Uncaring

Today, an elderly, unkept man approached me at breakfast. I gave

him three fivers.  He shifted his eyes to mine and mumbled “dinner

is twenty”.  I was struck by the incongruity of his assumption that my

gift had opened the door for more!  In some unpleasantness, I said,

what to him, what must have seemed a non sequitur, ”And a room is

one hundred”. Suddenly I was irritated and walked away! I was born

and raised on extensive cattle ranch. One of the local bits of wisdom was

“Never look a gift horse in the mouth!” For the unknowing, a perfectly

fine-looking horse shows his age ONLY by the absence of some of his

teeth! I am, now, several hours later, still concerned as to whether it was

uncaring to dismiss him as I did?