Strangers I Have Known

~ A blog by Melissa Kotler Schwartz

Strangers I Have Known

Monthly Archives: September 2015

For The Love of French Fries

15 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by Melissa Kotler Schwartz in listening

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Afternoon, Backpack, Book, boxcarbarneys, Boy, Chautauqua Lake, College, Food, freckled, french fries, Grandson, grinning, hair, Happy, Heaven, Hot Dog, ice cream, Just in time, Kids, Line, Maple Walnut, mayville, melissakotlerschwartz, Mission, Motorboats, New York, Plastic Bench, Reading, Sailboats, Stranger, strangers, Summer, Visiting, West Coast

The main draw at Boxcar Barney’s in Mayville, New York is ice cream, especially on hot summer afternoons like this one. When I walked up to order, the line had dwindled to two or three waiting customers, but I knew it would swell again shortly. I was happy that I got my food at just the right time.

Sitting on a plastic bench in the shade, I reflected on how this place was a little bit of heaven. Today it wasn’t the Maple Walnut ice cream for me; it was an order of broiled hot dog with fries. I watched the sailboats and motorboats on Chautauqua Lake.

Then, I saw a big group of kids from a nearby day camp walking ever so quickly, almost running towards Boxcar Barney’s. They had that look of kids on a mission. They had waited all afternoon for their ice cream.

I turned to the woman on the bench behind me. “I bet you’re happy that you got that ice cream when you did,” I said, nodding toward the oncoming crowd.

“I sure am,” she said. As we chatted, I learned that the young man with her was her visiting grandson, who was going to college on the West Coast.

The three of us watched the campers as they walked up to place their orders. The most intriguing kid to me was a boy of about eleven. All the other campers went to stand in line, but he tossed his backpack down on the grass, made a place for himself, pulled out a hardback book, and began to read.

A few of the boys came and sat at my table after they had gotten their ice cream cones because there wasn’t room anywhere else. I found it quite charming how they went about it. No one asked if they could sit with me, they just looked at me to see if I was okay and then quickly sat down and started talking with each other.

All of a sudden a boy about ten with flame-orange hair and matching freckles said to me, “Can I have your french fries?” He pointed to two of them that had fallen out of my cardboard food basket onto the table. I was about to act motherly and say to him that the fries might be unsanitary, but then I decided that if he really wanted the two lone fries it wouldn’t hurt him.

“Sure,” I said. “You can have them.”

“Thanks,” he said, grinning. He gobbled them up so fast that I wanted to offer the rest of my fries to him, but that seemed like I’d be crossing the stranger line. The fries on the table were up for grabs. The fries on my plate had my stamp on them. Some of the boys looked at the French Fry Conqueror in amazement, like they wished that they had asked me for fries too.

My table-mates licked their ice cream really fast until it quickly disappeared and then chased each other around, roaring with laughter. Some of them even briefly stopped to visit with their book-reading friend.

Together the grandma, her grandson and I just watched the campers, amused by their antics.

Suddenly, the French Fry Boy came up to me and said, “Thanks,” and gave me a hug. I was so surprised that I had one of those did-that-just-happen reactions. It was really so charming of him to do. Such a small gesture on my part, forfeiting two lukewarm French fries, but to him it was a big deal.

I turned and looked at the grandma and grandson. They were grinning from ear to ear, along with me, and this exuberant, freckled, young stranger.

boxcar-barneys-521232034203c3a8d5000844

Share this:

  • Print
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,216 other followers

Facebook

Facebook

RSS Link

  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Melissa Kotler Schwartz

  • About Me

Twitter

  • My New Book is Out! strangersihaveknown.com/2016/07/12/my-… https://t.co/vthGgkEbEp 3 years ago
  • Hey Stranger! Buy my new #book "Strangers I Have Known" TODAY! amzn.to/29zzPzf 3 years ago
  • The Silverton Post Office strangersihaveknown.com/2016/06/14/the… https://t.co/SwaeX5JIFB 3 years ago
Follow @mksthewriter

Recent Posts

  • My New Book is Out!
  • The Silverton Post Office
  • Strangers with Word Limits
  • Surprise! Strangers Can Improve Your Commute
  • Malavika Varadan, an Expert on How to Talk with Strangers

Archives

  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012

Books I Love

  • Bird by Bird
  • Life Work
  • Mrs. Bridge
  • On Paradise Drive
  • The Greatest of Marlys
  • The Long Loneliness
  • The Merry Recluse
  • What It Is

Favorite Blogs

  • 100 Strangers Project
  • Cowbird
  • Humans of New York
  • Sentimental Value
  • Stachist
  • Wow Women on Writing

Links

  • Welcome the "Other"

Podcasts

  • KCRW Strangers

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: