Bargains, Bargains, Bargains!

“Guess what I found?” Moe asked me excitedly one evening after he'd been working on the computer for a couple of hours.

“What?” I answered, although in my mind I'm afraid I said, “What now?” Ever since Moe had discovered Google, Ebay, and Craig's List he had been finding the strangest things to buy.

Not that he hadn't already had a penchant for discovering odd stuff that he had never needed before, but suddenly couldn't live without. Somewhere, back before we ever met, Moe learned the wonders of thrift stores. He claimed to hate shopping, but he spent hours at the Goodwill store near his work every week, addicted to the thrill of the hunt, and the high of the find.

Eventually I had to stop chiding him about his addiction. At first I rolled my eyes every time he brought home something he'd found for “such a good deal!” But after the couch, bumper pool table, and other furniture he bought me I had to stop teasing him.

When he started collecting golf shoes because some of my brothers had taken up the sport, I began grumbling under my breath again. Then he went and brought home a pair just his size. Why in the world did Moe need golf shoes when he didn't golf? But he was excited about them and had to show me how nice they were, so he sat down on our bed to try them on and discovered a hundred dollar bill stuffed into the toe of the left shoe! Boy, we came up with some good stories imagining how that money came to be in that shoe. I could just see some poor old golfer hiding his mad money there so his wife wouldn't find it, then dying of a heart attack and his wife donating his stuff to Goodwill. Anyway, after that I had to bite my tongue every time Moe brought home something 'wonderful', and now the internet brought bargain hunting right into our home! Oh, joy!

“So, what did you find dear?” I asked again, trying to hide my annoyance.

“Land for sale up by Snowflake!” Moe exclaimed happily. “And it's dirt cheap! Someone is selling their property without really knowing what it's worth, and I think we should buy it!”

Oh brother, was my first reaction, but I didn't say it out loud. I'd been hoping I could talk Moe into moving up to Snowflake some day, and I knew if I didn't handle this right I'd blow the whole thing. But buying property over the internet? I wasn't too sure about that.