The Inspired Carpet

“When making purchases never let the salesperson control the sale. They will use their banter and smarts to have you buy more than you intended. They will sell you things you never even asked for too. Watch out for those swindlers.”

I wrote this story in answer to the following prompts:
Pensitivity’s Three Things Challenge — Chance – Fair – Girl
FOWC with Fandango  — Transcript
Your Daily Word — Tithe
Rag Tag Daily Prompt — Inspired Carpet

The Inspired Carpet

A threadbare, stained and stinking rug means only one thing — It’s time for a new lounge carpet.

Bethan was on that very mission this morning. She entered The Loom, the city’s oldest carpet store. Bethan’s family had always shopped there for carpets. There was more than a fair chance, they’d have the perfect carpet.

Wandering the lines of giant carpet rolls, Bethan began to imagine what colours would look best in the lounge. There was every colour, pattern and texture you could ever want available here. They ranged from cheap to those requiring a mortgage.

Bethan stuck to those with a modest price range. Her little apartment and budget didn’t stretch to anything too extravagant.

“Mummy, mummy! Can I have the princess-pink carpet in my bedroom?” shrieked a little girl clambering onto the roll. Stretching out her arms, she balanced and walked across it.

“Ellie, get down!” demanded her mother.

Bethan winked at the little girl as she passed by. She remembered running along the carpets just like that when she was a little girl.

Rounding the end of an aisle, her attention was caught by what had to be the most garish offering in the store. The eight-foot square carpet had been stretched in a display frame between racks of rolled linoleum.

The carpet was so bright, Bethan was forced to remove her glasses and wiped her eyes. It looked for all the world as if somebody had stolen a rainbow and woven it into the most glaring, kaleidoscopic explosion of colour possible.

“Good morning, Madam. Are you interested in purchasing one of our special carpets?”

Bethan had been so dumbstruck by the almost iridescent carpet, she hadn’t seen the little man in the white suit approaching with an email transcript in his hand. His words made her flinch, “I erm, Oh, sorry. No, if I put this in my lounge, I’d be permanently dazzled!”

“Indeed, it is a little bright, isn’t it?” The man put his palms together before him.

“That’s putting it mildly. Why is it so — radiant?” Bethan ran her fingers over the multicoloured weave. Although soft, it didn’t feel as if it was woven with the usual wool, nylon or polyester.

“Why, this is our fantastic ‘Inspired Carpet’ of course!” The man threw his arms wide. “Every entwined colour is a brand-new splash of inspiration!”

“Oh right,” Bethan rolled her lip in disbelief. She felt sure this carpet would guarantee headaches rather than inspiration. “Why is it so inspired?”

“Well,” the man began pacing. “First off, it’s made entirely of recycled plastic. Anything that helps clean and protect our beautiful world is inspired, wouldn’t you agree?”

Bethan nodded.

“Then, of course, a tithe of the profits we make goes to the creative arts department at the University. Thus, it inspires the students to create beautiful things.”

“That is quite remarkable,” Bethan said running her fingers over the gaudy rug and allowing them to linger in the fibres. She couldn’t believe it was made of plastic, it just seemed too soft.

“Much obliged, Madam. So, would you like to buy one? It’s only five hundred pounds.”

Bethan felt warm energy exude from the carpet. It rushed through her fingers and flooded her whole body with energy. She tried to move her feet; to speak but she was frozen.

“Madam, are you okay?”

As quick as it came, the sensation left her. “Oh, yes. I’m quite fine. I’ll take a carpet, thank you,” she said all of a fluster.

The little man smiled as he bounced his fingertips together, “Excellent, follow me. I’ll have someone fetch you a rolled carpet while we complete the transaction.”

Bethan followed him through the store and soon paid for her Inspired Carpet.  She stowed it in her car and drove home.

An hour passed to her moving the furniture and laying the carpet in the middle of the room. It was then she grew quite annoyed.

“Why on earth, were you inspired to by this, Bethan. It’s so blindingly colourful; it’ll make you nauseous every time you enter the room. Worse it doesn’t even, bloody well, fit!”

Feeling duped by the little man, Bethan rolled up the carpet and returned to The Loom for a confrontation.

Entering the carpet store, she spotted a manager in a black suit. “Excuse me, I want to return this carpet.”

“Hello, madam. What seems to be the problem with it?” he said with a smile that dimpled his cheeks.

“I was swindled into buying it. The colours are awfully bright and it doesn’t even fit!” Bethan stood the carpet on end and let it fall toward the manager. “I want my money back so I can buy a new carpet in the right size and colour, please.”

The manager grabbed the offending carpet and frowned. “But there must be some mistake. We don’t sell this carpet. Are you sure you bought it from The Loom?”

“Yes, I always buy my carpets at The Loom. A little man in a white suit sold it to me using some kind of magical chicanery.” Bethan scowled at him.

“Well, I’m afraid that’s quite impossible. No such man works here and as I said these carpets are not sold in this establishment. I …”

“Let’s go!” Bethan marched along the aisle to the backline where the ‘Inspired Carpet’ had been hanging. To her amazement, there were only three racks of linoleum here now. “But it was right here!”

“I told you, Madam. We don’t sell this carpet here.” The manager stood a few feet away looking bemused and maybe a little scared of Bethan.

She felt shock setting in, she just couldn’t process what was happening. Without a word, she marched the manager back down to the front of the shop by his suit sleeve.

“Madam, unhand me, please!” he demanded.

“The little man sat at that till when he completed the transaction for this garish carpet. I want you to find my sale and reverse it please.”

The manager took his arm back and sighed, “Okay, let me have a look. Don’t suppose you have a receipt?”

Bethan delved into her handbag and came up with her purse. From inside she took the receipt and handed it to him. “There it is.”

The manager looked from the piece of paper to his customer and back again. “I don’t understand. This receipt is a Loom’s receipt but it’s completely blank.”

Bethan snatched a back and gawked at it for a moment. “Unbelievable!” She grabbed her mobile phone, selected the Internet, and logged into her bank account. Her thumbs moved at rapid speed as she navigated to the transaction statement. “There!” She thrust the screen toward the manager.

“Five hundred pounds, credited to Inspiration?” The manager scratched his head. He made a frustrated sound went to work at the till.

Bethan watched him clicking away with one eye. The other she kept searching for the little man.

“Well, there it is. The till shows the same as your bank account.”

“So, reverse that charge, please,” Bethan demanded.

“Seems, I have no choice.” The manager took Bethan’s card and processed the refund.

Bethan left the store forty minutes later with a new carpet in a perfect shade of coffee cream. It looked magnificent in her lounge. That evening she sat enjoying it with a cup of hot chocolate in hand. It was then it occurred to her. “That rainbow rug was called an ‘Inspired Carpet’ because it inspired you to buy it when you touched it.’

The End

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Thanks for reading my friends.

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