“I’ll take it,” he said.

Right away I realized I could have offered less, but in retrospect it was one of the best deals of my life, so I’m not complaining.

“There are certain assets I have to get, though.”

“And what’s that?” he asked.

“A van and some packing tables,” I said, figuring that with the bigger operation I’d need them.

“Fine,” he answered, glad I didn’t want anything big.

“That’s not all,” I said. “I also want your desk and the corporate minute books going back to the beginning.”

“Why would you want that?” he asked.

“If I’m buying this company, I want to know everything about it. About its history. What it did right. What it did wrong. Sixty years in business is a long tradition. It’s my tradition now. That’s why I gotta have the desk too.”

“Fine,” he said. “Is that all?”

“That’s it.”

“Then the deal’s final?”

“Final,” I agreed.

Right there he wrote up the contract and I gave him a personal check for the five grand. Afterward he told me, “You know, you could’ve gotten a lot more out of me than an old desk and some musty corporate books.”