Rapscallion
08-13-2008, 08:57 AM
The only dreams I ever seem to remember are the ones shortly before I wake up, and this is one such. After a while, they snuggle their way back into the depths of my memory, never more to emerge, so I'm getting this down in text.
I was about to do some washing up - I usually let the dirty stuff pile up for two or three days, since there's not enough to make it worthwhile washing every day as a single bloke. There's a knock at the front door.
A bloke's there. "So, have you got them?" he asked.
For some reason, I knew what he wanted was in the sink. I and others had recently been the to beach and we'd brought back some sand castle flags (little sticks of wood with paper flags attached, but these had been made out of toothpicks, so they were sharp at both ends). Somehow, I knew these were the things he wanted. I took them back to the front door.
"Ah yes," he said. He quoted some figures and we agreed on a price, but the flags were apparently once used by famous figures. "You ... don't have a Hemmingway?" he asked before money traded hands.
I went into a panic. There was another flag left in the sink, but I couldn't tell one from another. I did the whole shoulder angel/devil thing and eventually said, "No". He smiled at this and gave me extra money as a tip.
I don't know who it was else in the house, but there was someone, and these were their flags I'd been selling. They explained that the Hemmingway question was a test - he'd never been to the seaside, so any that came out would have been fakes. Anyone claiming to have such was an obvious dupe or cheat.
We went to the back door where we saw the same guy staring at these flags in his hand with a beatific expression. Except now, of course, he had a rocket launcher slung over his shoulder.
The one I thought could have been a Hemmingway turned out to be far more valuable, but I can't remember the alleged previous owner.
Rapscallion
I was about to do some washing up - I usually let the dirty stuff pile up for two or three days, since there's not enough to make it worthwhile washing every day as a single bloke. There's a knock at the front door.
A bloke's there. "So, have you got them?" he asked.
For some reason, I knew what he wanted was in the sink. I and others had recently been the to beach and we'd brought back some sand castle flags (little sticks of wood with paper flags attached, but these had been made out of toothpicks, so they were sharp at both ends). Somehow, I knew these were the things he wanted. I took them back to the front door.
"Ah yes," he said. He quoted some figures and we agreed on a price, but the flags were apparently once used by famous figures. "You ... don't have a Hemmingway?" he asked before money traded hands.
I went into a panic. There was another flag left in the sink, but I couldn't tell one from another. I did the whole shoulder angel/devil thing and eventually said, "No". He smiled at this and gave me extra money as a tip.
I don't know who it was else in the house, but there was someone, and these were their flags I'd been selling. They explained that the Hemmingway question was a test - he'd never been to the seaside, so any that came out would have been fakes. Anyone claiming to have such was an obvious dupe or cheat.
We went to the back door where we saw the same guy staring at these flags in his hand with a beatific expression. Except now, of course, he had a rocket launcher slung over his shoulder.
The one I thought could have been a Hemmingway turned out to be far more valuable, but I can't remember the alleged previous owner.
Rapscallion