Page 72 - SpontaneousSuccessMatos

twenty-four dozen. At five rand (the South African
currency) apiece, I stand to make more than two
thousand rand. Back then, the average apartment rent
was around a hundred and eighty rand a month. Now all
I had to do was make them.
On December 2nd, I cadged a lift from a friend of my
wife, and delivered the flowers in person. By January
15th, we had our own apartment, our first and last
month's rent paid, and enough furniture to eat and sleep
in peace in a trendy neighborhood.
Beautiful ‘synchrodipity,’ but I never want to go
through that again.
In February, I cut my hair, bought a suit, and talked
my way into a job selling advertising space with the
Cape Times, the city's morning newspaper. On the first
day, the boss called me into his office, took a feature
section out of his filing cabinet, opened it on his desk,
and spun it around so I could take it in.
"Twice a year, we bring out this fashion supplement,
but the advertisers don't like it.” he said. “You’re young,
so I want you to go out there and find out why."
Without thinking, I piped up. "I can tell you why
right now. The pictures are dreadful; I can take better
pictures than that."
"You think so." He looked me right in the eye.
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