Zachary’s Intent

My son says, “Let’s just go out and sell the shirts.” He is referring to the t-shirts I have had my illustrations transferred onto by a printing company in Oregon. I’m thinking right then. “Well it can’t just be that simple.” I tell him it is getting ready to rain and no one is going to want to buy wet t-shirts. “We don’t have to set them up in the driveway this time.” I ask him “Well how else do you think we are going to do this.” He tells me we are going to people’s houses. I knew he was going to say this. The thought of going from door to door and trying to sell t-shirts was to me a very raw, very bold way to go about it. I thought “This is exactly why we have to do it. Let’s just get in the truck and go.”

Mind you, this all started when Zachary was asking his mother if she would get him the new electronic game player advertised on TV. She told him right away, “Remember those t-shirts you said you would sell for Daddy?” From there he wasn’t wasting any time. Zachary is very persistent. He was not buying any of my excuses, and at the same time I’m thinking “What am I supposed to do? Rob him of an experience in boldness?” I say this with the fact in mind that he is not usually one to speak to people unless they have been around him for a while. I tell him that in order for us to go through with this he is going to be the one doing the selling. “When the person come to the door, you ask if they would like to buy a t-shirt.” He tells me to do it for him. I say “No. If you want to make commission off of these shirts, then you will be the one who says it.” He agrees and we are soon rehearsing his line. Okay, so we have everything loaded and Zachary has his receipt book in hand. He is beaming. We have an hour of daylight left.
As I am pulling the truck up to the curb in a quiet neighborhood a few blocks away, I ask him “Are you ready?” Zachary nods affirmatively and we get out of the truck with a t-shirt. My job is to show the shirt to the customer if and when he or she is showing an interest. We push our first doorbell, and with much anticipation I stand there and wait with him. An elderly man opens the door and looks at us one at a time. Zachary is struggling to make eye contact and I finally tell the man that my son has a question to ask him. With no hesitation, Zachary asks him “Would you like to buy a t-shirt?” The prospective customer asks him to speak up, and Zachary asks again in the same words. He is declined and I have Zachary to thank the man for his time. As we get back into the truck I am telling my son “Well that wasn’t too bad.” I then ask him if he wants to try another house and he says “Yeah, but don’t say my little boy again.” We are both laughing and smiling about the first experience and are soon walking up to another house. After being told “No thank you” a second time, Zachary and I decide to go ahead and drive back home while talking about the possibility of a better sales pitch. Both of us were able to see an intention in action.