Once when I was a child in Los
Angeles I went downtown on the
streetcar. It was such a
hot day that, when I got out
of the streetcar, the tar on
the pavement stuck to my feet.
(I was barefoot.) Getting to
the sidewalk, I found it so
hot that I had to run to keep from
blistering my feet. I went
into a five and dime to get a root
beer. When I came to the
counter where it was sold from a
large barrel and asked for some,
a man standing on the counter
high above me said, “Wait. I’m
putting in the syrup and it’ll be
a few minutes.” As he was putting
in the last can, he
missed and spilled the sticky syrup
all over me. To
make me feel better, he
offered a free root beer.
I said, “No, thank you.”
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