remember it being a big deal when I walked into the grocery store
that day on the corner of sixtieth street and ninth avenue. I was amazed and felt
the euphoria of joy when I glanced over to the counter and spotted the baseball
cards. Over the top flap of the display box marked the price, twelve cents.
This was a full five cents less than all the other grocery stores in the area.
"Holy smokes!" I hooted in sheer joy.
The woman behind the counter looked at me puzzlingly and asked me, "What?"
"The baseball cards," I said, "…I like the price." Being careful, I did not want to give it away to her, "It’s a full …two cents cheaper than everywhere else."
"Jeez," she sneered, "For a second there, I thought it was something important." Boy did I feel really stupid for making this such a big deal. What she did not realize was that I was not talking about a small time purchase with chump change. I had managed to save up over a dollar. So, a few cents really multiplied itself by a factor of ten.
But, wouldn’t you know it. When I returned later with a dollar twenty cents ready to buy ten packs, she had managed to raise the price to fourteen cents each. It was still cheaper than her competitors, but boy did I pull the wool over her eyes.
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