Negotiation
Scott Garson

In the metro station, he meets a woman who asks for seven dollars. He can’t comply with this request, as he is quick to make clear, but he wonders aloud why it might be that she needs the unusual sum. She concedes that the story of needing seven dollars is an interesting one; in fact, she’s unable to part with it for anything less than ten. But for five dollars, she tells him quietly, she’ll agree not to tell him his future. My future? he says. The woman’s eyes go dull, as if with ominous vision. He throws her a five. I know that’s a con, he says with disgust. The woman says nothing. Total con, he insists. The woman nods twice. She tells him that she will confirm or deny his assertion for the price of two dollars.

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Scott Garson’s Comments

“Negotiation” is one of the later/more recent compositions. I started writing it with a feeling of great assurance, like I knew exactly what the story was going to be. I didn’t! Or maybe I did.

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