The store around the corner. Part I.

A trip to the store around the corner is just as much a social experience as it's a retail experience. A bottle of water, tissues, some Vitamin Water, inquiries about how my parents are, a 10 minute discussion on the "real problems" in the Middle East, why Eddie tries not to go near Ground Zero ("Man, me? An Arab? Walking around there? No way, man"), a discussion on which of the deodorants behind the counter actually smell decent enough to use (how about this one? no. this one? no. this one? yea, this isn't too bad. really? let me smell), and about how Eddie is getting a few of the guys in the neighborhood together in a van to drive out to a hospital in Manhattan to visit Fidel, a former regular in the store, who's now awfully sick, and who, Eddie and Sam are convinced I know (c'mon, you know, Fidel! Castro? No, not that Fidel! Fidel, he used to work for the MTA, he'd sit right there) and while I'm pretty sure I don't, they're so convinced that I do that I just say, oh, right, that guy, Fidel, and anyway, Eddie goes on, he wants to visit the guy and I'm just struck by the pure gregarious nature of the whole idea of a bunch of locals piling into a van to drive wildly through the streets of New York in search of a long lost friend who can certainly use a visit by some guys from the store around the corner.