MAKING CHANGE
Two times I’m sure
I think
that the young Korean guy
in the flat-brim baseball cap
behind the counter
at the bodega
every morning
gave me change for
a 10 when
I gave him a 20.
You think he goes to NYU
but he might not.
He might be living with his family in a
small hot even in winter
apartment in Queens where
there used to be lots of
Irish bars.
He asked in an muffled accented voice through a mask
two months ago if
he should read Ernest Hemingway or
The Great Gatsby.
He asked me a week or so later if
I invested in the stock market.
I ask him if he’s freezing these mornings
in the cold store
and he says he’s OK and
points toward the floor at a space heater that
I can’t see.
He has a hoodie over his
flat-brim baseball cap
on cold mornings.
Good description. Did he realize his "mistake" and did you get the proper change.
ReplyDeleteNo. Which is when it me that he was maybe a poor kid of the streets where he was from. Over the years that’s happened a couple times with other young guys too.
ReplyDelete