Summary

A young girl introduces herself as a twelve-year-old girl before beginning to describe her evening with her mother. She and her mother had been waiting for a taxi in the rain for quite some time. Earlier in the day, they had gone to a dentist appointment for the daughter and had had some ice cream afterwards. They were “wearing ordinary hats and coats” (661), but there was a large rainstorm happening.

The mother and daughter were waiting fruitlessly for a taxi, when a small old man with a white moustache appeared and started a conversation. He asked for a favor, but the mother was “suspicious” (661) of his intentions, but the daughter considered him to be “a real gentleman” (662). The man started to suggest that he was in a dilemma, when the mother realized that he was asking for money, to which he responded, “Oh...