A Most Mediocre Swindle…

It’s profitable and risky… to a minimal extent

It’s easy and highly profitable, but in very low denominations.

The risks, well… Not jail for insider trading; perhaps mild annoyance.

Take someone gullible, but not too much so. And patient. A smoker for preference… A sophomore will be ideal. Then repeat: you want as many as possible.

Grab a box of paperclips. Ten a cent, right?

Now, trade that paperclip for a cigarette (timing is important here). Well done! The smoke is worth 10¢; you’ve cunningly 100x’d the value.

Continue until luck runs out.

You might get known around campus as a fraudster.

To a minimal extent, most likely.

This was a response to Grim Flandango’s ‘Afternoon of the Living Drabble’ word prompts (‘sophomore’), and to my own January prompts #12: When is a story not just a story? The answer: when it links to someone else’s work. This piece follows on from fellow drabblers Eva MacInnes and Jay C Wells:

If you’re my age you might remember the case (urban myth?) of a guy that just kept ‘trading up’, and swapped his way from paperclip to house. Read about it here! Anyone want to write a fantasy fiction take on the same thing? Kobold toothpick to dragon-drawn airship, maybe?