Spy bags, Sonic Booms and Gerald (November 7th, 2007), the sequel to Blocks of Wood:
And that salesperson couldn’t find one either. They found a third salesperson; no dice. I think at that point that other salespeople started gravitating towards my mother, just to see what was going on (“I was nice about it,” she tells me, “but I had decided that I wasn’t leaving without that rebate form”), and every time someone new joined the crowd she had to tell the story again (“to the point where the others just started chiming in, too.” I love the idea of half a dozen salespeople just following my mother around like a Greek chorus. “And he woke her daughter up, too! Didn’t call in advance like he was supposed to!” “And then he said, ‘It says ‘Leave in carton,’ I can’t do nothin’ but that!’”). So we’re up to eight or nine salespeople, all following my mother around the Sears electronic department in a desperate search for a rebate form for a Sony high-definition TV, and finally we’re up to the Senior Electronics Manager and he doesn’t know what to do, either.
“I think,” says the Senior Manager, hesitantly, “we’re going to need to get… Gerald.”
The other salespeople look at each other. “Gerald?”
“I think… I think we’re going to have to.”
“Gerald,” they whisper. “COD, please come to electronics,” the Senior Manager says, quavering, over the PA.