It's not often that one gets duped by a 5-year-old, but ...

Right before I went to Spain, my nephew asked me if I'd buy him blue Power Ranger gloves. Since he already had two pairs, in red and green, to be exact, I told him no. A few days later, he told me he lost them, and now would I buy it for him. I knew I was totally being suckered, but he's just so cute ...

Anyway, so I told him I'd take him to buy them, but that he'd have to pay for them. I told him they cost $10, which he said he had, and he said okay. His mom called me and told me he didn't have $10; he had 10 coins. Seeing as how the kid's only 5, and again, he's so darn cute, I decided to forego the lesson this time and buy the kid the darn gloves. The only catch was that he had to give me his 10 coins. (Now, don't call me a scrooge -- it's his parents' rules ...)

So I take him to the store, and we get the gloves. When we get back home, he gave me the 10 coins and says, "We're good now, right?" Yes, David, we're good. "I don't owe you anything, right?" Right, we're all set. "Yay! I get to keep my dollars!"

That's right. He had dollars the whole time. He was totally playing into my aw-shucks-isn't-he-so-cute-he-doesn't-know-anything-about-money naivete. Man, I got suckered. He's lucky he looks like this:



You can see it in his eyes, can't you? :-)