the secret that's not really so secret

It was cold and we were lazy so we walked a block to McDonald's. I had a vague idea of what I'd have when we got there - quarter pounder with cheese, fries, 4 piece nuggets - but everything changed when I passed a particular table on my way to the register.

Two girls were sitting together, couldn't have been more than fifteen years old, eating lunch. They both wore dark-rimmed glasses and had yellow bandanas tied around their wrists. My eyes went from the bandanas to their fingers. And their nuggets. They looked amazing, full of crispy golden deliciousness.

The quarter pounder lost all appeal. I wanted nuggets and I wanted a ten piece. Until, that is, I saw I could get twelve of them for less money than ten would cost me. This revelation astounded me. Why would they make a system where you could get three dollar menu 4 pieces for less than a ten piece? Wouldn't everyone just go with the dollar menu?

Whatever, I thought. More nugget is good nugget.

Chris, whose voracious appetite for the bite-sized bits cast a shadow over mine, ordered after me. I didn't hear what he got and didn't ask until we were walking back to work.

"20 nuggets," he answered.

"From the dollar menu?"

"No. The box of 20."

"You pay more than 5 bucks?" I asked.

He thought for a second. "Six something."

I pressed my lips and shook my head slowly from side-to-side. McDonald's suckered another one.

"You should've gotten five off the dollar menu. Same amount of food. Less amount of dollar."

He stopped walking and did the math in his head.

"Damn," he said. "20 nuggets." He shrugged and smiled. "I'll have to remember that next time."

How many Chris's are there out there? How many innocent nuggheads order their chicken without even knowing there's a cheaper option right on the menu?

The beauty is you don't even need a coupon. It really is the gift that keeps on giving.

Someone should alert the world.

The people have a right to know.