'It's cheaper out there, but you pay for it in gas and patience'

'It's cheaper out there, but you pay for it in gas and patience.' A woman said this to her friend on a bench at Encanto Park, both holding paper cups, both looking at the water instead of each other. The friend said, 'So it's the same price.' Neither of them laughed. I am weighing the same trade myself, quieter but further, and I felt oddly seen by two strangers doing sums in the shade.