Best Buy Free | Insignia Speaker

The employee pulled up the inventory. "I’ve been in Home Theater all week, man. I didn't see you yesterday. And we definitely don't have any freebies."

"Fine," Leo muttered, dropping into his chair. "Play whatever you want."

"Promotion," the blue-shirted employee shrugged, not looking up from his tablet. "Buy a fridge, get a speaker. Someone returned the fridge but forgot the gift. It’s yours."

The speaker settled into a low, soulful blues track he’d never heard before. As the guitar wailed, Leo found himself actually listening . He stopped scrolling through his phone. He stopped worrying about his mounting emails. For the first time in months, he just sat in the dark, caught in the rhythm of a free gift that seemed to know his mood better than he did.

In the fluorescent hum of Best Buy aisle four, Leo found it: a small, unassuming Insignia Bluetooth speaker with a neon-orange "FREE" sticker slapped haphazardly across the box.

The same employee was there. He looked at the box, then at Leo. "Man, we haven't given those out in years. Insignia discontinued that model in 2019."

But the speaker had a quirk. It refused to play anything Leo actually chose. If he picked heavy metal, it pivoted to smooth jazz. If he tried a podcast, it blasted 90s Euro-dance.