“I understand you’re a colored boy,” said B. R. Tillman.
I looked at him in silence.
“That right?” he questioned, looking for confirmation.
“I’m a man of color,” I said, quietly correcting him. I was no longer a boy.
B. R. Tillman nodded. “Well, I’ve heard some mighty good things about your woodworking from Mister Sawyer here. Some mighty good things. Now, if this be the kind of work you do, those good words were true, all right.” He walked around the table inspecting it. “Say you made this in just this last week?”
“That’s right.”
“Um-hum,” murmured B. R. Tillman admiringly, and continued his inspection.
Meanwhile, Miz B. R. Tillman had already made up her mind. “Benjamin Roy,” she said, “I want this night table! Best work I’ve seen in a while by anybody around here. I want a chifforobe with the same design. Get them, please!”
B. R. Tillman protested a bit. “Now, Miz Tillman, that’s going to be depending on what Mister Sawyer here is asking for it—”
“He’ll be reasonable,” said Miz Tillman.
“Now, precious—”
“Won’t you, Mister Sawyer?” she asked.
“Well, Miz Tillman,” said Luke Sawyer, “I always try to be.”
“Well, if that’s your attitude,” said B. R. Tillman, “we ought not have a problem. What you asking?”
The haggling over price took more than an hour, and both men seemed to enjoy it immensely. Finally a deal was struck, with B. R. Tillman paying what Luke Sawyer had already told me he would for the table, and a price agreed for the chifforobe if the piece met the Tillmans’ approval. The Tillmans, especially Miz Tillman, went away happy with their purchase. Luke Sawyer locked his store and turned to me. He picked up the money the Tillmans had paid and said, “I suppose now we need to determine how we’re going to split this. I wanted you here because I wanted you to know exactly how much I was getting for this piece of furniture. I mean to treat you fair.”
“I believe that.”
“But you know I’ve got a lot of expenses connected with this woodworking plan of yours. I’ve got the wood to pay for, the tools, and don’t forget the shed you’re working in—and staying in, I might add. So seeing that you’re using my tools and my shed and customers who come through me, as well as the fact that I’m supplying the lumber, I figure that I’m heavy on the expenses end. Now, you talk like an educated young fella. You understand percentages?”
I nodded.
“Good. Well, I figure to pay you twenty-five percent for your labor, and I’ll keep seventy-five percent for my overhead and profit.”
I looked at Luke Sawyer, and had he been a man of color, I would have laughed, and he no doubt would have laughed with me. Instead, I shook my head somberly. “I’m afraid those terms won’t do, Mister Sawyer. I’m a master craftsman and I’ve been at my trade for some years now. Without my experience there’d be no night table worthy of selling to the likes of the Tillmans, or a chifforobe on order, so I figure my investment of time and skills are as important as your investment of your tools and your supplies. Thing is, I figure any piece that’s made, the cost of supplies needs to already be figured. As for my staying in your shed, I appreciate your offer, and it would be convenient for me, but I believe it would be convenient for you too. I’m the kind of man who, once I make a commitment, I stick to it. If I stay in your shed and I say something is going to be done by a certain time, I can work through the night if need be. If you want to charge me rent for the shed, we could do that, or if I need to find a separate living space, I can do that, but I figure fifty percent of any transaction is the least I can take.”
Luke Sawyer studied me in the dim light. “Equal partnership, eh?” he asked, and his wording was not lost on either of us. “What about my customers? Remember, you wouldn’t be getting any orders for furniture if folks didn’t come to me. They trust me, and I’d have to be standing behind your workmanship. That’s a lot on me.”
I nodded. “I appreciate that, and I believe that as long as I make quality pieces, there’ll be satisfied customers who’ll let other folks know about pieces they can order through your store. I think that fifty percent would be profitable for each of us.”
“Um . . .” murmured Luke Sawyer, thinking that over. “Maybe even more profitable for you, if you start taking on customers that come direct to you without bothering to come through me.”