We had some Manchego cheese and wine back in our room that we planned to make a small meal out of but it turned out the little CDB and Beer store near our motel didn’t have any bread or crackers. We asked the clerk if there was a store nearby that was open on Sunday and he told us there was a convenience store about ten blocks south. On the way we walked by a Subway and stopped in there to see if we could buy one of their rolls.
The only employee there was wearing a mask and mopping the floor. When she finished I pointed to one of the rolls on the rack behind the counter and she took it out, put it on the cutting board and cut it in half. We said, “That’s it, how much is it?“ It became clear she didn’t speak English. I tried “solamente pan” and she looked at us blankly. She wanted to know what we wanted on it We were thinking of the scene in “Five Easy Pieces.” Somehow she caught on that we only wanted the bread and she shook her head. “No.”
We continued on and found the 24 hour convenience store. The door was locked and there was a woman outside who told us the store was open but the clerk was going to the bathroom. He unlocked the door and we asked him where the crackers were. This was the kind of store where the owner buys big boxes from Costco, cuts them open and sells the individual packets, the way they sell one cigarette in some stores, so we picked out a packet of what looked like Keebler Club crackers, no label, just a clear package. At the counter. He told us the packet was one dollar.
It was getting dark by the time we got back and I took the photo above.
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