Goodmans of Glassford Street Read Online Free

healthy and tasty dishes she could choose from, as well as sandwiches and cakes. She bought vitamins there too, and calcium tablets and an iron tonic and dear knows all what, in her efforts to remain strong and healthy.
    Ian, the owner’s son, served in the shop along with two or three pretty young girls. Ian was a tall, nice-looking young man, and always smiling, friendly and helpful. He was there when she arrived and greeted her with his usual cheery smile and ‘Hello, Mrs Goodman. It’s lentil or tomato soup today, and we’ve your favourite – macaroni cheese, freshly made just before you came in.’
    She ordered the lentil and made herself comfortable at one of the small tables. She never went to the staff canteen at Goodmans in case it made the staff uncomfortable and unable to relax on their lunch break. Douglas and Minna usually went to the restaurant at the Italian Centre. More than once, she’d tried to persuade Minna to have lunch somewhere with her but Minna just became agitated and said that Douglas didn’t like going for lunch on his own. She didn’t know where all the buyers went to eat. Often she felt sorry for their wives. Buyers were away from home, travelling about on business so much. The manager – for a panicky moment she forgot his name. Then it came back to her, thankfully – Mr McKay, used the staff canteen. She was very fortunate to have such a conscientious manager. Most of the staff were good, conscientious workers. Only occasionally was it found that someone was letting the side down. If it was dishonesty, usually another member of staff would give Miss Eden a hint. Then Miss Eden would watch them and eventually catch them, and they would be dismissed. Miss Eden was exceptionally clever at her job. Once she’d even caught a former security guard committing a scam. He always came in very early, carrying a bag in which he kept his uniform. After changing into his uniform upstairs in the staff toilet, he’d put his civvy clothes into the bag and reverse the procedure every evening.
    For a while, suits had been going missing from the menswear department. It was thought that men were going into the fitting room with perhaps three suits to try on and returning two, keeping the third on under their coat and leaving the store. Perhaps they knew how to remove the security tags. This had happened on several occasions. However, Miss Eden eventually discovered that the security guard was selling suits in a pub in Queen’s Park, and so one day she searched his bag and found a suit, as well as his uniform. He had been getting out of the lift at the menswear department every morning and lifting a suit, before proceeding further up to the top floor.
    After enjoying her lunch and a chat with Ian, Abi walked back along Glassford Street to Goodmans. She glanced further along across the road at the gay bar. She’d never actually seen anyone going in or out of there and she was curious. Did gay men look different, she wondered. Could you tell right away? She knew she was a bit innocent and naïve about some things. And all right, she might be a wee bit eccentric sometimes. But that surely didn’t make her stupid or mean she was losing her marbles.
    Oh, Tom, she kept thinking.
    The shop was busy as usual when she pushed open one of the glass doors and went in. There were metal gates in front of the glass doors that Mr McKay folded back on both sides like a concertina every morning. Every evening he clanged them shut and securely locked them. Mr McKay was standing talking to a customer at Books and Stationery, no doubt recommending one of the rows of novels on display. He had to spend a lot of time in his office every day, as she had to in her office, answering the phone and making phone calls, but he still tried to keep in touch with all the departments in person.
    Today she couldn’t be bothered tackling the stairs and instead caught the lift going up. She crushed in among a crowd of customers. The crush