a city tale (2)

It was already half-past six, but the month was August, the cruelest month of the year, and there was a closeness in the air as if it was a tropical midday. The streets were deserted. The few cars that dared to cut through the dense and dry atmosphere were driving very slowly. The beast was asleep.

Dawn had her to-do list blank. Her ex-boyfriends were out of the city so her headaches had been reduced to zero. She had already practised all those simple habits that made her feel happy and calm, still she felt an urgent will to run out of the house. Suddenly, she had remembered that the summer would come to its end and the winter would arrive and she had no winter boots. With a new task on her mind, off she went.

Dawn headed for the small shop across her street where she did all her winter clothes shopping. She liked the shopkeeper, a woman in her forties, straight forward and smiling at all times. She admired ordinary people who would make her feel alive just by looking at them and the shopkeeper was one of those people.

Dawn went through the packed shelves of the tiny shop. Although the wide range of boots made her dizzy for a while, she was sure she would find something she´d like. Eventually she chose three pairs of boots from the middle shelf. The shopkeeper showed Dawn her way to the changing area. Dawn walked all the way to the back of the shop where this grew slightly wider, wide enough to fit in three small stools, a narrow changing-room and a mirror. There was a man sitting on one of the stools chatting away with the shopkeeper. She sat down next to the man and started the boring process of trying the shoes on. She started with the ones that convinced her less. The man sitting close to her gave Dawn his opinion That one looks good on you. He began to chat her up. Dawn kept on trying boots on as she was peeping at him. She liked him straight away, she liked people who dared to talk to strangers and there were not so many these days especially in a big city like that one.

One after the other Dawn tried on and analyzed the boots. Finally, she made her mind up and decided to buy a blue pair. The man had not quit asking personal questions during this process and by then, he already knew she was living across the street and working in a travel agency not far away from the neighbourhood. When she was about to pay, Dawn realized she had left her wallet at home. After the first embarrassing moments, the resolute shopkeeper grinned from ear to ear at Dawn telling her to take her shopping and come back the following day to pay the debt off. Dawn thought she was falling in love with that woman, she loved people who relied on others.

As she was leaving the shop, Dawn waved goodbye at the funny man and headed for the door hoping to meet him again the next day.