The Extra Mile

I was driving home yesterday when I passed a Subway restaurant (which was open), and thought, "I ought to stop and get a sandwich for lunch."  But I had already passed it, and had miles and miles to drive, so I just kept going.  By this point, I was four towns up from where I live, and when I got to the Subway three towns up, it was closed.  I kept driving, and pulled into the lot of the Subway two towns up, and it was closed too.  So, I got back on the road, drove a few more miles, and found the fourth Subway (one town up) was open.

I went in and told the sole employee of my plight, and he didn't much care.  "I work at three Subways," he told me, "and in some neighborhoods, they close on Sundays 'cause there's not enough business."  I looked around--the building was empty--and asked him, "But this one does enough business to stay open?"  And he said, "You're the first customer I've had in half an hour."

Anyway, I ate my food, pretty much forgetting about my irritation with not finding an open restaurant (a single customer did come in before I was done, BTW), and then left to head home.  Upon reaching the parking lot, I stopped.  For on the ground in front of me was what appeared to be a hundred dollar bill.

Now, if you examine the above photo, you'll observe (as I did) that there was something wrong with it--the edge of a second zero can be seen in the middle.  I realized that it was one of those fake bills that people sometimes put out to trick people, and that there might be someone watching me even then, to catch the hope on my face when I thought I had found a fortune*, and the shattering of that hope when I realized it was phony.

To rob them of their satisfaction, I just scooped up the bill, put it in my pocket, jumped in my car, and drove away.  At the nearest red light, I did get out the bill and examine it.  To my surprise, it was NOT a hundred dollar bill after all.

It was two.

So, it's like they say on Trandosha: "When Bossk closes a hatch, he opens an airlock."

*Yes, a hundred dollars is still a fortune.  And if you don't think so, you are paid way too much.