pie from the batty

Realizing that I'm going to fail in my prediction that Kevin's Pie would be gone by 8:30PM today, I decided to go down and punish myself by buying two teensy slices of pie, one fudge and one chocolate brownie. The dotty lady who runs the place, as scatterbrained as always, very nicely gave me a third piece of pie—pecan—for free... but then she charged me for three slices of pie. When I pointed this out to her, she looked startled, then apologetic, then utterly unable to figure out the math. Completely discombobulated, she reached into her cash register, told me she'd pay me back by cash since she didn't know how to redo the transaction via card, and handed me W7,600. I told her this was too much change, so she took the cash back and desperately tried to work out the math.

Each slice of pie cost W3,800 (which I find rather steep for a wedge that's barely four inches long from tip to arc); she needed only to pay me back W3,800. Instead, she took out a calculator and verbally narrated the math: "So you're buying two slices... and I gave you one free... so W3,800 times 2 is W7,600... I charged you W11,400... so, minus W7,600... is W3,800!" She got the math right, but she definitely took the long route to get there. I was reminded of that innumerate girl, years ago, who couldn't figure out the math in her head to give me change back for a $20 bill plus a dime.

While the free slice of pecan pie was a nice gesture, it tasted awful. The brownie was also less than mediocre. I did, however, enjoy the fudge, which was quite good.

Meanwhile, Kevin's Pie will live to fight another day. How many days it has left is anyone's guess; the place has surprised me by outliving my March prediction of closure in six months. Will it last beyond 2017 with this dingbat at the helm? Stranger things have happened.