Something
interesting happened one morning as I was heading to work. The city’s monstrous
traffic (as a colleague will describe it) on my usual route was heavy as always
(I’m sure those who trek the Ridge-National Theatre- SSNIT Pension House area
know this). So here we were, stuck in traffic, waiting on the green light to
beam for us to move when this young man hawking books came towards our car, with intention to seduce us into buying some of his merchandize or at least
inquire about the prices of his books.
The
books being sold were all children books- colouring books, writing books,
Arithmetic books, story books among others. Rather than sitting in the car
bored, we (my brother and I) decided to have a conversation with him.
He,
the trader, spoke first with a glib tone about how important it is for us to
make a purchase for our kids. We told him we had none. Then, he suggested we
buy for our nieces and nephews (it made sense). We asked him the price lists of
the various books which he readily gave out.
We
weren’t ready to buy any book that morning but you know how these hawkers
harass you till you either buy so he kept chasing after our car. His ‘sales
man-like’ talk continued. Then my brother saw an Arithmetic textbook he held.
He asked of the price which he gave as GHc 5. My brother didn’t say anything, for
a while and then out of nowhere asked this young man of about 20-plus old ‘what
is 8x4?
A
quizzical look was drawn on this young man’s face. We heard him mumbling some
words. My brother repeated his question. The dude looked at us, smiled and
asked if we are interested in buying the book or asking him what 8x4 was?
Enough
said. He walked away to the next car behind us to sell his books to others more
serious to buy than our likes.
A
case of a man out to hawk books and not answer early morning arithmetic
questions.
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