each day he visits two , perhaps three different offices , opens his sample case , shows them the copper trinkets , the rings and bottles and tiny flashlights , the models of the empire state building , the statue of liberty , the eiffel tower , gleaming in copper inside ; each night he writes a fax to his brother-in-law , fuad , at home in muscat , telling him that he has taken no orders , or , on one happy day , that he had taken several orders ( but , as salim is painfully aware , not yet enough even to cover his airfare and hotel bill ) .