The ins and outs of the world, translated…
This corner vegetable shop, always seemed, a bit, messy, with over two dozens of baskets with the vegetables scattered all over the floors, taking over the sidewalk too; the wall insides were, marked with spots, there were, the small baskets, containers, stacked up messy, behind the cash register, I’d rarely seen the owner with the squarish face smile at all, he’d always reminded coldly, “count your money before you leave, I’m not responsible for it after you leave my shop!”
I’d, always shopped around for everything else, then, entered into this particular shop, because there are, often the groceries that the regular marketplace lacked, like the pumpkins, the zucchinis, even the specific sort of rare species of salad vegetables too, with the acceptable prices.
On this day, I grabbed to plump green zucchinis, was about to check out, the owner flashed out his golden teeth at me, advised, “you should get two more of those regular zucchinis too.”, I looked confused, and he’d told me, “the green ones means ‘green luck’, the yellow ones, ‘yellow luck’, if you have both, then, you will have everything going your way.”
I was moved, and, took two more, yellow zucchinis. After I got home, I’d, julienned the zucchinis, stir fried with garlic, and bacon, added in some salt, some Italian herbs, then, put the final finishing touches of that basil on, and I’d, eaten my own cooking, thinking, wondering, if I will be, just as the owner had said.
That day I encountered a leafy green I’d never seen before, with the green bud, dark green stems and leaves, the way it’d bent slightly, had me curious. I took a bundle to the owner, asked him, “What is this? How do I prepare it?”
He was bent over, not looking up at me, told me in a rough voice, “you buy it, then I’ll, tell you.”
I objected, “Wow, you are, so stingy!”, he’d raised his voice, “if after I’d explained it to you, and you don’t even buy it, then, I’d, wasted my breaths, hadn’t I””, I’d wanted to just, turn and leave, but, I’d felt bad about it, then I’d, hollered at him back, “Fine, I’ll, buy it!”, the thought that came to my mind next was, “what if, it’s, too expensive?”
Then I’d quickly asked him how much it was, “$65 a bundle.”, he’d told me, and I’d, let out a sigh of relief.
Seeing how he’d made a deal, he’d, changed his tone, like he was, reciting poetry, “this is the bud of Chinese violet, it tastes like asparagus, pick the bottom off to make it into soup, the rest of it, julienne, add some onions, stirfry it with some meat, it tastes good…”
The woman behind me hollered, “Can you please be any slower!”
a stand, like this???
He’d turned around and barked back, “She was here first, would it hurt you to, wait for a bit?”, the woman turned into a little kid who just got caught, doing something bad by the teacher, lowered her head, not made another sound.
“Is this a brand new species? I’d, never seen it before!”, in order to put out the fire, I’d, asked immediately.
He’d, flashed his golden teeth, replied with pride, “There are, a ton of new and unusual vegetables in my shop, come more often, and you shall see them!”
I think, perhaps, the next time I shop here, I will, get me, another, surprise!
And so, this man, has his own way, of running his own shop, he doesn’t allow the customers to push him, he does things at his own tempo, which is, unlike the regular vendors at the local marketplaces, because the regular vendors are, trying to, sell off as much of what they carry as they can.