The Cost of a Good Meal

Hello, reader. Happy Valentine's day!

Last week, we looked at The Considerate Hunter from Ghana. This week, we've got my modern intrepertation of it. Because of income tax and such, you can't just have animals give you money, so I had to take this in a new direction.

Would you get in a fight over this?

Gus' flight had ended up getting cancelled. He was booked on the next flight, but that wasn't until late this evening. Which gave him enough time to head downtown and get some dinner. Gus called a car and headed out of the airport, trying not to be annoyed this business trip was taking even longer.

After getting the driver's opinion, Gus ended up at a nice burger joint. He looked around and saw two other guys eating alone as well. On the spur of the moment, Gus decided to do something nice for them. Next time he saw the waitress, Gus asked if he could pay for the other men's meals too. It took a bit more convincing than it usually did, but the waitress agreed.

She brought over all the checks and Gus tipped generously and signed them all. He made sure to only take his receipt so he wouldn't get confused about which meal to get reimbursed for.

As he headed out of the restaurant, Gus noticed the waitress pointing him out to one of the men whose meal he'd paid for. Gus smiled and headed to the street. He had a bit more time, but he might as well head back to the airport to wait for his flight. He shifted his briefcase on his shoulder and started looking for a cab. He felt something knock into him. Gus turned around and saw it was the man the waitress had been talking to.

"You think I can't pay for my own meal?" the man demanded.

"Of course not," Gus replied, mystified. "I thought I'd just do something nice."

"Something nice? I was trying to do something nice and take this girl on a date. She stood me up!" The man cursed and glared at Gus.

"I'm sorry, " Gus said.

The man threw a punch and Gus barely ducked out of the way.

"What are you doing?" Gus yelled.

The man didn't reply. He just stepped forward and drew his fist back again. However, another man grabbed his arm and stopped him. Gus' attacker turned to see who was messing with him.

This new man was tall and heavy set. He looked pretty intimidating.

"Let go!" Gus' attacker demanded.

"Why are you fighting this guy?" the newcomer asked, not letting go.

"He insulted me!"

"I paid for his dinner," Gus answered.

The newcomer raised an eyebrow and looked at Gus' attacker. The attacker glared back.

"So you assaulted him," the newcomer said after a moment. He looked up at Gus. "Go ahead and call the police. I'll hold him for you."

"Police? I didn't do anything!" Gus' attacker protested.

"Then I think attempted assault will do nicely as a charge." The newcomer looked at Gus again. "I can represent you in court, if you like. Not that you really need a lawyer. This is an open and shut case."

"I'm not here for this," Gus' attacker muttered. He twisted out of the newcomer's grip and rushed off.

The newcomer laughed. "Figures. Are you all right?"

"Yes. He didn't actually hit me."

"That's good. Someone paid for my dinner as well. I assume that was you?"

Gus nodded.

"Well, I would like to thank you." The newcomer pulled out a business card and handed it to Gus.

"You really are a lawyer," Gus said, reading the card. The man's name was Matthew White.

Matthew laughed. "Yes and one of the best, although I specialize in corporate law, not criminal."

Gus smiled and pulled out his business card. "It just so happens I'm here scouting the location for another office. If we have any need for a lawyer here, I'll give you a call."

Matthew smiled. "Then I suppose this was a good meeting after all. I have somewhere I need to get to, but it was good to meet you, Gus."

"You too, Matthew."

Matthew turned and walked away and Gus got a cab back to the airport. As it turned out, Gus' company did open another office there and when they needed the best lawyer in the city, Gus was able to pull out Matthew's business card and get him. It hardly needs to be said that they won the case.