Who is right?¹³

The previous day there was another funny incident. There is a donut shop on Jamaica Avenue next to another store that has burned to the ground. It is near the Long Island Railroad station. They have four or five kinds of donuts there. I asked them for ten egg salad sandwiches. The man said to me, “Ten? Ten? How about five?”

While he was making everything, I asked another worker if she could give me a Tab and a donut. This is how I follow my diet! You won’t believe it, but I have lost eight and a half pounds since the 15-mile race. This is solid weight loss — not water weight. I ran and took exercise; I worked very hard. When I started, I was 146 1/2 pounds. When I got on the scale, I cried. Then, after running the 15-mile race, I gained two and a half or three pounds, as usual. But now my weight is back down to 138, or even a little less. So it is possible for everyone to lose weight!

Anyway, I finished my food, and what did I see? A black man entered the store. He was wearing an expensive suit and was very well dressed. At that time it was around twelve-thirty or one o’clock. The man ordered something and ate it. He gave a ten dollar bill to the owner, but he did not get as much change as he was expecting. The owner just pointed to the price list.

The customer said, “No, you have to give me more change!”

The owner said, “From six to eleven in the morning there is one price. After eleven, the price changes.” The customer said, “I would not have eaten if I had seen that.”

The owner said, “You have to pay for what you have eaten.”

A real argument started, and I was standing right between them. There was a container of milk on the counter. One of them accidentally struck it, and it spilled all over. Both the black man and I jumped away from the counter.

Then I said, “Please, please, I am ready to give the fifty cents.”

The customer was so embarrassed that he said to the owner, “Hell with you!” and walked out.

The owner turned to me and said, “Please tell me who was right?”

I said, “You were right!”

The man grabbed my hand and with his other hand he grabbed two donuts and put them in my other hand.

He said, “You don’t have to pay a cent for these.”

I said, “I don’t want the donuts.” So he put them into my bag. This is how I got two donuts free. Of course, if the owner had asked me who was right while the other man was in the store, I would have said to him, “Do I understand your English?”