A Basket of Pears

When I first met with my driver, Steve, we talked about the route and plans for the tour. I asked him if he knew a city guide for Dallas as the tour company hadn't included it in the tour. Since I had scheduled 4 hours free I thought that a two hour tour would work nicely, still allowing 2 hours of free time. So Steve, being a local, happened to know a couple of city tour guides and was able to contact one and make the arrangements. I presented the plan to the passengers and all were willing to pay the small fee to pay the guide.
And so it was.
After the visit to Dealy Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum the guide met us and showed us the city. One of the stops on the tour was the Dallas Farmers Market.

This is a wonderful open-air market with lots of vendors selling beautiful and delicious-looking fruits and vegetables. So everyone scrambled around purchasing goodies to snack on while on the coach.
I bought a bag of green grapes and a basket (about 6) beautiful, delicious-looking pears which happen to be my two favorite fruits. We re-boarded the coach and I placed my purchases on my seat. I then had to return to the jump seat of the bus so Danielle, the guide could assume my seat behind the driver to finish the tour. She also placed her purchases on my seat.
And so it was.
When the tour was done everyone said thank you to Danielle for a terrific and informative tour and she picked up her purchases and said good bye and left the coach. As she was waving goodbye from the sidewalk I moved back into my seat behind the driver. I quickly realized that one of my bags was missing. I searched all around my seat, on the floor, under other things that were there and only found my grapes. I knew it was unintentional but Danielle had taken one of my bags when she picked up hers. I immediately took the microphone and announced, "She took my pears!" Naturally I got a lot of comic mileage out of this. Sometimes when things are quiet on the bus I will say, "I wish I had a pear," or " I can't believe she stole my damn pears," or "I hope you enjoyed the Dallas City Tour, all it cost was a couple of hundred dollars and a basket of MY pears!"
It has become a great theme of the tour....She stole my pears! Everyone has found some way to make reference to the event and we have had a lot of laughs over it.
And all it cost me was a basket of pears!