Bear Market

Let's just say that anything you might want to buy at the Mt. Washington hotel is priced to cost you an arm and a leg...or an ear. But I would submit to you that whatever they collect in dollars from their patrons is at the expense of no less than their dignity.

In the basement of the hotel is a quaint little gift shop filled with quaint little things and staffed by a quaint little clerk. In a barrel they had a collection of little plastic animal heads on a stick and at the bottom of the stick is a small trigger that operates the mouth. How could this useless little toy not be worth the $5 asking price? Molloy really wanted one and she was willing to spend all her $5 vacation money to get one. But among the giraffes, lions, tigers, and mooses (mices? meeses? moosi?) was a lone bear that she had her heart set on.

I tried to discourage her from wasting her money by asking her what she would use it for and without missing a beat she replied that she can use it to pick up things off her bedroom floor and thereby keep her room clean. The genius of her to give me a reason why I would want her to have it, let alone why she would want to have it!

But alas, the bear was broken and missing an ear.

As we sat outside the store, I laid out her options: Buy the broken toy for $5, choose a different animal, or not buy it at all. She wasn't happy with her options and neither was I. But then I thought, "what would I do?" and settled on a fourth option that I had to explain to her.

I suggested she go back into the store and offer the clerk $2 for the broken bear. She pondered that for a moment and turned around and marched back into the store leaving Kerrie and I wondering just what type of monster I was about to create. With her $5 bill in one hand, we could see her take the bear out of the barrel and then disappear from view as she sidled up to the counter. Kerrie and I looked at each other in deep curiosity as our 6-year-old daughter was taking this task on alone.

Minutes went by that seemed like, well, minutes. I thought of trailing in behind her to see what was happening but really wanted to see how this turned out without my involvement. After about 10 minutes she came out with the bear and change back from her $5. What courage.

But then I notice two coins clinking together and I asked her how much the bear cost and she said $2.50. I was horrified that this little old lady working extra hours to supplement her social security check actually had the gall to negotiate with a 6-year-old bundle of cuteness for $0.50 on a broken toy that she had put into her inventory. I mean, could you negotiate with this....?