Sunday, September 18, 2005

The Little Things

Occasionally, every now and then, you have a win. It may not be a big win, in fact, in terms of beating the odds it's rather small. But, it's a win none the less and it's yours to enjoy.

This morning Battboy and I woke up with a need to get out. For the first time in a long time I didn't have the Triffkids for the weekend and I was feeling the loss. So my beloved and I decided to pack the Battbabies into the car and hit the Canning Vale markets.

As usual the staple fare of these stalls consist of badly looked after 1970's eclectica (I figure the owners must have missed last week's council collection) but we did chance upon a rather wide ranging book stall. Immediately I found a book I'd always wanted, Amistead Maupin's Tales of the City for $10. Not too bad a price, but not great. I also found a copy of Kim Wilkins' The Resurrectionists for $9. I'm a fan but also not a price I was willing to pay to pay for a second hand book. So I girded my loins and offered the stall holder $15 for both.
"Are you kidding?" he stroppily replied. "That would be giving them away." I shrugged, turned and put them back. "Make it $17," came the quick counter offer.
I shook my head, moved on with my little family to the next stall. Battboy and I were in the process of buying a rather amazing Aztec calendar for $10. The guy ran up with both books, shoved them at me and said, "Okay, you can have them for $15."

Obviously the thought of getting $15 for them won over the need to take them home for another week.

I feel ever so pleased with myself.

And a little side note: 1200 words written yesterday on Black Dog Daze.

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