Cheap kids for sale!

"My kids are evil."

I believed him, if they were anything like their dad who was standing in front of our table.

In case we hadn't heard him, he repeated himself.
"We need to be able to beat them up now and then" he said cynically. His face was dead serious. He looked like the type to beat up his kids, but his arms were so thin his kids wouldn't have been much harmed if he had beaten them up.
I showed him the bottom petition, which is trying to get the government to deal with child abusers.
"Why don't you sign this," I asked him, putting a pen within his reach.
"Do you want kids?" He asked me. I wondered if he'd even heard my question.
"Uh, no, I'm a wee bit young to be raising kids."
He looked at me.
"Do you want mine?"
"Yeah, ok."
"How much will you pay?"
was he serious? or a bit drunk?... maybe this is a bit of very deep sarcasm here.

At this point, the conversation became a bit unreal. Here was this guy who was trying to sell his kids to me, and slavery was abolished in 1807. He pursued the topic.

"Mmmmm, would $20 be all right?"
"No, $40."
"No, sorry, can't do that. If they're really evil, you should pay me to take them."
The man reached for his wallet.

"How much will you take?"
"$40."
"Ok, $20 now, and $20 next time I see ya. I live in Hokitika by the way."
"Are you sure you want to sell me your kids?"
"Yeah! they're really evil."

Uh oh, it looked like I was landed with a whole pile of kids. I hadn't even asked him how many there were: I might have been like Maria in the Sound of Music, "Seven children!"
And these were evil children.

This guy must have been using some seriously deep sarcasm.
I hope so, anyway. Maybe he spent all his life trying to palm off his kids on to the first willing buyer. Although, telling me his kids were "evil" wasn't a good marketing strategy.
Anyway, I wish him all the best in getting rid of his kids, they deserve a better dad.

Evangelising in a dusty bookshop

I had 15 minutes to find the book.
Searching through boxes and dusty piles of books, I found many books which looked intersting, and a handful that I wanted to read, but not the book I was looking for... Les Mis. I was on a mission to find this book, because my curiosity had been piqued when I heard several favourable reports about it... and I wanted to read it myself. I'd watched the movie several times and it always has a sharp zing about it that made me want to follow it up by reading the book.
Besides, I had just ripped some Les Mis music and one of those... I think it was On My Own, had to be classed with my favourite songs. (Though it probably didn't have anything to do with the actual book).

I still hadn't found the book, time was running out and I had to catch the bus.
"Hello."
I looked up and standing to one side of me was this old man, holding a little blue book up in his hand. He had a long, untidy- looking white beard, and that's all I saw until he asked me something.
I thought he was asking the price of the book, and I was amused that he thought I was the owner or assistant of the shop.
"Uh, I don't work here."
He must have been a bit confused as he turned to walk away. Then he stopped and came back.
With a bit of a smile, he handed the book to me.
Looking down at it I was pretty amazed: 'New Testement, Psalms, Proverbs' It read.
I felt that there was some evangelising happening here.
"Oh, but I'm a christian."
"I know."
How did he know? I asked myself.
He continued:
"But I've got several to give out to people, and I'd like you to have this."
Again the smile and twinkling eyes.
Before I had time to say anything except Thankyou, he'd gone.

Wow, what a cool guy.