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METROPOLITAN DIARY

‘I Walked Over to a Food Cart That Is Always at the Intersection’

Turning to a local institution in a pinch, a tip about Beethoven and more reader tales of New York City in this week’s Metropolitan Diary.

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Dear Diary:

I found a cellphone face down in the street at 57th and Lexington. I grabbed it so it wouldn’t get run over, but there was no good place to leave it.

A traffic officer I asked to hold onto it was too busy and suggested I find a police officer. There was no police officer around, so I did the next best thing: I walked over to a food cart that is always at the intersection.

I asked the vendor if he could hold on to the phone. I live in Queens and didn’t want to take the phone too far from where it had been dropped.

The vendor declined, but then the phone rang. I set it on speaker, and the vendor and I tried to tell the caller where we were, but language barriers made it difficult.

Finally, the vendor grabbed the phone.

“57th and Lexington!” he shouted. “Come get your phone and shish kebab! Shish kebab!”

Then we heard a second voice on the phone, saying he was heading over, then a third voice asking where we were. Across the street we saw one man wearing a yellow jacket and waving his arms and another man walking in our direction. He turned out to be the phone’s owner.

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Your story must be connected to New York City and no longer than 300 words. An editor will contact you if your submission is being considered for publication.


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