A Strange Conversation

Today was 50% off day at Goodwill, so of course we loaded up the family to see what we could find. At one store, the boy got something FOUL on his hand so his father had to whisk him to the men's room to clean it up because I was gagging. After I had calmed down a bit, I decided to look through the books. There was an older man stading next to me, looking at the same shelf. He asked me if I was looking for any specific genre and I told him no. He paused for a moment, and then with a big grin he announced, "I am. I'm looking for books on serial killers! I like serial killers!!!"

My first thought was that he was trying to get a reaction from me. I mean, why would you tell someone, a complete stranger, that? I guess he picked the wrong person if shocking me was his goal. I calmly looked up from where I was squatting and looking at the bottom shelf and said "Oh? Have you read about the Torso murderer in Cleveland?"

The guy said, "No, I have not."

So I tell him, "You've heard of Elliot Ness and the Untouchables, right? They brought down all those crime families during the prohibition and he was a hero."

The guy says "Oh yeah, he helped catch Al Capone!"

"Well, " I say, "the Torso killer ruined Elliott Ness's career after that because he couldn't be caught. No one ever found out who he was.

I totally had that guy captivated. He left me excited for a new story to look for on his excursions. My brain full of useless knowledge strikes again!