Cat O'Nine Tales and Other Stories - Jeffrey Archer [8]
In their fourth year, Mr. and Mrs. Haskins won the “Area Post Office of the Year” award, and nine months later paid off the final instalment to Britannia.
The board of Britannia invited Chris and Sue to join them for lunch at the Royal Hotel to celebrate the fact that they now owned the post office without a penny of debt to their name.
“We still have to earn back our original investment,” Chris reminded them. “A mere matter of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds.”
“If you keep going at your present rate,” suggested the chairman of Britannia, “it should only take you another five years to achieve and then you could be sitting on a business worth over a million.”
“Does that mean I’m a millionaire?” asked Chris.
“No, it does not,” butted in Sue. “Our current account is showing a credit of a little over ten thousand pounds. You’re a ten thou-sandaire.”
The chairman laughed, and invited the board to raise their glasses to Chris and Sue Haskins.
“My spies tell me, Chris,” added the chairman, “that you are likely to be the next president of our local Rotary.”
“Many a slip,” said Chris as he lowered his glass, “and certainly not before Sue takes her place on the area committee of the Mothers’ Union. Don’t be surprised if she ends up as national chairman,” he added, with considerable pride.
“So what do you plan to do next?” asked the chairman.
“Take a month’s holiday in Portugal,” said Chris without hesitation. “After five years of having to make do with the beach at Cleethorpes and a plate offish and chips, I think we’ve earned it.”
That also would have made a satisfactory conclusion to this tale, had officialdom not stepped in once again; this time with a letter addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Hoskins from the finance director of the Post Office. They found it waiting for them on the mat when they returned from Albufeira.
Post Office Headquarters,
148 Old Street, London EC1V 9HQ
Dear Mr and Mrs. Hoski
The Post Office is in the process of re-evaluating its property portfolio, and to that end, will he making some changes to the status of some of its older establishments.
I therefore have to inform yon that the board has come to the reluctant conclusion that we will no longer require two category A status facilities in the Cleethorpes area. While the new High Street branch will continue as a category A post office, Victoria Crescent will be downgraded to category B. In order that you can make the necessary adjustments, we do not propose to bring in these changes until the New Year.
We look forward to continuing our relationship with you.
Yours sincerely,
FinanceDirector
“Does that mean what I think it means?” said Sue after she had read the letter a second time.
“In simple terms, love,” said Chris, “we can never hope to earn back our original investment of two hundred and fifty thousand, even if we go on working for the rest of our lives.”
“Then we’ll have to put the post office up for sale.”
“But who will want to buy it at that price,” asked Chris, “once they discover that the business no longer has category A status?”
“The man from Britannia assured us that once we’d paid off the debt it would be worth a million.”
“Only while the business has a turnover of five hundred thousand and generates a profit of around eighty thousand a year,” said Chris.
“We should take legal advice.”
Chris reluctantly agreed, although he wasn’t in much doubt what his solicitor’s opinion would be. The law, their advocate dutifully advised them, was not on their side, and therefore he wouldn’t recommend them to sue the Post Office, as he couldn’t guarantee the outcome. “You might well win a moral victory,” he said, “but that won’t assist your bank balance.”
The next decision Chris and Sue made was