No Solicitation Rules

Condo living is all about rules, but ten year old AJ Albert was on a mission. He appeared at my wide open front door soliciting money for the Kahakai Elementary School. Despite the rule violation and a concern for creating a reputation in the complex, when it comes to kids and their personal causes, I'm a sucker.

I invited the little fifth grader to come in. Like a polite Hawaiian boy, he kicked off his slippers before he entered. I grilled him about his fundraising, while I reviewed his paper work. I feared I might have an emerging Obama on my hands and wanted to nip his reallocation of my resources to his pocket in the bud. However, his credentials seemed in order. I scribbled the name of his school and his teacher on a scrap piece of paper.

“Where do you live, AJ?” I asked.

“Building N,” he replied. In a large complex of buildings that runs twice through the alphabet twice by doubling the letters up, the residents understand that a letter is as good as a GPS coordinate. For example, I live in A103. That’s the first building, first floor, third unit from the right.

When I asked him where the school was located, AJ gave precise directions all without the use of street names, which was more than I expected from the boy who gave clipped answers to all my other questions. This was useful information as Kahakai Elementary is the location of my polling place, and I had no idea where it was. AJ added he took the bus to school.

AJ’s school is having a small race next weekend. A class triathlon. The money was for equipment. "You going to race?"

He thought for a couple of seconds. "Umm, I don't know."

I guess a ten year old doesn’t need to train. They just show up and do it.

I wrote my name down on his log sheet and stuffed two dollars into his manila envelop. That was all I had after dropping a few dollars in the bucket at church that morning. “Anyone ask you as many questions as I did?”

He shrugged as if to save me the embarrassment, “Not really.”

Well, maybe he’ll spread the word that the crazy lady in A103 asks too many questions and then doesn’t give that much. Not worth your time. Hey, some money is better than no money. That's going to be my reputation. Maybe I should have given him a cookie.