A short tender story

…so yesterday a bulb burnt out (of course!) so I went to the grocery store to get a new one. There, works an old lady that is probably pretty lonely in life. She is around 70, quite unkempt, short little lady. She never takes days off, even on her birthdays (she always lets me know when they are coming). Even if she has no shift, she comes to collect money for charity. On Halloween, she always comes dressed up in costumes. And she often tells the customers jokes. Very childish, innocent jokes.

I’m in a pretty central area and most customers are passer-by, and often times they don’t take her too kindly. It happened that people swear at her. Sometimes other customers protect her when others shout at her (note: I live in the public triangle filled with drunkards a lot of the time).

Anyway, I saw her and asked her if she had a Christmas joke to tell me. She smiled and she shared one. She wondered why sometimes customers come themselves to her for jokes. I can’t speak for others, I said, but for me after a hard day her jokes and smile offer a lot.

“Yesterday, someone came and brought me a bouquet of flowers… I never expected that at all”, she said,” and now you are telling me this!” and tears started coming out. And because I am not in my best state, my eyes became watery as well. And then my card was declined! Luckily, it was because of a faulty machine! So all ended well!

Phaethon