That old bag

never judge a book by its cover or a banana by its peel

That old bag?

 

"Mr Spinkle? Yes, I know him...well, I know of him. Funny old man, not because of the way he dresses-although his dress sense is rather strange, mind you- but because of the way he lives.  I heard that he won the lottery or something, but although he is a wealthy man, he lives in a tumbledown house and drives a pathetic little pink car that hardly runs anymore. Apparently, he's really stingy with his money too! Cynthia, that's my neighbour, said that her daughter's friend's younger cousin asked him to buy a school raffle ticket, to which he simply replied that he didn't have money for it. What nonsense. Wait, maybe you should ask Cynthia to tell you a bit more about him."

 

"That old bag? Yes, I can tell you a fair bit about him. He is so weird. Mr Spinkle was apparently born into a wealthy family or something like that, but he pretends to be poor so that he doesn't have to share it with anyone. He never had any children. I heard that's because he didn't want to waste money on them, and Janine told me that his wife left him as a result of this. I'm not surprised that she divorced his pathetic backside: his strange living conditions and stinginess would be enough to drive any woman a little mad. I just thought of someone you could speak to about Mr Spinkle. Megan knows him quite well. Her aunt's best friend's daughter was a close friend of Mrs Spinkle."

 

"What an old horrible man. He didn't want to have children and never gives a cent to charity. He probably even hates cute little animals. It's not as if he actually worked for his money anyway, his aunt left it to him when she died. I'm sure he could spare a bit of that money to buy a homeless person something to eat once in a while. He is so miserly! I heard that he doesn't even give sweets to the children on Halloween. Despicable, isn't it? Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a nail appointment..."

 

"Mr Spinkle? I have known him my whole life. He is a rather strange old man...but, I've never met anyone quite so sweet and generous. Mr Spinkle worked hard his whole life and saved up a fair bit of money. He and Mrs Spinkle were so in love, God rest her soul. It's just a pity that they couldn't have children; it broke Mr Spinkle's heart. Because of this, Mr Spinkle spent every Saturday of the last twenty years visiting the children at the orphanage. He donated his life savings to this same orphanage when Mrs Spinkle died. No wonder he lives in a tumbledown house now. Mr Spinkle truly is such a lovely man. Have you asked anyone else about him yet? I'm sure they would all have such nice things to say..."

 

Reviews

[Manie]

Hehe... i found this quite humurous (probably because it tells us so much about ourselves)... i love the way you wrote this piece, the way it flowed, and how you got different people to express their views about Mr Spinkle. Not just a good story, but a good lesson. Makes us think before we speak about people. Well Done!