I don’t know if you remember my post earlier this summer about the guy at the fruit stand who likes to give me a free banana—For the past few weeks, I’d been enjoying relative anonymity while he had other guys working with him. While free food is always a good thing, there’s something awkward about free bananas. I guess it’s the blatant phallic symbolism.
Anyway, today while I passed by, I figured I should pick up some produce, since we’re out of a lot of things. There was one person ahead of me, and when he’d been helped, I said my usual, “Hi, I’d just like to get—”
“You can get for yourself! You are a well-known person!” Banana Man cried jovially and handed me a plastic bag.
“Um, okay. Thank you.” I cautiously put four bananas into the bag. “Great. Here’s a dollar.”
Banana Man grabbed a particularly large specimen and plopped it in my bag with a grin. “This from me.”
If he hadn’t given me the extra banana, I probably would have bought more, but I just felt too awkward. I told him to have a good rest of the day and intended to run home as fast as possible, but apparently, that wasn’t an option, as a woman shoved a microphone in my face.
“Hi, can I ask you a question? How are you handling the heat?”
This is why I’m glad I don’t have a TV—I sure don’t wanna see my sweaty self rambling about how we turn the AC on in short bursts so it doesn’t get too expensive. Good God…