Built to last
The setting: A small town in South Dakota in the glamorous 1970s. 
A young girl was tearing around her house on a yellow banana shaped blob with wheels and an odd looking toupee. Nobody knew exactly what it was supposed to be but it was dubbed Super Chicken. Rumor had it it could go on two wheels around corners. The little girl loved her Super Chick.
Fast forward to present day.
Of Super Chick remains only fond memories and it is presumed to be lost to history forever. Did Super Chick meet it's demise in the burn pile in the back yard? Donated to a young acquaintance once the original owner was believed to be too old? Who knows?! But Super Chicken was gone... But loved things never vanish for good. They merely travel to another time and another dimension.
Enter our hero.
Always vigilantly prowling for renegade garage sales, Aunt B scans the four-county area like a hawk in search of disoriented mice. We have attempted to reconstruct the ensuing scene (editorial liberties have been applied):
It is Thursday morning (only a rookie shows up to a weekend garage sale on Friday - or heaven forbid, Saturday). A blue Windstar with Aunt B plates pulls up on the street. When the door opens, George Thorogood is blaring on the stereo. Before the second foot comes out of the car the driver takes off her Ray-Bans and scans the merchandise lineup. A pro can separate a waste of time from a goldmine in two seconds flat. Common household junk need not apply!
And there it is - under a table between the 8-track-player-needing-a-few-parts-not-manufactured-since-1978 and a box of Beanie Babie knockoffs from McDonalds. It is partly obscured by an over sized lampshade but the visible combination of yellow plastic and bright orange yarn gives it away. Pounce!
Our hero picks it up. Keeping her seasoned-pro-cool she squints and asks the owner what is this, anyway!? To emphasize lukewarm interest she adds hmm... the yarn could be useful. She glances at the price tag. In a textbook case of information asymmetry it is priced at 50. Cents. Resisting the deeply ingrained instinct to haggle she ponies up a couple of quarters and absconds without the seller noticing anything but the joy of getting rid of an old who-knows-what.
A few days later, a mysterious package is dropped off addressed to a young daredevil protege in Minnesota. After it is opened he immediately starts pushing it around making trademark rocket sounds.
Mommy sits down, wipes away a tear and drifts off down memory lane.
Thanks, Aunt B!
George Thorogood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyTbLX3hpkY
Information asymmetry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_asymmetry
A young girl was tearing around her house on a yellow banana shaped blob with wheels and an odd looking toupee. Nobody knew exactly what it was supposed to be but it was dubbed Super Chicken. Rumor had it it could go on two wheels around corners. The little girl loved her Super Chick.
Fast forward to present day.
Of Super Chick remains only fond memories and it is presumed to be lost to history forever. Did Super Chick meet it's demise in the burn pile in the back yard? Donated to a young acquaintance once the original owner was believed to be too old? Who knows?! But Super Chicken was gone... But loved things never vanish for good. They merely travel to another time and another dimension.
Enter our hero.
Always vigilantly prowling for renegade garage sales, Aunt B scans the four-county area like a hawk in search of disoriented mice. We have attempted to reconstruct the ensuing scene (editorial liberties have been applied):
It is Thursday morning (only a rookie shows up to a weekend garage sale on Friday - or heaven forbid, Saturday). A blue Windstar with Aunt B plates pulls up on the street. When the door opens, George Thorogood is blaring on the stereo. Before the second foot comes out of the car the driver takes off her Ray-Bans and scans the merchandise lineup. A pro can separate a waste of time from a goldmine in two seconds flat. Common household junk need not apply!
And there it is - under a table between the 8-track-player-needing-a-few-parts-not-manufactured-since-1978 and a box of Beanie Babie knockoffs from McDonalds. It is partly obscured by an over sized lampshade but the visible combination of yellow plastic and bright orange yarn gives it away. Pounce!
Our hero picks it up. Keeping her seasoned-pro-cool she squints and asks the owner what is this, anyway!? To emphasize lukewarm interest she adds hmm... the yarn could be useful. She glances at the price tag. In a textbook case of information asymmetry it is priced at 50. Cents. Resisting the deeply ingrained instinct to haggle she ponies up a couple of quarters and absconds without the seller noticing anything but the joy of getting rid of an old who-knows-what.
A few days later, a mysterious package is dropped off addressed to a young daredevil protege in Minnesota. After it is opened he immediately starts pushing it around making trademark rocket sounds.
Mommy sits down, wipes away a tear and drifts off down memory lane.
Thanks, Aunt B!
George Thorogood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyTbLX3hpkY
Information asymmetry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_asymmetry
posted by Patrik at 8/04/2007 08:36:00 PM
1 Comments:
you know it the third time im reading the story
Lotte
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