A Sort Of Humor


       Lately, most people had been irritated by persistent salesmen 
who would try to persuade them to buy their goods. Though complains
had been made to the relevant authorities, the 'plague' of salesmen
showed no signs of abating.
       Amongst those disconsolated people, included a young girl by
the name of Hotaru Tomoe. She was under the guardianship of three
ladies, Setsuna, Haruka and Michiru. Hotaru politely accepted them as
her parents.
       Since it was the school holidays, Haruka and Michiru had more
free time then usual. They rather secretly 'ran out' one night to 
Hawaii, leaving behind an amused Setsuna and a disappointed Hotaru.
Setsuna, as usual, was busy with her work and could not spend that 
much time playing with Hotaru.
       Most of her time spent alone at home, Hotaru nonetheless had
a huge amount of money right at her fingertips. Half of it was supported
by her true father, Professor Tomoe, while the other half was supplied
by her three guardians. Haruka had tactfully left behind the account
book as to apologize to Hotaru. So, Hotaru was still secretly pleased
by the way things turned out.
       Of course, she had another problem too....salesmen....
       For some reasons, salesmen like to knock on her house and bore
her with their wheedling. Hotaru grumbled a lot about them to Setsuna
but stoutfully refused her help.
       One day, filled with curiousity, Setsuna materialized her Garnet
Orb and decided to see how Hotaru was faring today. Yesterday, Hotaru
had pretended to be a mentally deranged girl and frightened off two
young salesmen. However..today...

                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       Hotaru stared boredly at the handsome young salesman before her.
He kept calling her 'little girl' and flashing that stupid white goofy
smile of his. 
       Finally unable to stand the 'tortue' anymore, Hotaru said sharply.
"I'm sorry, but my mommy and daddy won't allow me to buy these things."
       "Well, you could always persuade your parents to buy for you, 
little girl." smiled the salesman.  Hotaru inwardly called him a dweeb.
       "Yeah, right, and I could destroy the world." she muttered.
       "Um.." the salesmen was a bit taken aback. "Your parents must be
quite well off to live in such a big mansion. What's you Mommy's name?"
       "Her name is Smiling."
       "I...beg your pardon?"
       "Her name is Smiling."
       "Ohh...um...then I bet your Daddy's name is Laughing."
       "Yup."
       "Hahaha..." the salesman shifted uneasily, but remain smiling.
"Come on, little girl, surely your Daddy isn't known by that name."
       "His name is Laughing." said Hotaru firmly.
       "Oh, come on! You must be kidding!" cried ti salesman, feeling
a bit peeved by Hotaru's serious face.
       "No, that's my other mommy. I'm Joking." With that, Hotaru 
slammed the door shut, leaving a bewildered salesman standing outside.
       
                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       Setsuna gave a small chuckle as her Orb stopped glowing. Hotaru
had a mischievous streak in her. It would probably be a good idea to 
see how she manages the salesman tommorow again...