Vendor

I'm not sure how well this one came out...

A couple of months ago, I was walking down Madison Avenue. l don't actually go there for shopping or as a means to get anywhere else. I just like to watch the people go by and imagine what their true selves are, under what they're showing to the rest of the world. So far in my life, I've only found a handful of people who look and act like their true self.

As I watched a sunglassed woman across the street walk hurriedly down the sidewalk as if she was actually going somewhere, I bumped into a street vendor. I quickly apologized and was about to turn around in embarrassment, but what he was selling caught my eye.
"Excuse me, but why are you selling sticks?"
"It's kindling. You know, in case somebody wants to start a fire."
"You mean like setting a building on fire?"
"No! That would be horrible. No, it's for a fire in a fireplace."
"Oh....... Isn't this the wrong place to be selling it?"
"One might think, but it's actually perfect. You see, it's not easy to get wood in a city, and nobody else is selling any. I'll make more than you think."
"I think you're going to make nothing."
"So far I've made nothing, but sales'll pick up. Don't worry. Winter's just started. I've got plenty of time..."

Then he just smiled at me as I left. I don't know why he thought people in the city would be interested in having fires, but I'm not sure he's wrong. Maybe he's smarter than the rest of us. Maybe he's now at the top of the kindling business.