Monday, May 18, 2009

A Deli Tale: Birthday Candles

Tonight a group of high school students were studying for an IB exam for a few hours at the deli. Their teacher dismissed them to get food and come back after an hour of study, at which point I was bombarded with "zillions" of orders for french fries and brownies. One boy was especially excited about receiving the brownie, "Do you have any birthday candles back there?"
"Birthday--no. No, we don't have candles at all."
"What about a match?"
"Hey guys, do we have any matches?" I asked the cooks, who only gave me puzzled looks and a tentative "no?".
"Sorry, no matches either."
"What about a stick?" he asked, clearly desperate now. I thought about our assortment of utensils and brought out the party toothpicks.
"Do you want the red top or the blue top?"
"Red," he responded, "it looks more like a flame."
"Well anyone would be honored to have such a birthday brownie, I'm sure."

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