It is a very nice day, unseasonably warm. Link decides to take his sandwich to the park and eat it.
He finds a row of swings with only one little boy at them and sits down on one of the swings. Link takes his sandwich out of its wrapper and begins eating it.
A glob of oil runs out of the sandwich and splashes onto his shirt. He grabs his black tie and tries to absorb the stain, but the tie only helps to smear it around and make it larger. Link’s face and cheeks redden. A beautiful day has been ruined. It will be hard for him to go back to work with the embarrassing stain. The boy down the row from Link lets himself fly off the swing. He begins walking and, as he passes by Link, the boy glances mischievously at him. The boy notices the freshly blossomed stain on Link’s shirt. The stain has the boy so enrapt he moves a little closer to Link. He holds out a finger, pointing, and laughs. It’s as though the child can’t stop laughing. He laughs and laughs and laughs, pauses to cough, and laughs some more.
Link draws his hand back, feeling the satisfying weight of the greasy sandwich. He throws the sandwich as hard as he can and hits the boy in the face. A piece of lettuce sticks to the boy’s forehead. Grease drips from his nose.
The boy stops laughing and immediately begins crying.
“Damn that sandwich,” Link says, unbuttoning his rather expensive shirt. He throws this at the boy as well, telling him to wipe his greasy little face with it.
Link decides not to go back to work.
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