“The object is to get some money, not turn around and spend it all on books!” The wife said this to me as we were heading to the used bookstore to unload more books. We have gotten most of the books out of the house now and have only a few left. Maybe enough for one more run to the used bookstore.
“I would think the object would be to read all the books.” This drew no response from the wife.
We got to the bookstore and I unloaded all the boxes of books, then took them inside to the buy counter. “We have a few people ahead of you. Stay in the store and we’ll call you when your offer is ready.”
Stay in a bookstore. Twist my arm.
Keeping in mind that the wife was intent on not getting more books, I decided to show restraint and only get a book if I really wanted it. You know, ones that have been on my ‘buy list’ for ages.
We stopped in the role-playing game section first, mainly because it is at the front of the store, and the wife knows I always check it. One or two books there that might have been nice to have but I could live without.
After that we meandered throughout the store, each of us stopping in our favorite sections.
We got to the games section. Another shopper was there and he had a stack of games on the floor that he was trying to decide if he wanted to buy or not. On top of the stack was a game I sold to the bookstore about a month or so ago. It’s odd seeing my stuff in the store.
“Ahh, I wonder where that one came from?” I said to the wife.
The guy looked up at me. “Do you know something about it?”
“Yeah. I sold them that game a month or so ago.”
“What did you think of it?”
And thus started a interesting conversation about games, and finding compatible players. There’s nothing worse than buying a cool game and not being ale to find anyone to play it with. Ultimately, he put my game back on the shelf but ended up buying three others. One of them was a game called Soulgivers, which he said has gone out of print but has a following online. His only reservation was one of the game pieces was missing. I suggested he try eBay to see if anyone had the piece. The wife suggested 3D printing it, which led into another conversation on 3D printing and makerspaces. I suggested a makerspace that had been in the area but I didn’t know if they were still in operation.
While we were in the games section the wife kept picking up games, handing them to me, and asking “what do you think?”
A few of them were a hard pass, but most of them were in the “could be interesting” realm. One was a game I thought looked like fun. The wife said to get a basket so we could put the ones she picked out in it to take with us.
We wandered through more of the store, and I still restrained myself. There were more books of the “it’d be nice to have but I don’t really need it” variety. The wife collected several.
“What about the ‘not spending it all on more books’ rule?”
The wife didn’t have a response to that beyond “Just put them in the basket.”
After a hour and a half they announced my name over the store intercom that my offer was ready. We got a coupon for ten percent off our purchase because we sold books back to them. We went to ring up the wife’s selections. She ended up with six games, two books, and a box of “Thank you” notes. With our discount coupon, and what I received for my offer, the total came out to a little over what my offer came out to be.
“So, about that ‘it’s not about getting more books’ command?”
“You’ll enjoy playing the games.”
I hope so.
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