Today's Scene

Have you been properly introduced to the "Bill Pen"? I haven't. It usually makes a brief appearance when I pay for something if I pay with twenty dollar bill. It comes out just long enough to scribble on my currency and then it retreats back to its den under the cash register. I've seen Punxsutawney Phil on a sunshiny day for longer periods of time. It seems there is no time for a formal introduction. On occasion I've seen the pen when I had a fifty, but having a fifty dollar bill to spend is rare. I'm more likely to spot the "Bill Pen" when I use a twenty. It's a little embarrassing when you get a clerk with a flair for the dramatic. No sooner have you laid the twenty down, when he/she has begun scribbling on it hoping to reveal you as a counterfeiter.

So Today's Scene has me at the front of a long line in the grocery store. Today is one of those rare occasions when I have a fifty dollar bill. It's really too bad to because my items just total ten dollars. "I wish I had something smaller," I say, "but this will have to do". The cashier raises an eye brow over me and scribbles across the fifty with the "Bill Pen". It's clean, to her obvious disappointment, so she hands me my change. Two twenties. I take a moment. I raise my eye brow. I take out my "Bill Pen". It's clean this time, so I take my bags and leave. That's Today's Scene.