I had been living in my new house for a few months. Although I was grateful to have a sleeping bag perched on a foam pad and several pillows for my bedding, sleeping on the floor was getting really old. One day, I felt an inner urge to call Fred Meyer and inquire about the price of their futons. Although I was sure they were out of my price range, I decided to call anyway.

A nice sounding woman helped me and went to look for futon mattresses without a frame. When she came back on the phone a few minutes later, she said, "You're in luck! I just happen to have a few that were damaged in shipment. There's nothing wrong with them, really; it's just that the box was damaged. I think we can reduce these. Hold on, let me ask my manager what I can sell these for."

While she went off to find the manager, I imagined a white light around the situation, visualizing the futon mattress in my mind. A monetary figure floated into my mind's eye -- $20? "That can't be right; that's unheard of for a futon, even if it is damaged!" I told myself.

When the saleswoman returned to the phone, I was astounded to hear her say, "My manager says that $25.00 is the price for these damaged futons. We have three of them."

"Will you hold one for me?" I asked. "I'll be right over."

I got in my car and drove straight to the store. Strangely, though, I went to the wrong store. There are three Fred Meyer stores in Anchorage, and I've shopped at all three. I realized that I had driven to the one I liked best, even though it was at the other end of town from where I lived. I checked and found that futons, with the wooden frame that folds down to make a couch, were $169.00. I began to wonder if the phone call had really happened. Was I really going to get one for only $25? Was this all a dream?

I hurried over to the other store. When I inquired about a damaged futon, the woman I had talked to on the phone proudly brought out my new bed on a large cart. It was wrapped in plastic. There was nothing that I could see wrong with it. (Later, at home, I found a small slightly dirty spot.)

When the woman at the Customer Service desk saw what I was paying for the futon, she couldn't believe it. I told her there were two left. She immediately bought one for herself. A customer in line behind me ran to grab the last one. There were three of us very happy that day!

My new futon was a big step for me in the area of sleeping comfort. But the best part of it was that I knew I had created the whole situation by listening to my intuition.