The Left-Handed Gloves

It was a bright spring morning. I had arrived early at the flea market to get in on the bargains. After a half hour or so of poking around, I noticed a woman at a table selling reconditioned industrial tools. In front of her table there was a barrel with a sign above it that read “Gloves $2.00 each”. I looked in the barrel and saw that it was filled to the top with brand new heavy black rubber industrial gloves, the kind that cost $20.00 to $40.00 a pair in a store. I picked up one of the gloves and put it on my left hand. It was a perfect fit. It came all the way to my elbow. I dug around in the barrel for its mate but I soon discovered that all the gloves in the barrel were left-handed. Now I understood why no one was buying them even though they were so reasonably priced.

The woman at the booth must have been watching people try on a glove, take it off and walk away over and over again that morning. I needed these gloves badly. I had intended to buy several pairs at this bargain price of $4.00 a pair. Desperate not to be beaten out of my find so easily, I grabbed the left-handed glove at the elbow. Closing my fist, I pulled off the glove turning it inside out in the process. Suddenly the glove had been transformed into a perfect right-handed heavy-duty rubber glove. I slipped it on my right hand just to make sure. As I completed the pair with another left handed glove from the barrel, I stood in front of the sales woman wearing a perfect pair of expensive industrial rubber gloves. The look on the woman’s face had turned to one of absolute astonishment.

I quickly bought 4 pairs at the bargain price of $4.00 a pair. As I walked away with my treasure I turned to notice the woman had changed the sign to read, “Gloves $16.00 a Pair” and was busily turning gloves inside out.