated me to the beginning of the financial year, apparently I’ve so far done freelance work for The Beacon, twice, had a short-term contract with the government, will collect expenses as a Trustee, been continuing with a now ‘annually negotiated’ contract as a consulting Carer for the charitable arm of the Trust, collected fees from clients as a physical therapist - and he wonders, why the club don’t keep me on a retainer for being their chief trouble-shooter!’
‘And you signed-up for whatever accounts best facilitate such activities?’
‘Archie said never use a bank teller again, always see him when paying in, so I get a free update on what’s happening, whilst he can demonstrate to the bank it’s him who’s bringing the business in. That way, he gets to judge if charges are ever appropriate.’
‘Excellent.’
‘Nice to be treated like, somebody.’
‘Quite right.’
‘He gave me a bit of inside gossip too.’
‘Oh yes.’
‘You are aware I take it, sir, of the ongoing saga of posh London estate agents, County Estates.’
‘Well, yes, one of the long-time Brinkley, Bernard conspiracies.’
‘Well, it’s happened, the money has anyway, the old bank will shortly have estate agents on the ground floor, accountants on the first and solicitors on the second. What happens in the attic?’
‘Just a couple of storage rooms. The next time you push a wad of folding money across Archie’s desk you might say, Tony sends his regards and does anyone know what is in the old bank’s safe in the basement? It’s one of the great mysteries, one that alluded father too, apparently.’
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