ground containing one in sufficient quantity to be profitably extracted.
informal: profit, reward
I struck pay dirt in pay dirt at the Half Price Bookstore today! Shelves and shelves of pay dirt.
I carried in a small shopping bag of books, several of which I’d purchased at the very same store. Some still wore their Half Price Books yellow and white price tag. How convenient for the store — the books only needed re-shelving.
“Have you sold to us before?” The clerk asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Okay, I’ll just need your driver’s license — pause….Thanks — We’ll call you when the offer is ready.”
In the mean time, I had opportunity to browse the shelves. I was delighted to find not one, but two copies of On Writing by Stephen King. In truth, that was the entire point of my trip to the store. How often does that happen? My luck day!
Now, I had a decision to make. Would it be the small print version for $3.99, or the large print with a brown stain for $7.99? The large print was tempting, but I decided I’d just read without my contacts so that the small print would be clear.
Is my frugality showing?
“Gail — Please come to the counter. We have your offer ready.”
I was expecting an offer of a buck fifty-two. Imagine my surprise when the young woman with jet black hair — accented with a royal blue stripe said, “We can offer six dollars and fifteen cents.”
“Sold!” I said with a grin.
I decided I’d stick with King in small print despite my windfall.
What else can I get?
I looked for Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. Not finding it under Writing, and not finding a store section on Creativity, I tracked down an employee wearing a black smock, who looked the book up on the computer. She then led me directly to Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work in the section labeled Art.
Pay dirt!
And then, just for fun, I browsed the Spirituality shelves. I couldn’t find The Untethered Soul or The Alchemist, but I did find Love Does, which promises to be an inspirational read.
When all was said and done at the register, I’d purchased under twenty dollars worth of words and stories to feed my heart and soul.
I hit pay dirt at the Half-Price Bookstore today.
And because of that, it didn’t even bother me that the store was already decorated for Christmas.
