Wednesday, 18 December 2002 | A game

When I buy a soda from a street vendor, in addition to an aluminum can, I receive a sheet of wax paper (as if I were being handed a doughnut), a stack of dispenser-style napkins, a straw, and a brown paper bag. If I buy a banana, it's served to me in a plastic bag with napkins and a set of plastic silverware wrapped in a clear plastic sleeve with salt and pepper. If I buy a roll and a banana, the roll gets shoved in its own brown bag, while the banana floats around in the larger plastic bag (with the brown bag and the napkins and plastic-ware and packets of butter).

I try to stop them before they robotically toss the plastic presents in my bag like torpedoes, but usually they're too fast for me. I open my mouth to say something just as the things are raining in, but I stop myself. I think it might upset them at that point.

I've decided that it's somewhat of a game, something like pinball. The plastic-ware pack and napkins (etc.) are the ball that try to sneak past me into the hole, and I have to catch it before it's too late, slamming it back with a forceful flipper. Forceful, because the clerks are insistent, even after I've declined. They're trying to be accommodating and friendly, unaware of the guarding flippers. It goes more smoothly if I'm carrying my own bag, because then they ask for permission, by silently holding up the white torpedo and making eye contact with me.