Yesterday my wife asked to get some fried tofu from Thanh Son so I took Cu Dao with me. I put him in the car and gave him a bottle. We listened to some Miles Davis and drove about twenty-five minutes to Eden. By the time we got there, Duke was already fell asleep. I didn’t want to wake him up nor did I want to leave him in the car to go buy some tofu. So my other option was to ask for help.

I pulled up into an empty space a few cars away from Thanh Son. I asked an elder woman standing outside if she could go in and buy me $10 tofu as I pulled out $20 from my wallet. She told me to go in and get it and she would keep an eye out for me, but I couldn’t leave my boy with a stranger. I spotted another woman coming into Thanh Son, but before I could even asked her she already shrugged as if I was begging money or something. I thought it was kind of hilarious. I was being dissed in my own community.

I didn’t give up though. I knew someone would kind enough to help me out. So another woman walked by, I stopped her and showed her where Duke was sleeping. She was a bit hesitated, but I handed her a $20 bill anyway. She smiled and went in to get me some fried tofu.