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the dead sea scrolls

The other day I went downtown to see the Dead Sea Scro IIs. I don't
know whether you've ever seen them or even if you care about them.
But that doesn't matter. The other day that I went was a Sunday.

You wouldn't have believed the lines that they had. I didn't. I mean

they had lines a block and a half long. Just to see the Dead ~ea
Scrolls. I couldn't even find a parking pla.ce. I ended up par kmg
in a "No Stopping" zone.

Then I walked down to the end of the line. On the way I sa~
this newsstand. It was run by this blind man. You know the kin

of stand I mean. It's green and wooden, and this blind man was

sitting inside, I knew I'd have this long wait so I bought a newspaper.

J asked this blind guy What papers he had. He said he had pape~

from Boston and New York and Washington and Los Angeles an

alor of others. So I asked him for a Los Angeles one. I'd never been
there, but I had been to New York and BOston and all.

Now here is the amazing part. This blind man just reached dOW~

and picked up a Los Angeles paper. There was no fumbling aroun

or anyIthikng. He just reached down and picked one right up. I
mean now h e puts th'm,· gs rn the same place all the tr.me a nd al,l

that, but he doesn't always sit or stand in the same place. I coul~n t

have picked it up as confidently as he did if I had been watchmg

what I was dOing. That really amazed me. So I gave him the quarter

for the paper and he felt it to make sure it was a quarter. T~en

he said, Thank you. But I Was already walking away. Thinkmg
aboui him reaching for the lousy paper. And his being blind and all.

. Then I stood at the end of the line. Reading my Los Angeles

paper. I really don't know why I even bought it. I'd already seen
i'newspaper that day. Nothing was really different from the one

I'd read. I'm dead serious. Like the front page was the same. Eve?,
the pictures. And the comics and the stock market and "Dear Abby
and the SpOrts. Everything. It was all the same. Even the local news

was the same. The mayor was calling for higher taxes. Of course
it was a different mayor; but everything else was the same. Even
the letters to the editor. Only different people wrote them. But
ittheawpeaoyp.le weren't even that different. It was all the same. So I threw

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