Аннотация: A shopping in the supermarket. A drawing (From "stories on the little sheets of paper").
A shopping in the supermarket. A drawing (From "stories on the little sheets of paper").
I made a plan a long time ago: to go to one of the big supermarkets and to buy one or two mugs for tea and coffee. After several micro-incidents, the mugs needed to be replenished.
Supermarkets have a large selection of mugs. I will be able to choose a good mug.
A dry sunny day. The supermarket is about an hour's walk away.
I start a walk.
Here is a crossroad.
If I go to the supermarket, then I need to turn right.
If I turn left, I can visit several kiosks, which probably sell mugs. Kiosks are close - that is, nearby. A long walk will not be required.
I turn left to the kiosks. Suddenly, I feel some movement behind me. I turn around. A fairly large dog, whose hair on the back has risen with rage, attacks me.
I signify a willingness to fight back.
The dog continues to bark aggressively, but runs off to the side, preparing for a new attack.
I am surprised. Why would a peaceful dog attacks of me?
I go further. I constantly turn around to prevent the dog from biting me from behind.
Not! I will return to the crossroad and will turn right, towards the supermarket (in accordance with the original plan).
Oddly enough, the anger of the dog and of several its large tribesmen subsided.
I turn and go to the right direction.
A pocket atlas I recently bought came in handy - a very unexpected, useful purchase.
A little tired, but it's a healthy tiredness.
Supermarket.
Several shelves with dishes, with cups.
Nothing that I liked to such an extent that I would buy, that something would be acquired.
I choose to buy shoes. Shoe boxes are placed near the cups.
These are shoes of the type that are sold in large supermarkets (periodically at a big discount). These shoes are made somewhere south of the equator.
Let these shoes wait for a warm dry weather.
I choose some more items of insignificant value and go to the checkout.
On the way, I ask a woman - the store employee: where are the shelves with dishes? (Maybe there are mugs on display somewhere else - such ones that I would buy?).
I meet a fixed, suspicious look. (Is there anything suspicious in my question?).
What saves me is that the huge store is almost empty, and the employee has not accumulated a critical mass of irritation.
There are no other shelves with dishes (and mugs), except for those that I have already examined.
I say "thank you" for the explanation and I am heading for the sounds of working cash desks. (Most of the cash desks - ten? - fifteen? - twenty? - are closed, but two of them are functioning, three or four people stand next to them).
Here is the cash desk. A couple - a girl and a guy - are waiting for the opportunity to pay for the selected goods. The cashier is busy with some female customer.
It makes sense to buy goods in this store only if you have a special branded discount card. As I found out when I received the check after purchase, the discount was about forty percent of the price - the regular price - of the selected items).
- 'Maybe someone will give me their discount card,' - I say loudly enough as I approach the cash desk.
The faces of the girl and the guy express sadness and concern. No willingness to give me their discount card - at the moment of my payment.
I'm moving on to another cash desk.
Here is a pretty girl.
- Mademoiselle! Can't I use your card?
- Of course!
She pays for her purchase, then passes the card to me.
She doesn't lose anything. She is ramping up the volume of her purchases. Still, it's a courtesy on her part.
The cashier swipes the card through the reader, my check crawls out, the card from the cashier's hand falls into the girl's hand.
- I wish you every success! - I say.
The girl smiles.
Will be a some real usefulness in connection with my wish, my words ?
I put my purchases in bags and go to the bus stop.
There is no marked crossing (for pedestrians) here. The place requires a special type of skill. Multiple lanes in one direction. A dividing lawn. Several lanes in the opposite direction.
Ahead I see an adult woman, with a little girl, who are waiting for the opportunity to cross a busy highway.
I noticed them from afar. They wait and wait. Transport moves in continuous streams.
At last, I am near these people.
We are waiting together to cross the track.
- Soon there will be a pause! - I say.
- Yes? - the woman says with a hope. - It's good that you came, otherwise we would have stood here forever. Can we cross road behind you [under your defence]?
She changes position. And the little girl is protected from a possible collision with cars by me and the woman.
The situation seems a little strange to me.
- It's good that you came. Now there will be a pause, - the woman says.
Indeed, for a moment the flow of cars dries up, disappears, and we quickly cross the road.
The woman says something else - positive.
I go to the bus stop and understand that my wish, my words to the girl who transferred me her card has every chance of being fulfilled.
On the way back I go to one of the shops. I ask if the mugs are for sale. I go toward the shelf.
Transparent glass mug of beautiful shape. Blue paint has been added to the glass.
The glass has a blue tint.
Maybe to see, to discover an ink in that blue paint? The same (very) ink, with which they were writing in the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth centuries?
What if it's the ink?
If it's the ink, then the mug could be considered a writer's mug.
For some reason, this mug costs two to three times less than the cups that I saw today in a big supermarket (even with all the discounts).
I buy. I even feel some pleasure - due to the fact that the purchase turned out to be attractive and not expensive.
I make a tea at home.
I drink from a purchased mug.
Feeling good...
November 21, 2022 17:01
Translation from Russian into English: November 21, 2022 22:15.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский ' Покупки в супермаркете. Зарисовка (Из 'рассказов на листочках').'.
{ 3241. Покупки в супермаркете. Зарисовка (Из 'рассказов на листочках').
MMMCCXII. A shopping in the supermarket. A drawing (From "stories on the little sheets of paper").
Vladimir Zalessky Internet-bibliotheca. Интернет-библиотека Владимира Залесского}