The Second Closest Bike Shop

I give a guy directions to the second closest bike shop. He rejected the barista’s directions to the closest shop — “No. I know about that one.” I see that he’s getting lost just thinking about my directions, so I start over, filling in landmarks and leaving out street names. He asks if the store fixes bikes. They do both — they sell and fix bikes. “Do they do unicycles?” “I don’t know.” He says “Thanks”, and I answer, “No problem,” but he doesn’t do anything. He stands in the same place and looks at me. He thanks me again, and I say, “Your welcome”. Then I notice that he’s holding up his fist for a “Hey, bro,”-style fist-tap. I make a fist and tap his knuckles and he walks off.

The barista says, “That guy looks familiar. I think I’ve seen him riding a really tall unicycle around.” “Yeah, he said something about a unicycle.” I give her the money for my tea and cookie. The Change is $1.75. She gives me the dollar and then holds her hand out over the tip jar. I reach out for the quarters, but she doesn’t hand them over. I figure that she’s gesturing toward the tip jar, since I usually put the lose change there. I nod, thinking, Sure, keep the change. But she keeps her hand in place and I realize that she’s waiting for a knuckle tap. I give her a tap and she hands over the quarters, “You still haven’t figured it out.”

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