in the beginning

It was a day like most winter days. The skies were gray and a cold wind blew across Main Street. There had been no snow yet that year but still the stores along the street were decorated with Christmas symbols and lights. Main Street was a boutique area where wealthy shoppers came to find that special holiday gift. Kris had lived in town for the past ten years and had seen the area change from a run down collection of mom and pop shops to a site of urban upscale gentrification. This change took place thanks to the City's development law that gave tax breaks to new businesses reclaiming the area which had formerly been lost to urban blight. 

"I need money," Kris said to Kevin, his closest friend, as they sat over a beer in the last neighborhood bar on Main   Street. 

"If I could just get five thousand dollars together I could start my own business while the City's tax breaks are still there. I heard they're going to repeal them after the first of the year. How do you make money, Kevin?"

"Buy low, sell high," answered Kevin morosely.

"But I gotta get five thousand dollars. You know that store where the five and ten used to be? It's for rent since Charlie and Thelma retired last summer. If I had five thousand dollars I could rent the place and open my own store. I could really do it. I have a business plan all made out. Do you know any rich people, Kev?"

"No, sorry I don't. Why don't you get just try to get a better job at the factory? I hear they're looking for new managers,” Kevin said.

"I don't want to work for them anymore. Besides even a manager's pay would help me with the rent. You know my jerk off landlord raised it again. I moved in here when the place was a dump and paid him for ten years. Now he thinks he can raise my rent every two months just because the property values have gone up. It's crazy. Crazy, I tell you."

"Have another drink, Kris and forget about it. There's nothing a little guy can do against the rich and powerful."

By that time Kris was on his fourth boilermaker. Drinking more would really make him falling down drunk.

"I think I'll just go home, Kev," Kris said.

"OK have it your way. But stop thinking about all those ideas of starting your own store. It's not healthy."

"OK."

It was a snowless winter night and the temperature was in the twenties. The wind blew gusts along Main Street as Kris walked back to his loft apartment. The cold air against his eyes made them tear and he saw circles of a prism around the streetlights as he looked up at them. Then he heard it. There was a crash of glass breaking. He saw a man dressed in a black leather jacket reaching through the plate glass window of Adam's Jewelry Store. The alarm was ringing.

"Hey!" yelled Kris. "What're you doing?"

The man looked up, saw Kris, and backed away from the broken window. Then he turned, ran down Main Street and turned the corner. Kris heard the police sirens in the distance as he walked up to Adam's broken window. The thief had taken handfuls of necklaces, earrings, and pins. But on the crushed velvet of the window display laid a Cartier watch the thief had missed. Kris looked at the watch through drunken eyes. He saw the diamonds set at each hour point on the watch. The watch's price tag was lying next to it. It said, "$5,000". Then in either a moment of inspired weakness Kris reached in the window and picked up the watch. He deliberately put it in his pocket and walked back home.

The next day Kris read in the morning paper that the thief who had smashed in the window of Adam's Jewelry Store had been caught by the police. Apparently he had been a man down on his luck. His welfare payments had been cut off by the government and he had no way to pay for room and board for himself and his children. 

"Poor bastard," Kris muttered as he read the article about the break in and capture. Kris put down the paper and walked over to his couch where he had dropped his coat the night before. He reached into the right hand pocket and pulled out the Cartier watch, looked at it, and then wrapped it in aluminum foil and placed it in his freezer.

Kris kept working at the factory, paying his increased rent and drinking with Kevin. 

"I'm glad to see you've stopped talking about money all the time," Kevin said as they were drinking one night.

"Yeah, I think I might have some investors lined up for my store. I may not need money anymore, Kev."

Six months later Kevin placed a small classified ad to sell a Cartier watch with diamonds marking the hour in a newspaper in the city. A man responded to the ad and a deal was struck. The man paid Kris five thousand dollars for the Cartier watch which was brand new.

Kris waited another six months and kept the five thousand dollars in cash wrapped in aluminum foil in his freezer like he had kept the watch. Kris eventually opened his own store on Main Street and became very successful. He stopped drinking with Kevin. A few years later he bought the building he lived in and opened a chain of stores around the city.

Years after that Kris began giving lectures on entrenpreneuring.

"In the beginning" he would start out, "I had to scrape together every nickel to open my first store. Then with good management and smart purchasing I built the chain of stores you all know today." Kris lectured to Lions Clubs, Rotary clubs and the Chamber of Commerce. He also contributed heavily to local charities particularly those which served the poor coming off welfare. One in particular gave him a testimonial dinner at Christmas time for his work.

"Tonight we honor one of our city's leading businessmen for his contribution to this Children's hospital that enabled us to build our neonatal intensive care unit," spoke the Master of Ceremonies. "As a token of our appreciation for his efforts we have a gift for him. "To Kris with all our thanks." The Master of Ceremonies handed Kris a small rectangular box wrapped in Christmas paper. Kris smiled and opened the box. Tears came to his eyes. Inside the box was a Cartier watch with diamonds marking the hour engraved, "To Kris whose honest generosity helped make all this possible."

From the book Memories Lost