Small Steps

Hoping to get seats close to the front, X-Ray picks Armpit up at 4 o’clock in the morning on the release day for Kaira’s concert tickets. While they wait in line, they listen to her music, and Armpit hears her sing “Save me, Armpit! A damsel in distress” (35). Confused, Armpit assumes he just misheard and goes back to studying his economics book. The guys in front of Armpit and X-Ray are also buying tickets to resell and work as a team, under the leaders Felix and Moses. They offer tacos to Armpit and X-Ray, and after Armpit has bought their 12 tickets ($60 each, in row M), Felix offers to buy them for $75 each, an offer that X-Ray flatly refuses. Armpit is tempted by the guaranteed, immediate profit, without the risk of losing everything. A discussion about supply and demand follows, and suddenly everything Armpit is studying in economics class makes sense. X-Ray refuses the $180 “pure profit, and no worries” (42) and gets Armpit to school slightly late for his economics test.

Armpit scores 90 on his economics test and is in a good mood on his walk home when a stranger crosses the road to avoid him.