[ WP ] The Swap N ' Buy will trade or purchase your current skills for credits . Being an average person with no impressive or unique skills , you do n't have many credits . Searching the discount bin , you find a skill that has no business being there ...


 I was never really talented in any areas. I could play the triangle pretty well, but that only got me two credits when I traded it in. I do n't want to lose my basic reading/ writing skills, or my math. I need that stuff. Then again, even though credits are government issued, there's always some on the black market. I do know one skill that's always good to have: how to handle a handgun. 
 
 I met the guy with a wad of hundreds- all the money I have- in my hand. `` Is that all of it?'' He asked, hesitant about the whole transaction. Unfairly distributing credits is punishable, in some states, by death. `` Yep'' I said, reaching for the small bag of credits. He handed it to me and then reached for the cash, but I put it back in my pocket. I pulled out the gun, already backing away. `` Hey- you ca n't, you ca n't do that!'' The man said, desperate. `` That's not fair!'' He went to follow me, but stopped when I loaded my gun. `` That's business.'' I started the engine of my old, cherry red used truck and left, all 10 credits safely stowed in my glove box. 
 
 The Swap n' Buy is n't the most ideal place to get your skills, but when you're using black market credits you ca n't go to the official kiosks. `` Hello, young lady,'' a man said from the back of the store. `` Can I help you with anything?'' I hesitated for a moment before looking to the back corner of the store, past all the neatly organized shelves of skills. `` The discount bin?'' I said, knowing that ten credits could maybe get me something from there, if I was lucky. `` Of course!'' He quickly went into a closet and came out with a huge box full of skills- a few of them, the older ones, reminded me of Nintendo game cartridges. Most of them were the current standard small chips, with the packaging stating what they did. Many of them were scratched, but still usable. 
 
 I started to look through- 
 Sand castle building ( 11C ) 
 Remembering dreams ( 9C ) 
 Stick figure drawing ( 10C ) 
 Ping-Pong ( 11C ) 
 Pick-up lines ( 9C ) 
 Stick shift driving ( 2C ) 
 
 I picked up the badly scratched stick shift driving cartridge, hoping that it would still work when something caught my eye; a stark white brand-new looking chip. Not a scratch, a dent, nothing. I picked it up and all it said was `` INFLUENCE ( 1C )'' in bold red lettering. I decided to buy it. 
 
 The man gave me a bag to put the skills in and a complimentary needle to administer them with, and said a happy `` good night!'' As I left. I got home as fast as I could, not wanting to wait to see what type of `` influence'' the chip would have on me.
