Free Bia's War by Joanna Larum Page A

first idea on how to go about buying
one. I had never collected rents before either, but I knew that I
didn’t want to have to do that because it would make me especially
vulnerable if I was walking around the town carrying a large amount
of money. There was also the question of what I would do if a
tenant didn’t pay their rent. If someone didn’t pay for their
shopping, I wouldn’t let them take the goods out of my shop, but if
a tenant didn’t pay the rent, I would need a man to deal with
them.”
    “The answer to all those
questions was sitting next to me at my kitchen table and I wasted
no time in letting him know what I was thinking.”
    ‘Why don’t we buy the house in
Cromwell Road together?’ I asked. ‘We could go fifty-fifty with the
cost and you could do the rent-collecting.’
    “I knew as soon as I saw Sammy’s
reaction that this was what he had wanted all along and I had given
him the perfect introduction. I stopped talking and realised what
I’d said. For all I knew, he might not have been the good friend he
had always appeared to be; he could have been working himself into
my good books with the express purpose of fleecing me out of all my
money. I knew that what I was thinking would be written all over my
face because I had never been any good at dissembling, so I turned
away from Sammy because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings when he
had been so good to me. His next words had me spinning back round
to face him immediately.”
    ‘I wouldn’t buy anything with
you as a partner…’ he began.
    “My face flamed and I drew
myself up to my full height, ready to give him one very large piece
of my mind, when he finished the sentence he had begun.”
    ‘…until we had drawn up a proper
legally-binding contract with that tame solicitor of yours, so that
you could be assured that everything would be above board and
legal.’ he finished.
    ‘Sam, I am so sorry. Was it that
obvious what I was thinking?’ I asked him, blushing again that he
knew how distrustful I was of other people.”
    ‘It’s obvious that you’ve been
let down by someone, lass,’ he answered. ‘It’s not my place to
question what’s happened in your life, but if we are going to go
into business together, there’s no harm in making sure that
everything’s above board and watertight, for both our sakes. I
wouldn’t take offence at anyone being sensible about a business
arrangement that’s to protect both parties. And I want you to take
time to consider what we are about to do, so that you don’t feel
that you are being forced into parting with any money.’
    “Sam was right, of course, we
had to ensure that our partnership was legally set-up and that both
of us had a way out of it if we decided that we didn’t want to
continue the business.” Nana continued. “I also needed to view this
house and decide whether or not I thought it was a viable
proposition, so I made an appointment with the agent to go and look
round the house the very next day. I was pleased with what I saw,
in that the house was in good repair and, although it was only
small, it would make a good home for a newly-married couple. Sam
was waiting for me at the shop when I got back after viewing the
house and he was very eager to hear my thoughts on it. I told him
that I still wanted to join him in buying it and so we made an
appointment to go and see Mr Vine and make our partnership
legal.”
    “We set up a joint bank account
and agreed that the rent would be paid into the account weekly, any
repairs that needed doing would be paid for directly from this
account and that Sammy and I would then have a half share of the
money that was left, although, in practise, neither of us wanted to
take money out on a weekly basis. Mr Vine drew up the legal
documents for this and Sammy and I both signed copies of them and
lodged them with Mr Vine. That afternoon, after we had closed the
shop for the day, Annie, Peter and Hannah joined Sammy, Simon and I
and we