Each time the man told the story,
it grew in size. He had the gift of exaggeration and it was always locked into
repetition. No wonder no one believed him initially, when he announced a
surprise trip.
The first time he mentioned it,
the surprise trip sounded like a hush-hush affair. The second time he talked
about it, he hung his head rather sheepishly. But, to no one's surprise, the
story about how he had won the trip unexpectedly, had grown considerably too.
"How long will the man be
gone?" the country storekeeper asked the sales clerk, who had placed his
order for supplies for the trip. "This man's order is far in excess of
what he will need for this kind of a trip. Is this a delusion?"
The third time the man told
everyone about his surprise trip, it appeared he would be gone for several
months instead of the original couple of days, or perhaps if there had been a
misunderstanding, a couple of weeks.
"As long as he is good for
it, go ahead and fill it," the storekeeper suggested, as he went about his
work.
"That is a huge order for our little, country store!"
The next day, a white van
pulled up in front of the country store. The man got out, swaggered into the
store and greeted the country storekeeper, cheerfully.
"I am here to pick up my
supplies for my surprise trip, but I will have to pay you at the end of the
week," he said. "I will be getting my check then."
"You can pick up your
supplies then, too," suggested the country storekeeper, firmly.
"But, I have the truck
here today!" insisted the man.
"You can take enough
supplies to do you until then."
The country storekeeper knew
something was amiss, and wondered if he should notify the police.
"I can place my order
elsewhere, too!" The angry man stormed out and took off in the van.
The next time the man told the
story about his surprise trip, it was really no surprise to anyone that it was
a surprise trip around the world that had been cancelled, along with the check
he was to have received.
Somehow, his bubble had
burst.
No comments:
Post a Comment