My friend Matt Meinhardt said he was an expert negotiator

To illustrate this fact he told me about the time he went to a garage sale
and saw a bicycle

He did want one so he went up to the woman who owned the house and he
pointed at the bicycle and rubbed his thumb and fingers together

The woman held up two hands and he nodded and walked back to the bicycle to
take a closer look

The chain was bad so he pointed at it and shook his head and turned around
to leave

The woman ran down her driveway and stopped him with one hand

Five dollars five dollars five dollars

He gave her a thoughtful maybe face and looked at the bicycle some more but
shook his head again

The woman stopped him again and made a slashing gesture with her hands like
a baseball umpire when a runner is safe

Matt raised his eyebrows as if to say why that’s generous of you you really
shouldn’t

But then he frowned and his face said aw I would like to but I really

The woman held up a frantic index finger and ran back up the driveway to her
cash box and came back to him and pressed a five dollar bill against his
chest and shooed the bicycle away

Matt bowed his head and accepted the offer

He said that he went to a shop and got a new chain and has been riding the
bicycle with pleasure ever since