“Not at all. Take your time honey.” A relieved Marianna took off toward the bathroom as fast as her wheelchair would carry her; Sari’s runner’s legs keeping pace easily.

After her bathroom needs were dealt with, Marianna returned to her table, completed her last 45 minutes of selling, during which she made exactly $5.25. Then Sari put everything back into Marianna’s selling suitcase and the pair went outside to wait for the paratransit service.

It was more than an hour before the van arrived. The driver had gotten lost. “See?” said Marianna when she and Sari finally entered her apartment. “That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. Able-bodied people have cars. They can come and go whenever they care to. They’re at the mercy of no one else’s schedule!”

Sari sighed, “Some able-bodied people have cars, I don’t. I take the bus just like you. Only my bus doesn’t drop me off at my door.”

“You’re still lucky. You don’t need to do anything you don’t want ever.”

“Is that really what you think or are you just rambling because you had a bad sale day?”

Marianna paused. “Sometimes that’s what I think,” she said slowly.

“Well, you‘re wrong. We able-bodied people have to do things we don’t want to all the time. Why do you think I come here four days a week?”

“Because you like me,” Marianna joked.

“Yes, I do and that makes me luckier than some, but I’m here mostly so I can pay rent and feed my cat.”

“But, if you wanted to you could use your credit card, hop on a plane to Bulgaria, and go back packing for a few months at no consequences to yourself.”

Sari laughed, “No consequence! Try no job and therefore no way to pay rent or bills. Try racking up a huge amount of credit card debt with no way to pay it back. Plus, you know my mom, do you actually think she’d let me drop everything and go to Europe without saying anything?”

“Probably not…” Marianna laughed to, in spite of herself.