'Or the pubs you go to. What will you say to Andrew?'
'Probably nothing. The loss of part of a day's takings won't ruin the business, why detract from his holiday by worrying him about it?'
For a while we chatted about Andrew's holiday and speculated about how much longer he was likely to be away. We were interrupted by the sound of someone banging on the shop door and the display windows below us. Downstairs through the glass of the door we saw the two thugs, who even if we were hidden by the darkness of the shop would have seen the upstairs light and deduced that someone was in. We opened the door a few inches, each of us keeping a foot planted firmly against it. They glared at us through the gap.
'You know why we're here. This is our third call. Your time's up. The cash, or the address of the man who owes it, now.' They leaned hard against the door; we pushed back, barely able to resist.
'Like I told you this afternoon, the man you're looking for has left. He used to work here, but not any more.'
The taller of the men tried to force his boot into the space between door and doorframe. They were likely to win the struggle eventually because of their greater weight. In a drawer under the counter was a remote control unit for the shop's alarm system, but it was impossible to reach it without giving up our defence of the door. I had my mobile 'phone with me, pulled it from my pocket, and held it up high where they could see it.
'You're making threats and demanding money. Fuck off, or it's the police, now.'
One of them took a step back, then threw all his weight against the door, but we held it firm. 'You fucking queers,' he snarled. They backed off and walked to their car, parked across the road. We watched them drive off, then locked up, turned off the upstairs lights, and from the first floor windows checked again they had gone. The garden centre manager's car was parked at the back, and after double checking all the doors and windows we set the alarm system and he drove me the short distance back to the hotel.
'Will we get out of this alive?' I asked.
'Good job you were there. From my point of view that is, not from yours. During opening hours there's always two or three of us on the premises, so it's not that easy for them to make trouble. Thanks for backing me up tonight. Don't worry about it, it's my problem.'