What He Couldn't Buy - Flash Fiction
- Greg Luti
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
A flash fiction story can explore the limits of wealth and desire. In “What He Couldn’t Buy,” Greg Luti follows a man with a mysterious condition who goes on a wild shopping spree, buying everything in sight while searching for something that money can’t buy.
I was talking to a buddy of mine at work one day, it was the time of the day when we are all about done with the job, but still have to be there, so we make small talk to pass the time. I was printing out some documents as he sat there doing nothing.
The story he told me is what I am about to tell you.
He heard of a guy who went into a store, I don’t remember which type of store it was, but I guess it was the type of place you could do this sort of thing. The guy just pointed at stuff and bought it.
Like it was nothing.
He took a few of the paintings on the wall, a few statues. Actually, a lot of statues… the buyer had a weird thing about statues. I think the number was in double digits. Yes, there is a man who once bought ten statues for no other reason than that is what he felt like doing. Have you ever seen ten statues in your life? This man bought them like most people buy chips at the grocery store.
Then there were furniture pieces he bought that seemed unnecessary for any person to really own, like an office desk that has room for two chairs, but is for one person. One of the desks switched between a desk and a bed. Another had so many compartments you wonder what the person at the desk was actually doing.
Then there were the couches… Oh my god, the couches. The guy might as well have taken all of them. He pointed, and he got them. The man selling him all the stuff was even sitting on a couch, when the guy looked at him and noted he would take that as well.
There was some stuff the guy bought that he didn’t even know what it was, but he bought it. He pointed at the chest and said, “I’ll take it.” He didn’t even look inside the chest. He saw three more chests like that on the table, and then decided to buy those too, and he took the table also.
Old-time games and trinkets no one would really use or even need. The guy bought them. He didn’t even ask what they were. The seller stopped describing the particular history of the items when the buyer acknowledged he wanted them all. Screw the history, the buyer didn’t care.
In the back were old books, and he took every one of them. Yeah, those never stood a chance. He asked if the bookshelf was available to buy, but the seller told him it was not. That was a part of the store.
This dude went into a freaking store and bought whatever he wanted, like it was nothing. When asked if he had the room for it all, the guy was almost insulted by the question, as though it was even dumb to ask.
The guy got to the register and asked for the total, but before he did, he asked the seller if he liked his job, to which the seller said he did for the most part. The rich guy then offered him a job right on the spot, no fuss. There were two people in the store standing by, and they were offered jobs too, even though they had nothing to do with the purchase.
Before the purchase was complete, the man noted that he would buy the store, but he is not in the area enough to really do that.
Then the man stopped the conversation and spoke sternly to the seller during the entire spree, “I am here for one reason, actually. I mean, I like all this stuff you have, but there is something that I heard you guys sell. The word on the street is that the item is called the cure. It can help with sleep and other problems. Does that sound like something you have?” He stared at the seller with a frankness he had not shown before. His eyes didn’t blink. His facial expression stayed there, and the jovial expressions he had earlier were gone.
The seller dropped his head, for he had heard this rumor from customers many times before, and he had addressed them before, too. “That is an old rumor started by the old owner of this place. Back before the current owner took over, this place had a bunch of items, weird items, like occult stuff, and one of them he advertised was a cure for what you are seeking. I think my owner asked him about it when he bought the place, but that was nothing more than a lie. That item doesn’t exist and never did. Sorry about that. Want me to ring you up?”
The buyer changed his facial expression to hide his frustration. “Hey, man. It happens. No big deal. I mean, I just thought I asked.”
The seller then noticed the restless shoulders the buyer had, and his red eyes, as though he had not slept in days. The buyer finished the purchase, twitching a little more than he had when the spending spree began.
That was basically the story.
I am not sure how much of the story I even believe. My co-worker didn’t really confirm whether he thought it was true or not. When he was done telling it, I gathered what I had printed out and went back to my desk.
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