£10,000.’
The tissue paper was going round the bag; the assistant smoothing and folding with as much care as if she was lovingly wrapping a beautiful gift.
‘Ed, do we need that money right now?’ Annie asked next.
‘Well … yeah, we always need the money to keep everything going. Keep the show on the road.’
‘But do we need it right now? This month? Or could it wait just for a month or two?’
‘Depends.’
‘Depends on what?’
‘Depends on what you’re going to do with it.’
‘I’m going to lend it to Elena.’
Silence.
So Annie jumped in with all the reasons why she should make Elena’s business the loan. The order books, the temporary cash-flow situation, the virtual promise of getting the money back quickly – with interest.
Finally Ed said cautiously: ‘Well … it’s your money. If you want to stake it, you can do that. But please, Annie, be aware that you are staking it. You might not get it back.’
‘Svetlana spends that amount of money in a day. She could get it back to me with a click of her fingernails,’ Annie reasoned, ignoring the whole ‘no liquid cash’ and ‘tax’ situation.
‘Maybe you want to take out a contract with Elena, have something in writing?’ Ed suggested.
Annie handed her credit card over to the assistant.
For a little second, she felt an unusual hesitation. If Elena’s business was such a good bet, shouldn’t she try and put some more money into it? Instead of blowing her cash on another bag?
Just a little corner of the green leather poked out from between the sheets of paper.
No. An executive, an investor in an amazing new fashion label, should definitely carry a wonderful new power bag just like this one.
‘Where is it made?’ Lana asked, as they perched at a sidewalk café table, sipping at a celebratory coffee.
‘What? The bag?’
‘Yeah, it’s not actually English, is it? It’s not really made in England.’
‘No. I think a lot of their things are made in Turkey and finished in England.’
Annie’s phone bleeped and she saw she had two messages. One from Owen, the other from Connor.
Mum, can you add the new Twilight film to my list.
It’s just come out on DVD over there. Thanks.
Luv ya. O
Annie replied:
OK missing you. Police or fire dept. T-shirt? Mum xx
Then she opened the message from Connor:
Think I’ve found Gawain. He’s in NYC like you.
She quickly typed back:
Forget it, me not hunting at gay gyms for yr Gawain.
‘Is anything still made in England? Or in the US?’ Lana wondered.
‘I don’t know … it would be interesting to find out. We could do a special programme about …’ Annie tailed off, remembering with a jolt that there might not be any more programmes at all. ‘I need to phone Tamsin – see what’s happening,’ she said, mainly to herself.
‘Weren’t loads of clothes all made in the US once?’ Lana asked. ‘Wasn’t it a huge producer of cotton and cotton clothes, cotton T-shirts, denim? But now, pretty much everything is made in Asia, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah. Did you know that cotton jersey, the stretchy stuff, was invented in Jersey? You know, the island off England. And apparently Coco Chanel’s lover wore jersey polo shirts – probably to play polo in – and she loved the stuff so much she ordered bales and bales of it from England to make dresses … and during the first world war, she used cheap grey military fabric she bought in from Spain to make these amazing creations for Parisian ladies.’
Annie and Lana’s eyes met. There was a spark of inspiration there. They both caught it at the same time.
‘Cotton jersey,’ Lana repeated, growing enthusiasm in her voice.
‘Made in the US!’ Annie added, her eyes lighting up.
‘Elena needs to get in some really basic material,’ Lana said, thinking out loud.
‘Yeah,’ Annie agreed immediately. ‘And forget about the cheap Chinese factories. That could be her unique selling point – she could have dresses made in the
The tissue paper was going round the bag; the assistant smoothing and folding with as much care as if she was lovingly wrapping a beautiful gift.
‘Ed, do we need that money right now?’ Annie asked next.
‘Well … yeah, we always need the money to keep everything going. Keep the show on the road.’
‘But do we need it right now? This month? Or could it wait just for a month or two?’
‘Depends.’
‘Depends on what?’
‘Depends on what you’re going to do with it.’
‘I’m going to lend it to Elena.’
Silence.
So Annie jumped in with all the reasons why she should make Elena’s business the loan. The order books, the temporary cash-flow situation, the virtual promise of getting the money back quickly – with interest.
Finally Ed said cautiously: ‘Well … it’s your money. If you want to stake it, you can do that. But please, Annie, be aware that you are staking it. You might not get it back.’
‘Svetlana spends that amount of money in a day. She could get it back to me with a click of her fingernails,’ Annie reasoned, ignoring the whole ‘no liquid cash’ and ‘tax’ situation.
‘Maybe you want to take out a contract with Elena, have something in writing?’ Ed suggested.
Annie handed her credit card over to the assistant.
For a little second, she felt an unusual hesitation. If Elena’s business was such a good bet, shouldn’t she try and put some more money into it? Instead of blowing her cash on another bag?
Just a little corner of the green leather poked out from between the sheets of paper.
No. An executive, an investor in an amazing new fashion label, should definitely carry a wonderful new power bag just like this one.
‘Where is it made?’ Lana asked, as they perched at a sidewalk café table, sipping at a celebratory coffee.
‘What? The bag?’
‘Yeah, it’s not actually English, is it? It’s not really made in England.’
‘No. I think a lot of their things are made in Turkey and finished in England.’
Annie’s phone bleeped and she saw she had two messages. One from Owen, the other from Connor.
Mum, can you add the new Twilight film to my list.
It’s just come out on DVD over there. Thanks.
Luv ya. O
Annie replied:
OK missing you. Police or fire dept. T-shirt? Mum xx
Then she opened the message from Connor:
Think I’ve found Gawain. He’s in NYC like you.
She quickly typed back:
Forget it, me not hunting at gay gyms for yr Gawain.
‘Is anything still made in England? Or in the US?’ Lana wondered.
‘I don’t know … it would be interesting to find out. We could do a special programme about …’ Annie tailed off, remembering with a jolt that there might not be any more programmes at all. ‘I need to phone Tamsin – see what’s happening,’ she said, mainly to herself.
‘Weren’t loads of clothes all made in the US once?’ Lana asked. ‘Wasn’t it a huge producer of cotton and cotton clothes, cotton T-shirts, denim? But now, pretty much everything is made in Asia, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah. Did you know that cotton jersey, the stretchy stuff, was invented in Jersey? You know, the island off England. And apparently Coco Chanel’s lover wore jersey polo shirts – probably to play polo in – and she loved the stuff so much she ordered bales and bales of it from England to make dresses … and during the first world war, she used cheap grey military fabric she bought in from Spain to make these amazing creations for Parisian ladies.’
Annie and Lana’s eyes met. There was a spark of inspiration there. They both caught it at the same time.
‘Cotton jersey,’ Lana repeated, growing enthusiasm in her voice.
‘Made in the US!’ Annie added, her eyes lighting up.
‘Elena needs to get in some really basic material,’ Lana said, thinking out loud.
‘Yeah,’ Annie agreed immediately. ‘And forget about the cheap Chinese factories. That could be her unique selling point – she could have dresses made in the
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