Trash bin elf.
~joneworlds
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I don't come into town much these days, but here's me today. Can I
get a Norville Island red, or are you all out of those by now? No,
I don't think they're any good either, but you know - nostalgia, I
guess.

And I was at this bus stop earlier, and there's this elf there with
a shopping cart rummaging through the trash bin. I'm sort of
surprised by this, for some reason. Like I think that's more of a
human thing, and elfs ought to be beyond that stuff. But that's
silly. This is real life, not the Lords or the Ring or something.

And there's this woman sitting there in the shelter with two kids.
And one of them is about five, and he's closely watching this elf,
and he turns to his mom.

"What's he doing?"

"He's digging in the trash bin, to find cans and bottles. He'll
take them to the recycle place, and they'll give him a nickel for
every one he finds."

And his older sister is like, "I sure don't want to do that when I
grow up."

And the little boy is thinking hard about all this, and says to
mom, "I do. I'm going to do that."

"Uh, no, you won't do that."

"Yes, I will!"

"No! No, you won't!"

But I'm thinking to myself, that would seem like a pretty good gig,
when you're five.