Homeless Days of Harry Potter

So--I'm waiting in my car for my son to return with his cold drink when this homeless guy walks up to me, leans on my door, and says look, I've got a copy of the new Harry Potter book. I say--that's nice, and return to my comic book.

Do you want to buy it? $5!

Nary a thought passes my mind; I check the book, run through to make sure there's no drool or nastiness, hand him a fiver, and he's thankful and ambles off (at that very moment another tragic figure approaches with an empty gas can, asking for money for gas--to which I give her a buck. OK....OK, maybe she DOESN'T have a car; it's just a ploy...)

Odd thing is, I was off to my warehouse to do some work on my ebay business, and as I have an ancillary Amazon selling account, I list the book and thirty minutes later, it's sold for $17.50. Cool, I'm thinking. Helped the homeless guy, made a sale. Everybody's happy.

Except one guy, a good friend who points out that the book was probably stolen. I'm trafficking with thieves now?

I'm slightly abashed, but then I think--who knows? Who could absolutely know? Sure, there's a much higher chance that this guy did lift the book, or got it from someone who did, but...you know? I try not to have that harsh or suspicious a nature of my fellow man. Or maybe--

And how about all the folks I buy comics collections from? Did they steal the books at some point? I have on many occasions bought comics from various comics retailers, often staffers, and well--for the life of me, with the volume and quantity that they are offering me, one has to wonder--what kind of discount did these guys get? Or was it the five-fingered kind?

I'll never know--and I can't presume the viewpoint of a cop on each transaction that I undergo. Everyone has some larceny in their hearts--I was caught shoplifting when I was a teen. On rare occasions, I've been known to keep the incorrect change given to me by cash clerks when it worked to my advantage...but no, mostly I'm a pretty honest guy. There's enough to worry about in this life--like global warming and the effect it's going to have on my kids when they grow up.

Or how much they'll be paying to buy a house--if ever.

Chris TOKYODAYS