As Usual, Hick Gets a Little Sketchy

Hick always takes a chance on the raffle at his various auctions. The rules are basically the same. Sellers put an item on the raffle table. It's supposed to be worth at least $15. Buyers pay $1 for six chances on the raffle. If a buyer's number is drawn, he gets his choice of the items on the table. The seller who put that item there gets the raffle pot. If a seller's number is drawn, he gets the pot, then another number is drawn. That winner has to take the item the seller had put up. The rest of the items get sold as usual.

Anyhoo...that won't matter to you if you're not going to an auction. It matters to Hick, because he plays several times a week. A few weeks ago, Hick's number was drawn after the seller. Here's the prize he got.

It's a stuffed snowman holding a blanket. Let the record show that Hick is perfectly happy with his prize. He says he can sell it for $15. But it wasn't the only item that seller had put up. He had a combo. The other item, Hick referred to as an Etch-A-Sketch Pillow.

I must admit, I was intrigued with the thought of an Etch-A-Sketch Pillow. Of course I had an Etch-A-Sketch when I was a kid. I loved to spin those knobs. I was never any good at drawing on it. But I was better than my sister the little future ex-mayor's wife, who always managed to shake hers before her picture was done.

Anyhoo...I quizzed Hick about that Etch-A-Sketch Pillow.

"I don't get it. An Etch-A-Sketch is hard. You wouldn't want it on your pillow. Is it on the BACK of the pillow?"

"No. It's on the top."

"Then how do you lay your head on it?"

"It's not a pillow to lay your head on, Val. It's a pillow on the back of the Etch-A-Sketch."

"Oh. So not for a bed."

"No. You put it on your lap."

"So, just a backing. To hold it comfortably while you use your Etch-A-Sketch."

"Yeah. Well. It's not an actual Etch-A-Sketch. You don't shake it to clear the screen. More like a thing you write on. There's a cup to hold a marker."

"Wait! You mean it's just like a dry-erase board? NOT an Etch-A-Sketch?"

"Kind of. You write on the board with the marker. But you can erase it and use it again."

"Sounds like a marker board to me. Like college kids put on their dorm door."

"Well. Maybe. But everybody up at the Units calls it an Etch-A-Sketch Pillow. It's for kids. I know I can get at least $5 for it. Maybe $10."

"Huh. I'm kind of disappointed. I thought it was an Etch-A-Sketch Pillow."

"It IS, Val!"

Good thing I had a picture of the Snowman Blanket...