Hauling Furniture, Reckless Youth, and the Sunday Paper

We recently decided to sell a couple of things from around the house — a fridge that we didn’t really like in the first place, and a couch that we loved but which couldn’t make it around the corner and into the bonus room at the top of our stairs. After advertising both of them on craigslist and in the paper, we finally ended up selling the couch to a couple of college guys who wanted the couch for their fraternity house. (Note to self: Don’t ever tell your wife that her beloved furniture is destined for a frat house living room.)

Anyway, they pretty much walked in our front door, took one look at the couch, whipped out a wad of cash, and paid up. Once we had the cash in hand, I helped them load it in their truck. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite fit. Thus, they decided to put up the rear gate and sort of wedge the couch up against the built-in toolbox while letting about a third of it hang over the back end. Since it looked a bit precarious, I suggested that they might want to secure it somehow. But instead of tying it down, they decided that one of them should ride on the couch to keep it from falling out… Not terribly bright, but that’s what they wanted to do.

As they drove away, our eight year old, who is quite the safety-concious wiseguy, turned to me and said:

“That doesn’t look like a very good idea. Maybe we should buy the paper tomorrow and see if they’re in it.”

We can only hope that he still has that same head on his shoulders ten years from now when he starts college.