I was flying to New York and began the journey of 3,000 miles at a bus stop in Oxford. The first person waiting at the bus stop was an immaculately dressed Muslim; he had a dignified bearing, and we exchanged brief smiles. At the other end of the bus stop was a drunkard sitting on a rubbish bin. Intoxicated, he kept trying to catch my attention with a rather leery grin. There were also another two foreign men, drinking alcohol hidden in plastic bags. A wonderful British bus-stop – two teetotalers, surrounded by three drunkards.
Then along came another waif and stray – selling some kind of magazine. He offered to sell it to the drunkard for 20p. The drunkard dug around in his pockets and bought it. Then the magazine seller came to me and offered to sell me a copy for 50p! I wasn’t in the mood for buying a magazine, so I politely declined. Maybe I was put out because he was charging me a higher price. As an economist, I should admire the homeless person’s knowledge of price discrimination and income elasticity of demand. Setting different prices to people of different incomes.
But, I remained unmoved. Despite his protestations, I didn’t buy. My Muslim friend wasn’t interested either. Finally, the bus came and I started the journey to New York.
Such an engaging short story. It reminded me of some Carver’s stories, when yet untouched by his editor Gordon Lish. Very nice, thank you.