Would You Like Coins of Any Special Dates?

你要哪天铸造的硬币？

■郭可仪 选注

One day, Fred Carey went to the bank, where he had to collect some money to pay the rent. The bank had just started a new system of queueing; instead of having a separate queue at each clerk's window, there was a rope behind which all the customers had to wait, and the first person in the queue could only pass the rope when one of the clerks became free.

On this particular day, Fred found that there was a long queue of people waiting patiently for their turn to come. It was lunchtime, so the delays were even longer than usual, because people who had been too busy working earlier in the day to go to the bank were there, and also because a few of the bank clerks were away having lunch.

While Fred waited, he filled in a cheque in his cheque book, which he then signed and tore out, ready to give to the clerk. Then he looked around him as the queue moved gradually forward. He noticed one man in front of him who was wearing a torn cloth cap. He seemed very old and poor, and Fred felt quite sorry for him.

When it was Fred's turn to go to one of the bank clerks' windows, he noticed that he was quite close to the old man, who had just gone to one of the other windows. Fred saw that he was holding a cheque for ￡6.00 in his hand. The old man gave the cheque to the clerk, whom Fred had often seen in the bank, and the clerk asked him how he would like the money.

The old man was a little deaf and did not hear the clerk at first. Fred therefore leaned over and said to him loudly but kindly, "Excuse me, but the clerk would like to know how you'd like your money."

The old man, who was very surprised to be spoken to by a stranger in this way, turned to Fred and said, "What?"

"The clerk," Fred repeated slowly and even more loudly, "wants to know how you would like your money."

The old man thanked Fred for his kindness. Then he turned back to the clerk and said, "I'd like ten 50p coins, five 10p coins, three 5p coins, twelve 2p coins and eleven 1p coins, please."

Fred was surprised and amused when he heard this list, and he wondered what the busy clerk would say.

The clerk sighed and then said politely, "Would you like coins of any special dates, sir?"