Politics
‘She Was Often the Only Bright Spot in My Otherwise Grim Days’
A vendor with a sharp memory, puzzling behavior on the A train and more reader tales of New York City in this week’s Metropolitan Diary.
Food Cart
Dear Diary:
I was near Central Park South for a doctor’s appointment, so I decided to stop at a food cart I used to frequent when I worked in the area.
The cart was owned by an Egyptian couple. The woman who worked there gave me a free banana and said “love you” without fail every day.
She didn’t know that I was going through a rough time, and that she was often the only bright spot in my otherwise grim days.
As I got in line on this occasion, I worried that she wouldn’t be there anymore and that if she was, she wouldn’t remember me. After all, it had been six years.
But there she was, at the rear of the cart. We made eye contact, and she kept looking back at me.
“Did I see you at Costco the other day?” she asked.
I smiled and shook my head.
She stepped in front of the cart. Her shirt said, “I love you.”
“No, no,” she said. “I remember you.”
