The great gold feverImagine a scenario like this one:  The saloon has a small and a large table. The small table has room for 2 people; at the big table, two men are already sitting and drinking their beer. Sam takes a chair and sits down with them, saying, "Howdy, greenhorns - make some room here!" and makes himself quite at home. The two look at each other, nod, and move grumpily to the smaller table. The bartender comes up to the table and asks, "Good day, sir, what'll it be?" Sam: "A steak - a big one!!! I want everything BIG!" He laughs contently. The bartender asks, "Want a beer with that?" Sam nods. Then he adds, "A big one, of course! I want everything BIG!" He flirts with the scullery maid standing in a corner and brags, "With me, everything is BIG!" The maid giggles with embarrassment and disappears. The bartender brings a pint of beer. "I said BIG! What am I supposed to do with these few drops?" The bartender turns back and returns with a beer in an enormous stein. Then he brings the steak, with big potatoes, on a big plate. Plus a strikingly big napkin. He asks loudly, "Is that big enough, my fine sir?" Sam nods. "Yes, yes, exactly right! As you know - I want everything BIG!" The gold trader arrives and unpacks his little scale, a notebook, and his moneybag. Everyone crowds around him to sell their bags of gold dust and small nuggets. They get between twenty and a hundred dollars for it. Sam laughs at them, shows the size of the bag and the nuggets with his fingertips, and amuses himself greatly. The other guests mumble and fume. Sam doesn't jostle the line. He eats his dinner calmly, taking his time. Finally, everyone else is finished and the trader asks loudly, "Anyone else?" Now Sam stands up, leaving the rest of his food, and grabs his backpack and sets it on the table in front of the trader. He takes out a huge nugget about 5 inches across and laughingly puts it on the scale. The little scale is of course too small and the trader asks the crowd whether anyone in town has a larger scale. The bartender comes with a dirty scale from the kitchen. The nugget is weighed and Sam receives two $1000 bills. The trader makes a fuss about taking the bills out of his suitcase because his moneybag has meanwhile become empty. He adds, "Well, you certainly have to like that - with you, everything has to be big!" He packs his things and disappears.  Now it's time for Sam to pay for his supper but the bartender doesn't want to accept such a large bill. "No, no, I can't change that! I've never even seen such a bill before! How do I even know they're real???" The other men also start mumbling that they are unfamiliar with such bills, have never seen one before. "They're surely counterfeits!" Then the bartender says, "Well, there's nothing for it. Come on into the kitchen and start washing dishes! But never fear - we'll give you the big pots and big pans. After all, I know - with you, everything has to be BIG !"
© Peter Dörling 2004 Herzlichen Dank für die Übersetzung an EvaSara Tullier
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