Pitchmen...Pitchkids

Well, nothing funny or too sad happened to me today, but I did get an email containing the pictures the guide took on my fishing trip Tuesday. I added a few to my post about the trip. You can find them at Four Hours on the Big Thompson. Since I lack material from today, you get to hear about something from a little while ago.

My son is not the only kid I've seen with a lemonade stand out there. A couple of weeks ago, on my mail route, I delivered the mail to a house with the two smallest, cutest girls you've ever seen in your life running a lemonade stand out front complete with a toy cash register that would ding whenever they rang up a sale. They were so cute they had customers lining up. The bad part was that a small scuffle broke out every time they made a sale. They each wanted to make the ding. Thinking quickly I bought two cups, thus allowing them to take turns ringing me up. It wasn't until I was walking away that I was struck by the thought that these two little cuties just doubled their sale... and kept the change. Had I been taken? I'll never know. Watch out Olsen twins, it looks like your competition is coming up on the outside...

Then there was another stand on my route, but this one wasn't just lemonade. M&Ms and cold pizza shared the table top with the cold pitcher. There were three kids running this one, and one of them, the smallest, was a better pitchman than any you'll see at Fenway.

“Pizza! Get yer pizza here! Lemonade! Ice cold lemonade! Step right up, no lines, no waiting! You, sir!” He pointed at me, though at the time I was the only one on the sidewalk besides them. “Lemonade, sir? Pizza? You should have a lemonade while it's cold!”

I was laughing at his sales patter, so polished, especially for a kid of, what, about six?

“Sorry,” I told him, truthfully, “I don't have any money with me. Maybe next time, okay?”

I started to walk away, and he started his patter again, only this time it was a little different.

“Pizza! Get yer pizza here! Cheap guy. Lemonade! Cheapie. Ice cold lemonade! Cheapo. Step right up, no lines, no waiting! Cheapolio!”

I kept turning back, but I never caught him looking my way.

The nerve! Like a kid of six is going to browbeat me into buying something from him? After that I wouldn't have gone to their stand even if I had money! But I kept my tongue. I went off and finished my route. And now I have my eye on that house, and that kid. And I'm on the look out for his stand.

With a pocket full of change.

Talk to you later!