Page 26 of Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay
‘I know, Dorothy; I think you’ve done amazingly well to keep it in such good shape on your own.’
Dorothy flushes a little and turns proudly back to her teacups.
‘I’m more than happy to continue working in the office,’ Tiffany says, ‘but I’d quite like to get involved in the practical side of running the castle too, if there was a chance.’
‘We’ll need someone to run the new gift shop,’ I say, latching on to this tiny bit of enthusiasm immediately. ‘I’d like it to offer something for everyone, so it would be quite the challenge to set up. Would that be something you might be interested in, Tiffany?’
‘Ooh, I’d love to!’ Tiffany says, grinning. ‘I’ve wanted to run my own shop since I was little, and I’d have time to do it – as you saw the other day, I don’t always have a full day’s work in that office.’
She glances nervously at Arthur.
‘Tiffany has brought up a good point,’ I say to the others. ‘Like I just said to Dorothy, you’ve all done amazingly well covering all these various jobs on your own up to this point. But now I think we need to specialise a little bit more, so that the jobs we do we can all doreallywell, and that will only reflect positively on the castle. So if there’s something you fancy specialising in, now is the time to shout.’ There’s silence again. ‘Joey?’ I ask, turning to him. ‘What wouldyoulike to do?’
It’s Joey’s turn to glance hesitantly at Arthur.
Arthur gives him a knowing look.
‘I’m quite happy working with King Arthur over there,’ he says, to Arthur’s immense pleasure.
‘But what is youractualjob description?’
‘General dogsbody, I reckon.’ Joey grins.
‘Okay . . . ’ I say, trying to remain patient. ‘But is there any particular part of what you do here you like best?’
‘I quite like doing the gardening. Anything outdoor is always preferable to being inside for me.’
‘Right, head groundsman it is, then,’ I tell him instantly.
‘What? Just like that?’ Joey looks astonished.
‘Just like that. I’ll leave it with you to hire some staff to help you out. I’m guessing you’ll need more seasonal staff during the summer months, but can maybe make do with slightly less help during the winter?’
Joey nods slowly. ‘Yeah, that’s right. But what about Arthur?’ He nods in Arthur’s direction. ‘Won’t I be stepping on his toes?’
‘Nope, not at all. Arthur will still be in overall charge. I’d like to promote you to general manager, if that’s all right, Arthur? Your job will be to overseeallaspects of the castle on a daily basis.’
‘Ooh, Arthur,’ Dorothy says proudly, ‘it’ll be like the old days when you were butler and all the staff looked up to you.’
Arthur shrugs. ‘Don’t be silly, woman. It couldneverbe like that any more; things have changedtoomuch.’
I know he’s partly referring to me, but I choose to pretend I don’t.
‘Arthur’s right, things have changed,’ I insist, seizing the chance. ‘Chesterford Castle must move with the times to have a chance of surviving in the future. But if we can move forward alongside it together as a team, in a spirit of hard work, understanding and above all enjoyment at this new challenge we have ahead, we can not only help the castle to survive, but I know we can make Chesterford Castlethenumber one tourist destination in Northumberland!’
*
‘That was quite a speech you made back there,’ Tom says as everyone exits the kitchen chattering excitedly about their new roles, even Dorothy, aka our new tea room manager. When asked if she knew anyone in the village who might like to run the new tea room, Dorothy had replied adamantly that no food was going to be served in this castle unless she was the person in charge of serving it. So the job was hers, and I’d tasked her with finding some staff to help her out with her new role.
‘Thanks. I don’t know where most of it came from, actually. I’ve never really addressed a room full of people like that before.’
‘You wouldn’t know it. You seemed to say all the right things to keep everyone happy.’
‘Everyone except Arthur.’
‘He’ll come round. If he doesn’t want to be general manager, you can always take him on as a full-time nanny!’
I smile; Charlie had yet again gone off happily with Arthur and Chester – this time to investigate some stonework that’s become loose on one of the castle’s exterior walls.
