Coming out with my fresh cuppa morning coffee today, a well dressed guy caught my eye and said, “Hey, I’m trying to get a little money for gas so I can get to work—do you wanna buy this?” And he held out a copy of The Bourne Supremacy DVD.
Well, no, I really didn’t want to buy it. Watching it once was quite enough and, besides, I don’t have a TV, much less a DVD player. “I’m just trying to buy some gas so I can get to work,” he repeated.
I should emphasize again that he was quite sharply dressed. New polo shirt, well-pressed slacks, his hair in considerably better shape than mine, his face freshly shaven.
“What are you driving?” I asked.
“The Buick just around the corner,” he replied.
I glanced around the corner and there was a Buick maybe six or seven years old but which had seen far better days.
“Tell you what,” I said, holding out a dollar. “This’ll get you about fifteen miles.” Of course, I later realized, at today’s prices and with his car in the shape it was, it’d probably get him more like seven.
“I’m just trying to get some money for gas so I can get to work,” he said again, as he took the bill.
“I understand,” I answered, getting in my car and driving off to work.
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