James Laird - Easy Money at Lark Ellen Home for Boys - Page 2

We were required to go out in pairs. My buddy and best friend Kenny Swartz had left the home a couple months before to live with his mother who had just remarried. The only other kid available did not appeal to me, but left me with no other choice. He was next in line to fix his willows and had only enough for six bundles of six. After school the next afternoon was selling time. It was a long walk, almost three miles to the proven sales area and I was dragging a bit carrying all of my willows. Maybe he was smarter than I gave him credit for. He went down one side of the street and I the other. He sold half of his in the first block.

We changed sides of the street in the next block. I sold my first and only bunch to one of my junior high school teachers and he sold two more of his. In the next block he sold the rest of his when we were only half way down the block. I cut a deal. He could sell mime and we would split the money. He sold a couple on mine in the next block then it was time to head back to the home.

As we passed a nursery along the way he went in and gave his sales pitch and sold the rest of my stock at a discount. That was great with me, as I did not have to carry the rest back home. We became partners. I fixed the willows and carried them and he sold them. It worked great and we made more money that Christmas than anyone else had in years past. He was just not my type and never became a close friend, but he was a great salesman.

Jim Laird