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Daniil Kharms Buys a Coca-Cola (1) |
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This story is part of a new web feature: the calendar Pinup Series. We'll be bringing you great new work online each month. —The Eds. Daniil Kharms Buys a Coca-Cola
by Colin Winnette
Daniil Kharms Buys a Coca-Cola
I was in line behind Daniil Kharms at the store today. I was running late. Otherwise it would have been fine. I might have said something to him. Instead I watched as he handed the clerk two coins, but kept a third in his hand. He looked at the coin. He looked at the clerk. The clerk was chewing gum. Kharms seemed to size him up, or decide something. He curled his fingers around the third coin and stared at the fist. He stepped back from the clerk, the Coca-Cola, and walked out of the store with the coin in his fist held before him like a threat.
“He’s in here every day,” the clerk said. He opened the Coca-Cola and took a sip. He pocketed the two coins. “God love’em.” He rang up all my pencils and paper and things with one hand, sipping as he went.
When I got home, I was stumped. I had the card now, but couldn’t think of anything to write. I don’t know my sister’s daughter that well, and I’d just seen a dead man pay for two-thirds of a coke.
I settled for Happy Birthday, Love—. Stamped it twice in case one fell off.
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