In
the Grocery Store
I
was in the city centre with Sari in front of the university. Students
were passing by. A couple of guys speaking English stopped to ask
Sari whether she was Dutch. Sari shook her head and said she was Finnish.
"I thought you were Dutch!"
"Where are you from?" Sari asked.
"From Holland."
The
two guys joined us and chatted with Sari. I was not in the mood for
talking, so I decided to move on. "I'm going to the grocery store,"
I said, "and then home."
Walking
towards the station I felt a bit jealous. I realized, however, that
Sari could do just as she pleased.
I
entered the grocery store wondering what to eat in the evening. In
the meat shelves there were some fascinating novelties, such as squirrel
fillets, which looked good. But the pieces of squirrel were so small
that there would be hardly anything to eat. Besides, they were pre-marinated.
I didn't like the ready-made mixtures, although it would be interesting
to eat rhodent for a change. Possibly squirrel would taste a little
like rabbit?
I
decided to go for pork. In the cheese department I took some Feta
and Edam. For drinks I grabbed some juice and beer, then queued in
order to pay.
The
queue was short but the customers before me were very noisy. The wait
seemed long.
I
paid and packed my purchases. I was about to leave when the cashier
asked me to wait. "According to the computer you're our 8ooth
customer. There's a prize for you, if only your purchases would exceed
10 euros."
"What kind of prize would that be?" I asked.
"That's 600 euros, but your payment doesn't quite exceed that
10 euro limit."
"Maybe I should go and get some more?"
"If you go straight away, the prize is yours."
I
went back to investigate the shelves. I didn't really need anything
but I supposed I could buy something small. I was interested in the
canned products, so I looked at the olives and exotic fruit. Indian
curry pastes crossed my mind, too.
An
interesting-looking character entered the shop: a fifty-year-old woman
dressed up in a brown outfit made out of lizard skin. The hair was
combed high up and the face was heavy with makeup. The woman was agitated
and cursed aloud, even if I could't make out what she was upset about.
The
entree had disturbed the customers so much that some visibly showed
their anger. The woman noticed the disapproval. She waved her hand
and in an instant living creatures slithered among the customers.
"Lizards!"
"Yak!"
"Catch them quickly!"
Two
cashiers intervened and asked what had happened.
"That lady is throwing lizards at us!"
The
vendors turned to the woman. There was another quick movement of her
arm. I didn't see exactly what happened, but there was a lot of shouting
and running, as the floor was full of lizards, which quickly ran below
the shelves.
A
couple of customers tried to restrain the woman. But she slithered
free and was now sitting on the counter. "You're not going to
catch me," she threatened. Her hands were ready to strike.
The
owner of the store approached the lady and asked what seemed to be
the problem.
"I was attacked," she protested.
"Who has attacked you?"
"These people here and those vendors."
The
manager tried to assure her that there were no grounds for worry if
only all remained calm. The woman looked incredulous, but soon calmed
down. She started to speak. I didn't catch all her words but I heard
how she repeatedly pointed out social injustices. "If there's
no other option, it's best to take the law into your own hands!"
Some
customers disdained at her speech but some nodded so as to agree when
she got to the point of talking about social inequality, the overemphasis
on economics, and the inbalances created by globalisation. Most of
the customers disagreed, but some had the same opinion and even added
some further injustices that she had forgotten to mention.
The
woman got excited about the reaction of her words. She continued by
criticizing the governmental policy on environment and education.
When the subject turned to university teaching, I mentioned that I
wasn't so keen on the tendency of some humanists to favour negativity
in their thinking. "Exactly!" the lady shouted, "Many
people think that intelligence is the same as mean criticism!"
She seemed to take this personally, since she mentioned that she herself
had studied in the University of Helsinki, but I understood that her
studies were never finished. Perhaps she thought this was the case
with me, too, since I felt that I got a great deal of sympathy from
her.
In
any case the situation was beginning to be over. Customers were more
interested in their shopping than critical discussion on the state
of society. The queue started to form again. The lizard woman saw
that she lost her audience and finally retreated from the scene.
I
bought a can of olives, winning the prize of 600 euros.
