You're Going to Need a Plate with That by Doug McVadon
"You’re going to need a plate with that." He never would’ve said that, never gotten that far, if I hadn’t decided to turn things around. It was at the Qdoba Mexican food place in the Newark Airport food court. Not a garden spot by any means, just the place Nancy and I were stuck last Wednesday night. We weren’t stuck yet, didn’t know our flight would be cancelled and we’d end up driving 35 miles to Princeton at one a.m. to the nearest hotel room, didn’t know our rental car would be a red Toyota Corolla whose trunk smelled like dead fish. So I was spry and observant and I saw the whole thing. The woman at the front of the line took a while to make up her mind, and then while her taco was being constructed, it happened. A piece of meat touched the counter and the one making the taco put it back into the taco. You put it in there. What? A piece of meat. It touched the counter and you put it in there. The server looked incredulous, her face denying it. But the young...