Chapter 37: TALIYA'S JEWELRY STORE
God's Little Drop of Water
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A couple of weeks later, Taliya was walking downtown with Abba, running errands, just the two of them. Taliya enjoyed this very much. Abba walked very quickly, and Taliya hurried to keep up. Hertzl Street was very busy and loud with cars and buses and scooters, with a lot of people hurrying upon the sidewalk and venturing in and out of the many local shops. There were many majestic oak trees, and many pigeons. The smell of warm falafel and freshly-baked bread filled the air.
Taliya surveyed the windows of the storefronts as she and Abba passed by. Several times she caught sight of her own reflection. She no longer was required to wear the bandage upon her forehead, and her scar was healing so nicely that it was barely visible.
A wonderful aroma swirled around Taliya, the warm sweet smell of corn. A man on the street had a lovely little cart from which he sold fresh ears of corn.
Taliya stopped and admired the enormous pot from which steam was rising. It was filled with ears of corn.
Abba asked Taliya if she wanted one.
Taliya nodded her head vigorously.
Abba handed the man a bit of money and the man fished an ear from the water, wrapped it in white wax paper, and handed it to Taliya.
Taliya wasted no time. She took a huge bite. The corn was every bit as delicious as she had hoped. She and Abba continued on their way. Taliya hurried along behind Abba, enjoying the corn as she went. Her face was soon covered in yellow bits of corn.
As Taliya walked, she continued to look into the many store windows while she contemplated her business. The kids at school had grown tired of playing Gogo’s and had ceased buying apricot pits. Taliya knew she needed a new business model. She had been searching for one for several weeks now.
That evening, Taliya noticed a catalogue which had come in the mail that afternoon. It was a product catalogue for something called resellers. Taliya had never heard this word before. But after perusing several glossy pages, she quickly surmised that it was full of products which were to be purchased at one price and then re-sold at a higher price, with the reseller earning a handsome profit.
Taliya loved this idea.
Very quickly, she happened upon a product she knew she could sell: jewelry. Virtually all women liked jewelry. The upfront cost would be greater than it was for the apricot pits, but the profit margin would be higher as well.
Taliya took the catalogue to Abba and told him her plan.
The next day, Abba came home early from work and he and Taliya drove to Rishon to meet the woman mentioned in the catalogue from whom they would purchase the jewelry.
She was very nice. She prepared fresh Turkish coffee for herself and for Abba, and hot cocoa for Taliya. The nice woman was most impressed when she discovered that it was not Abba who would be selling the jewelry, but Taliya.
Taliya spent a great deal of time examining the inventory, choosing the necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and broaches she thought looked the most expensive.
The nice woman commended her selection, adding that those were her top sellers, and that if her salesmanship was as good as her eye, she would do very well.
Abba wrote a check to pay for the jewelry and he and Taliya headed home, as Ima was expecting them shortly for dinner.
Taliya assured Abba that she would pay him back his investment plus interest.
Abba laughed.
♦♦♦
At home, Taliya opened each of the brown cardboard boxes and emptied them of the jewelry. She arranged everything very carefully on the floor of her bedroom, and used a notebook to do a complete inventory, noting the names and numbers and quantity of every piece, so that she could keep track of which pieces had sold.
Ima entered and said that dinner was ready. She surveyed Taliya’s inventory.
“Here,” said Taliya. She handed Ima a lovely pair of pearl earrings shaped like little drops of water. “On the house.”
Ima removed the earrings from the package and inspected them. “These are quite lovely. I’ll wear them to school tomorrow. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. When the other teachers ask you where you got them, tell them to come and see me.”
♦♦♦
The next day, Taliya hurried to school. She needed to arrive early and set up her jewelry display in order to show off the pieces properly. Yaroni and Yairi complained during the entire march up the street to Yaron’s preschool, insisting that Taliya slow down.
But she did not slow down.
Once Yaron had entered the preschool, Taliya made Yair walk even faster, and they arrived at school in plenty of time.
Taliya set up her wares upon her desk, laying out the jewelry on a piece of shiny black felt she’d discovered in one of Ima’s craft drawers.
Each time a student entered the classroom, Taliya approached them and bade them come and see what beautiful, priceless jewelry she had for them.
The students were impressed.
Very few of the students had any money, but a few did, and they purchased several pieces as gifts for their mothers or grandmothers.
Taliya had carefully prepared a price sheet, which she then memorized. Each time someone asked how much an item cost, she was able to give them the price right away.
Gal entered the classroom carrying her morning cup of steaming coffee and slowly set about preparing to begin class.
Taliya carefully rolled up the black felt and put it in her backpack.
At lunchtime, Taliya re-opened her jewelry store. She found an ideal location on the playground, one which offered high visibility to all the other children, so that her assortment of jewelry would be seen by as many people as possible.
Very few of the children had enough money to make a purchase, but Taliya said they could place an order and she would reserve the piece for the next day. Sure enough, the next day, sales increased dramatically. Taliya had soon sold nearly her entire inventory, and she assured the other children that she would bring more jewelry tomorrow, which she did.
In only a few days, Taliya had succeeded in selling every piece of jewelry she and Abba had purchased from the nice woman in Rishon. They would need to pay her another visit. And soon.
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