Street Vendors

Last night, Wife and I enjoyed a leisurely stroll home from Times Square. I find one of the most intriguing aspects of New York to be the street vendors. Almost every street is lined with vendors, most of them selling the exact same things (the same menu items for food; the same cell phone cases; the same handbags; the same t-shirts). Occasionally, there are vendors who sell different merchandise. For instance, last night we came upon a gentleman along with his two young daughters who had a sheet on the ground covered with DVDs, all lined up in perfect order. As we walked by, one particular movie caught my eye—a movie that was just released to the theaters a couple weeks ago and that is months away from coming out on DVD. I stopped and casually looked at it. I inquired as to the price and the vendor, in broken English, responded, “Five dollars.” Wow…that seemed like a good deal. As a law school graduate, the wheels in my head were spinning, “This can’t be legal. How many laws is this guy breaking.” As if reading my mind, the vendor began chanting over and over, “Legal. All legal. Disks legal.” I took a step forward to see if there were any other recent releases I recognized when suddenly the man shouted something to his two daughters. Quick as a flash the man and these two little girls—who were clearly under six years old—bundled up the sheet with the DVDs in it and ran off. Wife turned to me and commented, “Wow. You scared him.” So there you have it. You all knew that I was a square. Now I have further evidence that I, apparently, look like an undercover cop.