I wish I could teach it

I impress myself.

I'm that awesome.

Saturday I loaded up a big bag full of books I want to get rid of.  I was going to sell them on Amazon but then I remembered Half Price Books.  They buy books!  I could get the whole task accomplished in one fell swoop. Such efficiency! 

I had some books with minimal to questionable value...the kind of dime a dozen chapter books that beginning readers read.  I had some that were brand new (because I bought them not knowing we already owned them).  See first few sentences of this blog post. 

I figured they would give me a good amount of money for my big bag of books.  They told me there would be a bit of wait.  I asked Braeden if that was OK.  He shrugged and said, "I'm not going anywhere." Braeden's an excellent sidekick, especially in a bookstore.

He wandered off in pursuit of treasures, and I browsed around myself.

Braeden checked in with me a few times.

"How much longer do you think it will be?"

I apologized to him. Neither of us realized what we were getting in to.

We persevered though.

Braeden found a book he's currently reading and sat in a teeny tiny chair in the children's section and read.  He looked funny, his knees up around his ears.  He was gamely reading though; he's a good sport.  He was the single bright spot in my afternoon.

Finally, after an hour, (yes, an hour) they called my name.  I was ready to hear the vast sum of money I was going to get in exchange for my stacks of books and the hour of my life I would never get back.

"$5," the man said.

"$5?"

"Yes, $5."

"For all the books?"

"Yes."

To say I was demoralized is putting it gently.

"Never mind," I said.  Braeden told me under his breath that he would flip over bookshelves if I wanted him to.  I did, but I told him no.  I gathered up my books and took them out of the store with my tail between my legs.

I had Braeden carry the 4 books I bought while I was waiting.

Yes, I bought more books since I'm not only being extremely efficient, I'm also, you know, getting rid of books.  

It's really working well.