Theft by Finding - David Sedaris

December 21, 1989
Chicago
On the last day of class I took my students to the Walnut Room, where we sat by the big Christmas
tree and had cocktails. Everything on the menu had a festive name. One item in particular was called
something like God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen California Blush Wine.
Afterward I went with Ben and his mother to the Wagon Wheel Restaurant, where the two of them
ate bacon cheeseburgers. His mom could be fifty but looks younger. She wore a knit bonnet, and
through it I could see gray hair but couldn’t determine how much of it she had. This was the ten-year
anniversary of her divorce. At first she thought she’d order the pancakes and have a beer to go with
them. Then she changed her mind and went with the bacon cheeseburger, deciding that instead of beer
she’d have coffee. Ben’s mother works at B. Dalton and earns $75 per week. I liked her a lot.