A Winter Of Angels

Chapter Four

The next day at school, our teacher Mr. Engle gave us a partner and were to try to persuade them to buy something from us. We were given a box with something in it, and we were not to know what was in it. We were to make our partner want to buy something based upon what we told them it could be. I was coincidentally partnered up with Val.

We were given a small cardboard box with a little something inside. I could hear it move around when Mr. Engle set it on our table. It sounded like a rock. But how was I to get Val to buy a rock? I came up with an idea.

I pretended that the "rock" inside the box was actually a mini radio thst you could hear the game on. No wires. No plugs. No antennas. It just looked like an ordinary rock.

I was proud of my creativity, but some of the kids around me and Val were not so intrigued by it and started laughing at me. Mr. Engle stopped that real quick.

"Now now children, what Tad here has done is brilliant. Marketing doesn't always have to be exact. It can be a little far fetched. As long as you get the customer to buy it, that is all that matters." Mr. Engle said and then he turned to me and Val. "Now, let's see if your buyer will invest in this 'rock' radio."

Val bought it. The entire class cheered. I felt proud of myself. I was like Samson from the Bible. I was strong and well known. Except my strength came from my mind...not my hair.

"Good job Tad. Do you want to see what you really sold Val?" Mr. Engle asked me. I nodded excitedly. He opened up the box and to my surprise it wasn't a rock at all. It was a piece of balled up tinfoil. He held the tinfoil ball in his hands and showed it to us. My jaw dropped. Mr. Engle grinned.

"This here was Tad's rock radio. It's sure not a rock. Certainly not a radio. It's tinfoil." Mr. Engle said.

"But how?" I asked. I felt betrayed. Like Jesus must've felt when Judas kissed him on the cheek. Mr. Engle noticed this and explained it all to me.

"When one is not given all the details, a person's mind will try to fill in the blanks. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. You heard the sound of the tinfoil and wasn't sure what it was. The closest thing Tad could think of...was a rock. And the rest went on from there." Mr. Engle said to us.

~

Me, Val, and Burt walked home. I had kept quiet about the man in the leaves but I finally decided to say something about it. To see what they thought of it.

"Last night, I had a conversation with a man in the bushes." I told them. They looked at me confused.

"Is that slang for something?" Burt asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah, it's slang for I talked to a man hiding in the bushes last night." I said to him sarcastically. He rolled his eyes.

"Well excuse me." Burt said. Val intervened.

"What all happened?" Val asked.

"Well, he wanted something to eat...so I gave him a banana." I told them. Burt looked at me astonished.

"A banana?" He asked. I nodded.

"A banana." I responded.