The Egg and Cheese Bagel

Waking up right!

When Tyson pulled out of the garage, it was 5:03 a.m., enough time to stop at the fast food joint for an egg, cheese, and sausage bagel. His mouth was watering just thinking about it. It was quick and he could eat it without much of a mess on the road this morning. He’d have to figure out how to work the hot coffee, but he could manage.

The drive-thru had one car in each lane. By the time his dashboard clock read 5:08, he was digging into the bag for the sandwich, but the sandwich wasn’t there.

Instead, he pulled out a wad of cash in twenties, tens, and fives. Tyson thought about what he had just done and pulled over to park, still in the restaurant parking lot. He turned on his interior light and thrust his head into the bag. Did he just pull out money instead of a sandwich? He reached in again and pulled out the cash, not all of it but about half.

“Where’s my sandwich?” he asked out loud as he unbuckled and took the bag into the restaurant.

“May I speak with the Manager,” Tyson said as he plopped the money bag on the counter, closed.

An overweight man with headsets on approached Tyson, “Yes, can I help you?”

“I ordered a sandwich and coffee and I just got this bag.”

The Manager opened the bag and his eyes widened. “Um, where, uh, what? Just a second.”

He grabbed the bag and went to the drink counter, spoke with a woman wearing the same color uniform he was wearing. She looked over at Tyson, and said something to the Manager.

“Thank you for your honesty, sir,” the Manager said.

 “Sure sure whatever. I’m just kinda hungry for the egg, sausage, and cheese bagel. That’s all.”

“Coming right up. The Manager barked out orders in Spanish and within 20 seconds Tyson’s sandwich was wrapped up and placed in a bag.

“Here’s your sandwich. The sandwich is on the house, and again, thank you for your honest action today.”

Tyson grabbed the bag and was out the door before he even had a chance to process what had just happened.

When he clicked open his car with the remote, he turned and looked back at the restaurant.

“Hey, wait a second,” Tyson said out loud. “I already paid for this sandwich when I went through the drive thru. It wasn’t free at all.”

He started the car and the clock now read 5:22, much later than he had wanted it to be. 

“Oh well,” Tyson thought as he unwrapped the sandwich, took a bite, and was on the road again.

Half way to work after he had finished his coffee, he tried to recall the events only a half hour earlier.

“Naa, just my imagination,” he thought even as he glanced over and saw three $10 bills laying on the passenger seat.

“Just my imagination running wild,” he said out loud, this time not believing a single word.

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