Saturday, April 16, 2011

Ninety cents of guilt

    Yesterday at the Stepping Stones Thrift Store on Two Notch, I found an abridged version of John D. MacDonald's "Free Fall in Crimson" on tape for a dollar. Books there were ten cents and I also found a book I wanted, a children's book called "The Cay," which was made into the best TV movie ever when I was a kid, with James Earl Jones and everything. Went to check out and the lady charged me twenty cents, as in for two books. I wasn't trying to get over; I had the book on tape, clearly marked $1, on top. And I certainly looked (and was) surprised when she said that.
    It's not a question of "Hot damn! I saved 90 cents!" I'm poor, sure, but I'm not quite that poor. I'm just trying to stop being the kind of person who reflexively corrects other people, and I haven't quite mastered the golden mean. I comfort myself with the fact that there probably isn't anybody else around looking for Travis McGee on tape, so they probably weren't going to get the 90 cents anyway. Something else to work on, I guess.

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