5th and Market, 8PM
Posted in stories on April 7th, 2007 by MarkBallewIt was a late night at work, and getting home, having a beer, and slipping off into a deep sleep was all that was on my mind.
As I crossed Market and landed on the “wrong” side of 5th street, that is the Tenderloin side, a short man ran up to me and started motioning excitedly to a box wrapped in plastic bags in his hands. My normal programming is to keep walking and ignore such people, but this annoying man was insistent.
“Young man! Young man!” he said in a hurried tone.
I ignored him.
“Young man! Would you like to buy a laptop? Cheap!” he said as he was out of breath and trying to catch up with my now hurried pace.
“Would you like to buy a laptop?!” he insisted, saying over and over again. It was time to step up my efforts.
“No!” I demanded, though I thought about a cheap laptop being useful.
“I’ll sell it cheap!”
“NO!” I insisted, walking even faster. I thought about how this laptop was likely stolen and/or broken, and how buying stolen merchandise not only a crime, but cheating capitalism.
“Would you like to buy a laptop?!” he said again, as though I hadn’t heard him all this time.
“No, go away!” I yelled, tired of this game.
I hear 5th and Market is a great place to get a stolen laptop on a Friday night.
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