I ONLY WANTED A CHEESEBURGER!

Okay, I never go to fast food places any more. In fact, it's been so long, I couldn't tell you where the closest Burger King is. I was asked by a stranger once, where Pizza Hut was and I didn't know. Only this week, my son Christopher asked for a cheeseburger. He said that he yearned for one. It had after all been several years since I'd bought him one. Had I not seen the recent construction of a Carl's Jr. practically next door to our house, I'd have had to have gone home first and taken out the phone book to find the closest place.

Carl's Jr. I knew, because they'd had some promotion when it opened and there was this "star" character running around in tights on the sidewalk advertising the place.

I drove up, parked the car and went inside. Chris sat in the car reading his book called Classic Whodunits. After making no sense of the menu with so many meal deals and nothing simple listed, when it was my turn, I said, "I want a plain cheeseburger."

The girl rang me up and I thought, Wow they do have one.

She charged me a buck and a quarter. I looked at my receipt, wondering what the plain cheeseburger was called and that's when I saw it. The girl had given me a senior discount. What the ....?

I'm only forty-five.

My mother thought I should count my blessings.

Over ELEVEN cents, I thought.

My friend Eric who is my age said, "Next time, you go in there, whack her with your cane."