"SOLD! TO THE YOUNG MAN IN SHORTS"

By Paul Harvey



You'd be amazed at the stuff that turns up in a police department property room.  Police recover things, then nobody claims them.  Or evidence is held and released.  All sorts of things.  Cameras and stereo speakers, TV sets and tools and tool boxes and car radios.  And once a year these unclaimed items are sold at auction.  This year at the police auction in Kansas City, Mo., there was a large number of bicycles.


When the very first bicycle came up and the auctioneer asked who'd start the bidding, a youngster right down in front said, "Five dollars."  Tiny youngster ---ten---maybe 12.


"I've got five, will you give me ten?  Ten, who'll bid 15?"

As the bidding continued the auctioneer looked back at the young man down front.  The boy did not respond.


Later another bicycle came up, and again the boy did $5 but would go no higher.  This went on through several bicycles.  Each time the boy bid $5; never more.  And $5 was not nearly enough.  The bikes were selling for $35 or $40, and some even for more than $100.


During a brief intermission, the auctioneer asked the boy why he had let some of those good bikes sell without bidding higher.  The young man explained that $5 was all he dad.


Back to the auction: there were cameras and CB radios still to be sold, and some more bicycles.  On each bicycle, the boy did $5.  And on each, someone else bid much more.

But now the assembled crowd is beginning to notice the boy who always opens the bidding.  The crowd is beginning to recognize what is happening.


After a tedious hour and a half, the auction is beginning to wind down.  But there  is still one bicycle left, and it is a dandy.  A shiny, like-new ten-speed with 27-inch wheels, dual-position brake levers, stem shifters and a generator light set.

The auctioneer asks, "Do I hear a bid?"
And the young man near the front---who by now has all but given up---quietly repeats: "Five dollars."

And the auctioneer stops his chant.  Just stops.  Stands there.  And the audience sits silent.  Not one hand is raise.  Not one voice calls out a second bid.

Until the auctioneer says:  "SOLD! To the young man in the shorts and sneakers---for$5!"

And the audience applauds.

And a small boy's face lights up like one of the most beautiful sights you ever saw, as he trades the $5 scrunched up in his sweaty fist for what is surely the most beautiful bicycle in the world.


Thanks for reading.
Peace.

B.O.P.

P.S.  Former blogger friend posted a video to her blog.  Looking great without makeup!!  Just seeing her and hearing her voice...MADE MY DAY TODAY.  Glad she is doing well.