Bertrand Finds a Home

So, it was Valentine's Day.  We ate a lovely meal at one of our favorite restaurants, Zea.  Then we wandered next door (as we are want to do after eating at Zea), to Z Gallerie.  The intention, as always, was to drool over things (wiping them off as we went), and to check out the clearance section.  Still a couple of cheapskates around here.  I literally can't remember the last thing we bought at full price.  Unless you count groceries.  Actually, as a side note, we somehow finagled a free appetizer out of Zea that night...

Anyway, we walked in and there were all of their magnificent white animal heads, just a-staring at me. Ugh.  I love them all.  The giraffe head was a little smaller than some and I just adored it, so I thought maybe somehow it would be kind of affordable.  It was not.  A hundred thirty big ones.  That ain't happenin' around the Johnson household.  Anthony saw me peeking at the price and immediately marched up to the cashier and asked if we could have a discount.  I scurried away.  It still sort of embarrasses me at times.  By the time I had finished my tour of the store and was ready to go, I returned to find that they were looking for a damaged giraffe they had in the back.  The lady handed over a lovely giraffe with a couple tiny chips in it and proudly proclaimed she could knock 15% off!  Wop wop.  We thanked her for her abundant kindness but said, we simply couldn't do it.  After quite a bit of hemming and hawing (and meeting our adorable, smiling baby) she finally said that "just this once!" she could go down to 40% off.  As I was figuring out what that was and grimacing at the still-way-too-high price, she said, "That's really the absolute very best I can do.  I mean...it's not even damaged very much...." We kinda just kept our mouths shut and looked at her.  Then she dropped this gem: "I mean, the lowest we EVER go is 70% off, and I just don't think..." This is where I whipped out my phone again and said, "Let's just see what it would be if it were 70% off.  Not that we expect you to give it to use for that ridiculous price.  Oh!  $39!  Now THAT we could do!"  And then we paid $39 for Bertrand.  The end.