I was in an Oxxo with my friend Rabetzi, sitting on a bench. The place looked like a school cafeteria, with lots of young people sitting and eating on long tables.

Rabetzi went up to the counter and I followed him hesitantly, as I wasn’t carrying any money, but I was hungry. There was an old peperonni pizza sitting directly on the counter which looked greasy, flat and old, and others within glass enclosures which were puffy, hot and appetizing. I was hoping I would not have to eat the old pizza.

Rabetzi started joking with the attendants, two older women who were delighted with his vivaciousness. He grabbed a bottle of habanero sauce and squeezed it upward, getting sauce all over me. I wiped it off submissively, as I wanted Rabetzi to pay for my food and I couldn’t stand up for myself.

One of the women asked Rabetzi how many years he thought she was, “76” he said, and I protested: “No, she is much younger”, but I didn’t want to push back, because again, I was wanting to be a sidekick so that he would invite me the Pizza. The woman looked dejected at being guessed such an old age.

I wanted to say she was fifty-something, but then I detected a bias: I was really estimating thirty-something, but I didn’t want to offend Rabetzi. I looked closely to make an accurate asessment, and in a matter of seconds her hair went white, wrinkles appeared on her face, and the uniform she was wearing disappeared, and her body went from firm and rounded to wrinkled and saggy.

She served me the old pizza and charged me a 18 pesos, which I was carrying in coins. She gave me back two of the 5 peso coins and told me they were two peso coins, which had the size of the larger denomination but the number of the lower denomination, and the copper colored inside was off-center.

I tried swallowing one of the coins, but I choked and spit it out. I read a notice that said that any coins which were multiples of 2 and any bills which were multiples of 64 would be accepted as payment, but only if you swallowed them.