I'm in a diner, apparently in Spain, and my body is exhausted from a climb or other strenuous physical activity. I'm tempted to overeat, and in need of sustenance, but I choose something relatively small, and a 24oz bottle of beer which I gulp down so quickly that the waitress notices and calls me quite a "something" that I don't quite remember. A "chugger"? A "gulper"? A "swallower"? Something like that.

I finish the beer, and still want more, but I'm not sure I should tackle another one of those 24-oz'ers. Instead I pick myself out two Red Stripe beers. I'm still hungry too, but I'm not sure how to satiate myself without overeating. I pick out an ice cream sandwich from a glass-topped chest freezer - yum!

I take the ice cream sandwich to the register, and she says it's going to be $20. No way, I say, that's impossible, it should only be like a dollar! I would totally turn it down, but I already peeled back the wrapper, so I can't put it back. I think that's why they raised the price. She insists that is what they cost. Several times I try to talk to her in Spanish - isn't this in Spain? don't you speak Spanish here? - but she always answers in perfect English. A man who seems to be her husband and the proprietor of this establishment also tries to convince me that $20 is the right price - just check the price tags in the freezer!

I go back and look in the freezer, and these ice cream sandwiches aren't marked with a price. But some of the other ice cream treats are, and their price is $5.87. Crazy, but still not $20. Ok, I tell them, how about I give you $5? That's still way too high a price, but I'll deal with you honestly.

I tempted to just give them the $20, or whatever it takes just to get the matter resolved. Somehow the price gets adjusted such that when I give them a $20 bill, I get some change. But the change is all crazy, some arbitrary scattering of coins and bills, and there are two $20 bills in there! I start to walk away, thinking that with their ripoff business model, I should just go. But then I realize that I told them I'd deal honestly with them, so I show the change to her and point out that it was incorrect.

She takes it back, and gives me another random collection of change, this time with a couple $5 bills in it. Ok, I figure, close enough, whatever.

(I just got off a Ruckel Ridge hike that day, very body-tired, and had a hard time deciding what to eat that would satisfy but not be reckless. The $20: the night previous, I had gone out to meet a girl at a club that turned out to have a $20 cover, which was a surprise, as I was only planning on hanging out for an hour or so. I didn't want to pay it, just on principle, though it seemed basically irrelevant. We ended up going down the street to a Chinese dive for one drink, then she went back to the club.)