Perhaps the start of a lucky streak

We decided, more out of curiosity than anything else, to make a trip to the Apple store last night to see if maybe -- just maybe! -- the line was gone or at least a lot smaller. When we got to the mall, there was a line, but it looked short. We prepared to stand in the back of the line and were quickly informed by a teal-shirt-wearing bouncer that this was just the front of the line. The remainder of the line was outside and the estimated wait time was between 3.5 to 4 hours. We walked outside to check out the line. A couple hundred people were waiting patiently. We decided to call it a day and go home.

Just then, a good-looking Indian couple stopped us and asked if we'd planned to get an iPhone. We answered in the affirmative. They handed us a small square of paper with the Apple logo and some other writing on it and told us to simply take it to the store, show it to the folks guarding the entrance, and they would allow us in to purchase our desired new iPhone. The woman winked at us a couple of times. We had our doubts but thought it was worth a try and started hoofing it back to the store.

We reached the entrance. I was nervous. Hubs took the square out of his pocket and showed it to the woman guarding the entrance. She stepped aside and allowed us in with no questions asked. We guiltily slid into the store and waited in the much shorter line there. Half an hour later, we walked out with a new iPhone.

On our way out, we again walked by the folks waiting in the line outside. We saw a man walking away from the line toward the parking garage, so Hubs called out, "Hey!" He turned around and we secretively revealed the magical square of paper. We gave him the square. He shook Hubs' hand gratefully and headed back toward the store.