Common Cents

Jakob and Anna and I were walking around the park and we saw a bowling alley set up where you could win a stuffed animal. Jakob and Anna really wanted to play, and I had some money, so I said "sure".

I walked up to the woman at the game and asked how much and she said "$5 for 2 balls".

I said "sure" and gave her $10.

Jakob and Anna then got into adjacent lanes. Each picked up a duckpin ball and promptly threw it in the gutter. Really. Right in the gutter. Not rolling into the gutter, not falling into the gutter, but a dive-bomb right into the gutter.

Practice round over, they picked up another ball and did the same thing again. Two kids. Four balls. Ten dollars. Eight seconds.

What part of my brain doesn't work that I allowed that to happen? What loss-limiting mechanism is broken within me that didn't say "this is a bad idea"?

I have no common cents. I've spent them all.

-Ed