Published at 22/09/2024 13:47
Created at 08/11/2021
601 words - 3.01 min of reading time
A man was walking through the streets of Brooklyn with a cargo cart late at night. He was searching for something in trash cans and dumpsters. Every now and then, he picked up an item he liked and added it to his cart. Sometimes it was a whole cardboard box, sometimes a plywood drawer, sometimes an old, frayed hairbrush.
He walked a lot, making a mountain in his cart. When he was satisfied, he placed it under an empty awning and went to sleep underneath.
The next day, he woke up early. He took an old rug from the tangle in the cart, spread it on the ground in the least dirty place. He then took a sign that was tied to the side of the cart and stood it up in front of the rug: "Any item 1 Pound".
He began to organize the items on the rug and rearranged them several times until he was content. He sat on the side of the rug and waited.
The streets began to fill, and passers-by occasionally made comments like: "Who's going to buy this?", "Crazy guy", "What a stink" or "Get this out of here".
Close to lunchtime, a man in a fancy suit, washed and groomed to his last bodily cell, stopped in front of the rug.
"I want to buy those shoes over there," he said, pointing to a pair of brown shoes with a detached sole.
"One pound," replied the seller.
"No, I can't accept that. They're worth at least 100 dollars."
"I can't do more than one pound. If you don't have change, the most I can do is accept a 10 dollar bill."
"You don't understand, sir. Those shoes are very important to me. Please, make it 99. I really need them."
"I can't accept that, they're not worth it."
"Please, sir, you can donate the rest of the money."
"You can too, and then give me the pound that's left over."
"No, but I don't want to donate." The well-groomed man made a disgusted face. "But you certainly can. Please, I make a lot of money, this isn't fair to me. I need the shoes. Think about it."
He paused and took money from his wallet. He counted out five 20 dollar bills, one 50, and held them out.
"No, no, that's more than a 100 pounds, I can't accept it."
"Please, think of it as including exchange tax. Don't complicate this for me."
"I can't accept that amount."
"I'll do Venmo then. Do you accept Venmo? I'll put in the right amount."
"I don't have a cell phone or Venmo set up."
"My goodness, sir, what times we live in! Do you take credit card?"
"Only checks. You pay and come back tomorrow when it clears."
"No, that's impossible, I can't wait any longer to have these shoes."
"Friend, they're only one pound. Take it or leave it. I'm already bending over backwards accepting more. They're not worth all this. Honestly, they're worth even less."
"Okay. Then make it 50 dollars. I'll buy them."
"Alright. Do you want a bag?"
"Of course," the man replied without looking, while putting his remaining dollar bills back in his wallet.
They exchanged the money and the shoes, now in a bag.
"If I may ask, what are you going to do with the shoes? They don't really go with your look."
The executive smiled, he was happy, feeling lighter.
"Well, I'm going to burn them. I've never seen anything so horrible. If I could, I'd burn everything here." He stared at the trash at his feet with disgust. "But I don't have that much money."
