SID TRIED THE FRONT DOOR of the little office building: locked tight, and there was no watchman. He was going to have to call for help, and he dreaded doing so. He felt his pocket for his cell phone, then remembered it was on his desk with the rest of the contents of his pockets. He glanced at the deli across the street and remembered it had a pay phone. He groped in his pockets: no quarters, no coins at all. He found the three dollar bills the pizza guy had given him for change and walked across the street to the deli. The place was deserted, only the counterman there.

“Hi,” Sid said, “I’m from across the street, and I locked my cell phone in my office.” He placed a one on the counter. “Can you give me four quarters, please?”

The counterman pointed at a sign. NO CHANGE FOR PHONE, it read. “Tell you what, give me one quarter for a buck.”

“What’s that in your hand?” the counterman asked, nodding at the Domino’s box.

“It’s a pizza.”

“We sell pizza,” the man said accusingly.

“Domino’s puts more stuff on theirs than you do on yours. C’mon, Mac, give me a quarter for a buck.”

The man ignored him and wiped something imaginary off his counter.

“All right,” Sid said, placing another dollar on the counter, “two bucks for a quarter.”

“The boss would fire me.”

Sid came up with his last dollar. “It’s all I’ve got. Be a human being.”

The man opened the cash register and started removing bills.

“You’ve got quarters staring you in the face,” Sid said.

The man ignored him.

“That’s it,” Sid said. “I’m never ordering a sandwich here again.”

“When did you ever?” the man said.

“Go fuck yourself.”

“At least I’ll know I’m doing it with somebody who loves me.”

Sid walked out and hailed the first cab he saw. “I’ll give you three bucks for a quarter,” he said to the driver through his ever-open window.

“What’s wrong with the ones?” the driver asked.

“Not a thing. I just need to make a call, and I don’t have any change.”

The driver popped a quarter out of his change holder and grabbed the three bills, then drove away.

Sid looked up and down the block. Where the hell was another pay phone? He sighed and went back to the deli, where he found a CLOSED sign on the door, which was locked. The counterman was pushing a mop around the place.

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