Crash

Min Jae Kim was limping and the right elbow was ripped out of his jacket.

“Rough night?” someone yelled as he hobbled down Nassau Street.

Everyone laughed.

Kim laughed with them and then took a bow for the crash on Beekman Street that had quickly become legendary in the neighborhood.

Slippery conditions forced most restaurant deliveries to be made on foot last night, but Kim was determined to ride his bicycle.

“I was making good time,” he said. “The streets just seemed to be wet, but I hit a patch of ice and that was it.”

Kim went down hard on his knee and his elbow smacked the pavement as he extended his arm up.

“I had to save the food,” he explained. “It was brown rice with vegetables, spareribs with black bean sauce, spring rolls, chicken soup and a melon salad.”

“No damage?” someone asked.

“Not to the food,” Kim said shifting on his sore knee.

“The important stuff got saved,” someone fired.

Everyone laughed again.

The ribbing from the other deliverymen is good natured these days. Kim is still the only Korean working at this Chinese restaurant, but he has the respect of his coworkers because he is the fastest rider on the crew.

“We all do our best,” Kim said.

“Don’t let him fool you,” someone shot. “He’s like Mariano Rivera coming out of the bullpen.”

“Yeah,” another chipped in. “But when he comes into the game they give him a bag of food instead of a baseball.”

They all laughed and Kim limped in the door to pick up his first order of the night.

“The streets are just wet,” he said tugging on his Yankee hat. “I’ll take my bicycle.”