McDonald’s
December 2015
Elkton, MD
It is midnight and I am at a McDonald’s because I have
to send something out by tomorrow and this is the only place I know that has
Internet for free. So I order a cup of
coffee and quickly realized that I am in a microcosm of an unsavory world.
“Yea, your mom swallows my dad’s junk,” bellows
through the dining room as teenage boys chat each other up in a manner that
only teenage boys can find interesting.
A disheveled man, with one leg, in a wheel chair rolls
over to me, “excuse me mam, can I pay you or something to make a phone call for
me?” he asks apologetically. “I’m sorta stuck here and I need to make a phone
call.’ I tell him that I didn’t bring my phone in with me and he tells me he is
sorry he bothered me. He rolls away from
me. Another man sits in the corner, by himself and hacks away, trying to
suppress his cough.
As I am ordering my coffee, a young woman is trying to negotiate the price of half of an apple pie. The kid behind the counter is trying to explain to her that they don’t sell half of an apple pie. The young woman then puts a few pennies in the Ronald McDonald donation box. The pennies are a nuisance to her, in spite of the fact that she can’t afford anything from the dollar menu. She then asks me for 35 cents and I give her a quarter and she now has enough money for a full pie. After several “thank you mam”, she leaves me alone and eats her warm pie.
As I am ordering my coffee, a young woman is trying to negotiate the price of half of an apple pie. The kid behind the counter is trying to explain to her that they don’t sell half of an apple pie. The young woman then puts a few pennies in the Ronald McDonald donation box. The pennies are a nuisance to her, in spite of the fact that she can’t afford anything from the dollar menu. She then asks me for 35 cents and I give her a quarter and she now has enough money for a full pie. After several “thank you mam”, she leaves me alone and eats her warm pie.
The people behind the counter talk of their
dreams. One kid wants to run off to
Colorado. “I hear it’s beautiful out there.
I’m going to go there one day”, he announces to all of us. Someone else is going to enroll in the
community college next semester. And a
third food server is leaving this place and going to work at Wal-Mart.
I look around and think, “how did these people get to
be so destitute” and then I see all eyes on me and sense that people are
wondering, “what’s that old bitch’s story?”
