Read The Fourth Estate for Free Online Page B

the choice, not you.”
    The Czech
shrugged his shoulders, opened the sack and allowed the child to dig deep and
to select fifteen potatoes.
    Lubji did not
close another deal that day, and once the traders began to dismantle their
stalls, he gathered up his possessions, old and new, put them in the cardboard
box, and for the first time began to worry about his mother finding out what he
had been up to.
    He walked slowly
through the market toward the far side of the town, stopping where the road
forked into two narrow paths. One led to the fields where his father would be
tending the cattle, the other into the forest.
    Lubji checked
the road that led back into the town to be certain no one had followed him,
then disappeared into the undergrowth. After a short time he stopped by a tree
that he knew he could not fail to recognize whenever he returned. He dug a hole
near its base with his bare hands and buried the box, and twelve of the potatoes.
    When he was
satisfied there was no sign that anything had been hidden, he walked slowly
back to the road, counting the paces as he went. Two hundred and seven. He
glanced briefly back into the forest and then ran through the town, not
stopping until he reached the front door of the little cottage.
    He waited for a
few moments to catch his breath and then marched in.
    His mother was
already ladling her watered-down turnip soup into bowls, and there might have
been many more questions about why he was so late if he hadn’t quickly produced
the three potatoes. Screeches of delight erupted from his brothers and sisters
when they saw what he had to offer.
    His mother
dropped the ladle in the pot and looked directly at him. “Did you steal them,
Lubji?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips.
    “No, Mother,” he
replied, I did not.” Zelta looked relieved and took the potatoes from him. One
by one she washed them in a bucket that leaked whenever it was more than half
full. Once she had removed all the earth from them, she began to peel them
efficiently with her thumbnails. She then cut each of them into segments,
allowing her husband an extra portion.
    Sergei didn’t
even think of asking his son where he had got the best food they had seen in
days.
    That night, long
before it was dark, Lubji fell asleep exhausted from his first day’s work as a
trader.
    The following
morning he left the house even before his father woke. He ran all the way to
the forest, counted two hundred and seven paces, stopped when he came to the
base of the tree and began digging. Once he had retrieved the cardboard box, he
returned to the town to watch the traders setting up their stalls.
    On this occasion
he perched himself between two stalls at the far end of the market, but by the
time the straggling customers had reached him, most of them had either
completed their deals or had little of interest left to trade. That evening,
Mr. Lekski explained to him the three most important rules of trading:
position, position and position.
    The following
morning Lubji set Lip his box near the entrance to the market. He quickly found
that many more people stopped to consider what he had to offer, several of them
inquiring in different languages about what he would be willing to exchange for
the gold ring. Some even tried it on for size, but despite several offers, he
was unable to close a deal that he considered to his advantage.
    Lubji was trying
to trade twelve potatoes and three buttons for a bucket that didn’t leak when
he became aware of a distinguished gentleman in a long black coat standing to
one side, patiently waiting for him to complete the bargain.
    The moment the
boy looked up and saw who it was, he rose and said, “Good morning, Mr. Lekski,”
and quickly waved away his other customer.
    The old man took
a pace forward, bent down and began picking up the objects on the top of the
box. Lubji couldn’t believe that the jeweler might be interested in his wares.
    Mr. Lekski first
considered the old coin