Not-Sweets for the Not Sweet

It looks like Hick has been served up a dish of just desserts by Even Steven.

You may recall that Hick has been helping neighbor Tommy in his quest to get to town. Not that he expects to get anything out of it in return. Just because he's a people-person and a decent guy.

This past week, Hick stopped by Goodwill and almost had himself a bargain. Goodwill treasures are like scratch-off tickets. What you get is determined by pure luck and timing. Hick wandered around the store, and saw a lady sitting on a couch, holding a fishing reel in one hand, and her phone in the other. It was an old-style reel, perhaps from the 1950s, that he wanted for his Fishing Lair shack. To hear Hick tell it, he continued shopping, and happened across that lady on a couple of aisles. In my mind, I assume it was more of a stalking situation.

"Oh, I see you found a fishing reel. Are you going to get it?"

"It's marked $20. I think I'll take it."

Hick followed her some more encountered her a couple more times, and she still had that reel in her hand, so he gave up and left. I think this was on Monday or Tuesday evening. On Wednesday evening, I laid out Hick's weekly cash allowance, so he would find it on Thursday morning. I used to give it to him on Fridays, but now that his last day of the work week is Thursday, I make sure he has it then. You know, because people like to have a little cash in their pocket at the end of the work week, with a whole weekend four idle days laid out ahead of them.

Thursday evening, Hick came home all excited after stopping by a Goodwill store he frequents near his work town.

"You know those old school desks? I've had my eye on one up by work, but they had it marked $60. That's too much for me. Every time I go in there, I look to see if they still have it. And this evening, they had a sign that said everything was half price. They had a half price sale! I checked my desk, and it was only $30! So I got it. I'm going to put it in The Pony's Sword Shack for now."

"So it's a good thing I gave you your money early."

"Yeah. Or I couldn't have gotten it, and it would probably be gone if I went back."

Here's a picture of it.

AND...on Friday, Hick went back to the local Goodwill, and found the fishing reel that he wanted. It was on a shelf with some golf clubs, and still marked $20.

"I got my fishing reel. I guess that lady decided she didn't want it!"

"She probably only wanted it because you were following her around the store, and she didn't want to set it down and let you have it."

"Maybe. But I got it. For $20. I looked 'em up on eBay, and they're asking $120 at the cheapest. One just sold for $146, and another one is at $180."

So...Hick is getting rich off his junk. Not like he's ever going to sell it, of course. But it makes him happy. Just like he's making Tommy happy by giving him a ride to town so he can save $35 on a cab.

Life is a balance, don't you know...Even Steven keeps a ledger.