Fish and Sales
The time edges on towards evening giving little but still sufficient light to illuminate clearly the children playing in the middle of the suburban street. We march in a small formation of 10 or so kids. I bring up the back of the group holding the guidon high and proud. The rest of the kids march in front holding instruments but not playing them. Our practice winds down due to the late hour so we all gather up our stuff. I briefly put the guidon down as I get my American flag. The rest of the children manage to secure their instruments and their flags and we all gaggle over to the large two story house where our sleep over is hosted.
As we enter the trimmed green lawn with immaculate garden against the house an old man leans out of the upper story window. He yells and carries on but is almost completely inarticulate rendering the source of his agitation unknowable. An adult amongst us on the lawn calls on us to be truthful and reveal if anybody knows anything about what has just occurred.. Most of us our confused by these statements not understanding their context. Clearly one child understands as he holds up a half empty bottle of wild turkey. The adult asks him a simple why. The culprit child selflessly replies that he was trying to help the fish. Inside the house he had noticed a fish tank which the old man had foolishly put both regular and gold fish together. Everybody should know that goldfish are highly toxic and are the only fish that can survive the amount of filth they build up. Clearly the regular fish's lives were going to be prematurely cut short. The answer once revealed as logical and sensible passes muster with myself and the adult. Despite this the adult explains how both the fish and the wild turkey rightfully belong to the old man. Taking without any explanation or permission is stealing and wrong. With his head hung low the child solemnly walks into the house to return the wild turkey to the old man.
Once inside we all gather in a second story common area to fold our flags. Children pair up but I am the odd man out. While I await someone to finish and assist me in my flag folding I decide to put the guidon away. Gathering up and tightly clutching the flag to my chest so as not to let it touch the ground I put the guidon away in a hall closet.
Returning I find that I need no assistance to fold my sleeping bag. As I am folding I converse with the same adult who now watches over us in this second story common area. The topic being the recent incident with the old man and his fish. Yes, the fish aren't mine but they are still living creatures. I don't really know how other people treat their fish but it must be better than the old man. Everybody knows goldfish are toxic to other fish in a tank as enclosed as theirs currently is. As we talk the adult notices how raggedly my sleeping bag folding is proceeding. He decides based upon this that I should come work for him as a sleeping bag salesman. It would be a brief apprenticeship after which I would take over sales for the whole county. I agree with this great offer and let him help me finish folding the sleeping bag.
Now if I am selling combat boots the first issue to address is the competition. Both the army and navy have a lucrative business in the combat boot market. The navy always claims that it is only a side business of no real interest. That their main focus is of course land. This public mission statement of theirs however is clearly not to be trusted due to the great profits they reap from boots. As the adult and I discuss different ideas for marketing boots the hurdle of an appropriate logo is brought up. Clearly we need something obviously patriotic to sell. A flag emblazoned on the side of the sneakers might work. With the logo decided upon our conversation steers toward a theme song for our sneakers.
From this common area we are discussing there is a regular sized window overlooking the front lawn. I am sitting on the floor with my back to the window, but the adult is standing facing me so he notices two volunteers entering the house. We both rush to the stairwell to get a proper look at them. Three people have just entered the front door. The adult seeing these three proclaims that they will all think differently. Even as a child I recognize this truth for I am pushed to succeed. As a child I could just play and be happy without worrying about sales, but my motivation fills me with good ideas for who would be an appropriate sales representative among the three. All three wear the same T shirt and agree to my proposal to help sell.
As we enter the trimmed green lawn with immaculate garden against the house an old man leans out of the upper story window. He yells and carries on but is almost completely inarticulate rendering the source of his agitation unknowable. An adult amongst us on the lawn calls on us to be truthful and reveal if anybody knows anything about what has just occurred.. Most of us our confused by these statements not understanding their context. Clearly one child understands as he holds up a half empty bottle of wild turkey. The adult asks him a simple why. The culprit child selflessly replies that he was trying to help the fish. Inside the house he had noticed a fish tank which the old man had foolishly put both regular and gold fish together. Everybody should know that goldfish are highly toxic and are the only fish that can survive the amount of filth they build up. Clearly the regular fish's lives were going to be prematurely cut short. The answer once revealed as logical and sensible passes muster with myself and the adult. Despite this the adult explains how both the fish and the wild turkey rightfully belong to the old man. Taking without any explanation or permission is stealing and wrong. With his head hung low the child solemnly walks into the house to return the wild turkey to the old man.
Once inside we all gather in a second story common area to fold our flags. Children pair up but I am the odd man out. While I await someone to finish and assist me in my flag folding I decide to put the guidon away. Gathering up and tightly clutching the flag to my chest so as not to let it touch the ground I put the guidon away in a hall closet.
Returning I find that I need no assistance to fold my sleeping bag. As I am folding I converse with the same adult who now watches over us in this second story common area. The topic being the recent incident with the old man and his fish. Yes, the fish aren't mine but they are still living creatures. I don't really know how other people treat their fish but it must be better than the old man. Everybody knows goldfish are toxic to other fish in a tank as enclosed as theirs currently is. As we talk the adult notices how raggedly my sleeping bag folding is proceeding. He decides based upon this that I should come work for him as a sleeping bag salesman. It would be a brief apprenticeship after which I would take over sales for the whole county. I agree with this great offer and let him help me finish folding the sleeping bag.
Now if I am selling combat boots the first issue to address is the competition. Both the army and navy have a lucrative business in the combat boot market. The navy always claims that it is only a side business of no real interest. That their main focus is of course land. This public mission statement of theirs however is clearly not to be trusted due to the great profits they reap from boots. As the adult and I discuss different ideas for marketing boots the hurdle of an appropriate logo is brought up. Clearly we need something obviously patriotic to sell. A flag emblazoned on the side of the sneakers might work. With the logo decided upon our conversation steers toward a theme song for our sneakers.
From this common area we are discussing there is a regular sized window overlooking the front lawn. I am sitting on the floor with my back to the window, but the adult is standing facing me so he notices two volunteers entering the house. We both rush to the stairwell to get a proper look at them. Three people have just entered the front door. The adult seeing these three proclaims that they will all think differently. Even as a child I recognize this truth for I am pushed to succeed. As a child I could just play and be happy without worrying about sales, but my motivation fills me with good ideas for who would be an appropriate sales representative among the three. All three wear the same T shirt and agree to my proposal to help sell.
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