Monday, December 26, 2016

the flip of a coin.


"i worked my way up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty." groucho marx.

a coin fell out of my trousers as i stripped them off. i'd like to say it was during an exotic, erotic, exciting encounter, but unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your point of view, i was at the health club.

the coin rolled under a bench and initially i couldn't find the thing, ended up crouching down, searching underneath. meanwhile, an elderly gentleman asked what i'd lost and, similarly wearing only his knickers, immediately joined me under the bench. that was spectacularly unsettling to me: the two of us half under with our backsides up in the air. finally, i located the damn coin, snatched it, and immediately realized it was only a lousy quarter. that somehow made the whole sordid affair so much worse.

sitting on the bench to catch my breath, i decided that twenty-five cents was so not worth getting down on all fours with a mostly naked strangely friendly old guy. it really shoulda been at least a tooney. if the situation ever repeats itself, i decided there and then that i'd require confirmation of the coin's value before stooping to such a level.

what we should be willing to do for money has always been a conversation worth having. there were a few mornings, for example, as i drove through a blizzard, basically risking my life to get to my job, just to sell jewellery, when i asked myself: 'wtf?'. sure, it was a short conversation, but definitely worth having. i got a lot out of it.

"those are my principles and if you don't like it, well, i have others." groucho marx.




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