f course." He didn't add
"Stupid," but he looked as if that were what he was thinking. Jerry
didn't care. He knew a lot of important things Carl didn't know, such
as baseball averages and who were the home-run kings for the past five
years.

"Thanks, Carl. See you." And Jerry hurried off before Carl could ask
just why he wanted to know the answer to that particular sum in
subtraction. "One dollar and seventy-nine cents," Jerry kept saying to
himself so he wouldn't forget.

There were long lines of shoppers at the checking-out counters at the
A & P. Jerry had left his cart outside the store, thinking it not
tactful to bring in a big bag of groceries he had bought in another
store. He took his place in what he thought was the shortest line.
Some woman had forgotten to have her bag of bananas weighed and that
held up the line. The next woman wanted to cash a check and that had
to be okayed by the manager. Jerry fidgeted. He saw that the woman
ahead of the woman ahead of him had a cart so piled with groceries
that she must be feeding a boardinghouse, or an awfully big family.

It was all of fifteen minutes, but seemed twice as long, before Jerry
reached the clerk behind the counter and asked for change.

"Sorry, but I'm short of change," said the young man behind the
counter.

A wave of discouragement swept over Jerry. Perhaps storekeepers
wouldn't give change to anybody who wasn't buying anything. But he had
to get his ten-dollar bill changed. He didn't have the heart to wait
in another line to see if another clerk might give him change. He went
out. He would have to try another store.

He opened the door of the florist shop and backed out. The woman in
charge there looked just too elegant to approach. At the hardware
store he was told that he could have two fives for a ten if that would
help him. It wouldn't, so Jerry still had his ten-dollar bill
unchanged.

Here was the barbershop. One particular barber usually cut Jerry's
hair. Jerry was glad to find that George was not busy.

"Thought I gave you a haircut less than a week ago," George greeted
him. "Did you come in to get your head shaved? Be cooler, warm weather
coming on."

Jerry explained that he was satisfied with the state of his crew cut.
Rather timidly he asked to have his ten-dollar bill changed, told the
exact change he had to have.

"Guess I can oblige you, but Saturday's a bad day for change, with the
banks closed all day," said George. He went