Small Change

Herr Hoffman parks his late-model car in a lot across from his corner office on the top floor. Each day, he puts a coin in the cup of a beggar who stands in front of the building. One day, Hoffman looks out his window and notices the beggar washing his car – no one else’s in the lot, just Hoffmann’s. That evening, when he gives the beggar a coin, Hoffmann tells him not the wash it. But the next day, it happens again. On the third morning, Hoffman drives his car back and forth in a mud puddle; the beggar washes it carefully. That evening, Hoffman has no change and no small bills, only 100 DM. He tries to evade the beggar, who gives chase, cane and all. More than wills collide.