Thursday, July 25, 2024

A Quarter Short

I rarely pay for things in cash,

Although some stores prefer it.

They charge more for a credit card,

So customers deter it.

 

But at the local bagel shop,

I placed my morning order

And realized that, when tallied,

I’d be somehow short a quarter.

 

I asked the counterman to please

Remove one single bagel,

To prove I wasn’t out to,

By some method, well, finagle.

 

He smiled and said, ‘You’ll bring to me

The quarter when you’re able,”

Not wanting to deprive me of

A bagel at my table.

 

I walked back home and quickly grabbed

A quarter from the pile

And at the shop, I plunked it down,

Which earned a startled smile.

 

The whole exchange reminded me

Of childhood; before supper,

To hit the grocer’s for some bread,

I was the picker-upper.

 

I carried change and worried that

I might be short some money.

The fact it happened now, not then,

Is really kind of funny.

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