A Short Letter Home: Be a Pepper

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Be a Pepper

I have no silliness of my own to report, seeing how I have become quite boring in the past weeks, but there were some shenanigans afoot in the expatriate community yesterday which I can share with y'all.

The scenario is like this: when you move away from home, the things you leave behind become all the more precious. So if you get a chance to enjoy one of those things again, it's a big treat. Food items, especially, can be a big delight. Out here in the sticks of Yunnan, us Americans have a two tier sort of exile. There are many things from America that we cannot get here, but some of those items one can get in Kunming, the provincial capital. So every trip to Kunming usually includes a shopping expedition to stock up on our favorite comfort foods. Of course, there are a couple of imported items that are available out here and occasionally a new item gets added to the list. Such an event is a pleasant surprise.

Anyway, the prank: One of the Americans in town, Pete, felt an urge to play Candid Camera with his colleague, Marty. Marty loves Dr.Pepper, a soda that one can get in Kunming, but not out here. Unfortunately for Marty, the last time he was in Kunming, the store that imports Dr. Pepper was out. He had to return home empty handed. Pete, nice guy that he was, arranged to have a colleague buy some Dr. Pepper when she passed through Kunming recently. But Pete is a rascal, too, and didn't tell Marty. Instead, he set up a scam with a local grocery store. A number of the foreigners patronize the store and it stocks many imported items. Pete arranged with the owner to place the cans of Dr. Pepper in the cooler with the other sodas. Marty and Pete and their families were having dinner in a small restaurant a few doors down. This place doesn't have an extensive drink menu, so they often head over to the grocery store to fetch drinks. Pete asked Marty to go buy some and Marty went. He went to the cooler, saw the cans and, of course, grabbed them all. I'm told that it's all on tape, as Pete hid a couple of video cameras in the store--at least one in the cooler. Marty was quite delighted, but the scam started to unravel almost immediately. The store owner, of course, only charged Marty for the other sodas so the bill was too low. Eventually Pete fessed up. Hopefully Marty hadn't got his hopes raised too high. At least he did get a few cans of his favorite soda. Can't complain about that.