I had moved into a small cottage with two other men. I was in a room with one of the men. He was probably in his late 30s, overweight, and somewhat shorter than I. Also with us was a small boy, the son of the other man who wasn't with us. The boy was wearing blue clothes and was only about two decimeters tall. I became concerned when the boy began climbing over my stereo component system which I had set up in the room. I roughly pulled him off the stereo, then realized I had been too rough and might have hurt him.

I held him in my right hand and looked at him. I hadn't injured him in any way. I began shaking him, but no matter what I did, he kept a smile on his face and laughed at me. I was afraid the kid was going to break something; I didn't really want him around. However, he was here, and I was going to have to learn to put up with him. The other man in the room seemed to simply accept the child and wasn't bothered by him. Finally I just laid the boy back down on the floor.

The other man and I began talking about my stereo system. He didn't have a system of his own and admired mine. He referred to my system as a "Fox," apparently the brand name. He spoke about the system and the "woofers." I told him I had heard about woofers, but I didn't really know what they were. However, my system had features of which I wasn't even aware. I knew it wasn't a great system, but it was a fairly good.

Along with two large black speakers attached to the system, I had two smaller pink speakers, which I had acquired cheap somewhere. The two smaller speakers didn't add much to the sound, but they didn't detract from it either.

Hearing something at the front door, I stood and walked into an anteroom in front of the door. The room had windows along one wall, and had a wooden floor. I saw that the other man had arrived home, and the front door was still open. The man commented about how everything outside was in bloom, that it was a beautiful day outside. As I looked outside, I thought it was about 11 a.m. It was springtime, and many new flowers were in bloom. It looked as if the whole world was coming to life with flowers. I thought it would be nice if we could all go outside and enjoy it.

Although I didn't realize it at the time, the man looked a great deal like John Posh (a man I had recently met). However this man was thinner than Posh, and in his early 40s, somewhat younger than Posh. Unlike Posh, he also seemed to have a beard. When I saw that the man had carried in some boxes and set them on the floor, I reflected that I didn't know what kind of work he did. He had always spoken of his work in vague, elaborate terms. However, I know realized the man carried sweepers in the boxes, and that he was a sweeper salesman. I realized how difficult it must be for the man to go out every day and sell sweepers. I reflected that he was generally a humble man, and didn't put on airs.

As I thought about the kind of work he did, I began to realize why we were all living here together like this: none of us had much money. He worked hard and just had enough to pay the bills. He didn't complain about his work. Although he didn't have much money, he was moderately successful and seemed generally up-beat.

I noticed another predominately blue and white box setting next to the sweeper box. It was about a meter long and about 30 centimeters wide and deep. Some writing on the side said something about "pennies." It looked as if it was a donation box into which people had been putting pennies. I was uncertain whether he had been helping someone with donations, or whether he had stolen the box. I didn't think he would have stolen the box, but I was puzzled that he had it.

I looked outside again. I began thinking about the first fellow in the other room. I realized he was unemployed. I knew I had some extra money and thought I might be able to help him get started in some kind of business. We had a large front yard – he might be able to make some money having yard sales. He could buy things at other yard sales, bring them back to this house and sell them. He could probably make some money that way. I knew giving him the money would be risky, but I thought I could probably trust him enough do it.