"Can you believe some of this stuff?" Karyn said. "What's this? Glasses of the Hidden Mind? What a corny name. It doesn't even look like anything special. See any good costumes, Jon?"
"Not really, Karyn," Jon said. "I mean, there's some interesting outfits here, but I'm not sure I'd call them 'costumes', and even at 50% off, some of these prices seem a bit steep."
A short while later, the old man reappeared from behind the curtain. "See anything you like?" he asked.
"This is an interesting shop," Karyn said. "But I'm not sure we're willing to spend the prices you're asking."
"Ah, I see," the old man replied. "In that case, let me make you an offer. I'll loan you one item in this store, for oh ... let's say, a week. You can try out the item, and if you're not perfectly satisfied, you can rent any costume here for an 80% discount. What do you think?"
Jon and Karyn thought for a moment, then Jon spoke up. "Well, the costume dance is just over a week away, so I guess we still have time to get costumes. I'm game. What do you think, Karyn?"
"Yeah, I guess," she said.
"Well, do you know what item you'd like?" asked the old man.
"This Glasses of the Hidden Mind seems interesting," Karyn said. The old man grinned and pulled the wood staff out from behind the glass and showed it to Karyn.
"Ah yes, the Glasses of the Hidden Mind. There's a terribly long and interesting story behind this one, but I won't bore you with it right now. But allow me to explain some things. First: Whoever wears these glasses will not be able to take them off until the week long trial period is over. Second: Anyone who is near you will tell you what they are thinking, no matter what. Well, that's about it. I assume the lady will be the one to wear them?"
"Yeah, sure, I guess," Karyn said as the man gave her the glasses.
"See you in a week," he said as Jon and Karyn left the shop.
"Do you really think those glasses make people say what they're thinking?" Jon asked. "I mean, even if it did, I wouldn't want people to know what I'm thinking."
"I don't know, maybe I should try them out anyway."
"Okay, fine. But I don't think it will work."
"Okay." Karyn put on the glasses.
