Horse Trading

Friday, October 13, 2006 at 10:43am by Evan Prieskop in Start-Ups

Keep up with Elise and her story of becoming a successful entrepreneur:

Elise has been sewing, dawn to dusk, for a week. If she never sees another dart, pleat, or zipper again, it will be too soon. She is just beginning a mad-scientist-like fusion of two woefully incomplete, yet stylishly colorful sweaters when her father walks into her room.

“Hey, dad.” Elise mutters around a mouthful of pins.

“Good morning, sweetheart. Whatcha doing there?”

“Honestly,” Elise admits with an exhausted slump of her shoulders, “I have no idea. I just thought I would take a pair of scissors and some black threat and let fly.”

“I see. ‘Measure zero times and cut a lot’.”

“Something like that,” she says, pulling the pins from her mouth and dropping them onto a magnet. What’s up?”

“You didn’t go to school last night. I know you have that lit class on Thursday nights.”

“I know, I know. I have just been so busy with all the store stuff.”

“Your sewing,” her father stated with a nod.

“Not just that, I have been pouring over every real estate magazine in town for a good site. I have been desperately scrabbling on the internet for furniture and decorations. That one is killing me. We were figuring no more than three grand furniture, but I can’t even seem to find a descent display rack for less than six hundred dollars. And I need at least ten of those; and that’s before I even deal with shelving, counter space. I still need to do something about a changing room.”

“I know. I know you are working hard on this store thing, sweetheart, but I don’t think you should let your schooling suffer. There are only four weeks left in the quarter. If you want to take a lighter load next quarter, that’s all right, but don�t blow off what you have.”

“Lighter load? Daddy when this store gets off the ground, I am going to be working there more than full time. I am not going to have time for school.”

Elise’s father sighs and leans heavily against the door-frame. “I was afraid you would see it that way.”

Trying to avoid a fight, Elise quickly grabs up her scissors and pins and goes back to mutilating the sweater in front of her.

For a long time, neither speaks, but, unexpectedly, Elise’s father does not retreat.

Finally, he speaks again. “Finish the quarter and I will get you your furniture.”

“What? Lea asks with surprise. She pulls the pins out from between her lips again and looks up at him sharply.

“You know I don’t have any money to invest in your store, not right at the moment, but… Malcolm, you’ve met Malcolm, right? He’s on my bowling team. Anyway, he’s a cabinetmaker. Has his own shop. I was talking to him on Wednesday. He says that if you give him the specs he can work up some display racks and such for you. Brand new, however you want them. Then I will pay him back in payments, friend rate.”

Only a wicked tangle of draped clothing and loose thread kept Elise from launching herself directly into her father’s arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,” she cried as she disengaged herself from her sowing table to give him a hug.

“All right, all right” he said, patting her back. “That’s fine. But you had a 3.5 last quarter and were on track to repeat that this quarter. I want to see those grades stay right where they are. After the end of the quarter, if you still want to take a break from school, that’s OK.”

“Yes daddy, I promise. I promise,” she insisted, hugging him again even more tightly.

He only smiles and continues to hold his daughter.

Next Week: Location, Location, Location

Spread some petals These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.