You can't always get what you want

This month’s winner is MICHELE BURGESS of Huntington Beach, CA:

As a tour leader who hates flies on the tour bus, I always like to have a flyswatter handy. In Oman in 2013, however, my flyswatter broke and I had to buy a new one. 

I found a sundries shop in a small beach town, but no one spoke English, so I resorted to pantomime. Along with vocalizations, I acted out a buzzing fly with my hand, then pretended I was holding a handle and hitting the buzzing thing. 

The clerk’s face brightened and he hurried off to get just what I needed. Success!

He came back with a badminton racquet.