You are learning numbers and prices: you will read the scene it happens in, take apart the pattern behind them (numbers + price vocabulary), hear them in a conversation, rehearse them, and finish by saying one thing out loud to be graded.
New York City prices: a coffee $3–6, a subway ride $2.90, a slice of pizza $3–5, a yellow taxi starts at $3. Numbers and the price question unlock every transaction.
Dollar pizza — the New York slice that costs $1 (now closer to $1.50–$3, but the name remains) — is New York's most democratic food. Every borough has it. The slice is enormous, foldable down the middle, eaten while walking.
The stranger is at a pizza counter on 8th Avenue. The slices rotate under heat lamps. "How much is a slice?"
"Three dollars."
"I'll take one, please. Can I pay by card?"
"Cash only." He checks his pocket. He has a five. "Here's five dollars."
The man hands back two crumpled singles. "Two dollars change."
The slice arrives: enormous, thin, crisp-edged, slightly floppy. He folds it. Takes a bite. The cheese is molten. He understands why people love New York.