Ten Pounds Each

At the Portobello Road market, a man picked up an old brass lamp and turned it over.

“How much?” he asked.

“Twenty pounds,” the stall holder said.

“Twenty? It’s got a scratch. I’ll give you five.”

“It’s brass, mate. A hundred years old. Fifteen.”

The man made a face, as if fifteen pounds were a personal insult. “Eight. That’s my final deal.”

They went back and forth for ten minutes. The buyer claimed the lamp was ugly, broken, and far too heavy, and he kept cutting the price pound by pound, until at last the seller threw up his hands.

“Fine. Six pounds. Take it,” the seller said. “I never want to see it again.”

The buyer smiled and made one last comment. “Actually, do you have two of them?”

“For you?” the seller said. “Ten pounds each.”