An Enjoyable, Economical Evening
I headed back towards campus and did my federal taxes. This was a little complicated because I had to hustle around and grab some extra forms to calculate my self-employed earnings from a consulting gig I did last year. Fortunately, I was able to achieve all of this at the library, despite my not being a student. Everything was done by hand, with a photocopy of everything for my own records. I’m supposed to get $640 back from Uncle Sam. I sure can use that money!
In the evening I was feeling kind of good about everything, so I figured I’d take my $7 and go have a good time. I went by the lounge where the old friend worked, and confronted a $2 cover charge. “Does that come with a drink?” Ordinarily this wouldn’t phase me, but given that I’d like a drink, and a meal on Sunday, it was a source of some concern.
Alas, I coughed up and made my way inside. There was some serious salsa going down. I don’t know any fancy dancin’, but this didn’t keep a couple of young ladies from showing me a step or two. And the long-lost acquaintance, who was working as a waitress for the evening, treated me to a Long Island, as I was keen on something strong and nursable. It was quite strong, but it disappeared when I got halfway through, a victim of overzealous bussing. Easy come, easy go. A good time was had by me, at least.
On the way home, I was feeling somewhat hungry. The half a Long Island had done well in a stomach that had only met the coffee shop scone and a fifty-cent poppyseed muffin I’d been saving from my voyage. I decided to drop a dollar at Taco Bell. “What’s a Supreme mean?” “Sour cream and tomatoes.” “Sour cream? I just like tomatoes.” “I think you can get the tomatoes for free.” But, there was some wrestling involved with the cash register, because you can’t get tomatoes for free, but he was going to get the computer to make an exception, because he’d already said I could get tomatoes, but the computer didn’t want to enable his non-conformity. I paid my dollar and took my plastic bag to the corner. Then I found that I’d been awarded two tacos, one with tomatoes and one without. I checked my watch, it was 11:45. A good note on which to end a day of lucky breaks.
