Shopping

I am not a one-stop shopper anymore. I used to be. I used to prize convenience above anything else. But now, I’ve established relationships with vendors. Not very deep ones, but enough so that they will smile as I approach them, and usually throw in an extra something something after weighing my intended purchase. I buy my rice and eggs from the lady on one corner (whose daughters always rollerblade in the street and say “Hell-llllo” as I pass), my fruit from an old man outside the video store, my vegetables from the old women outside the bank, and my liquids from the corner store less than a block from my home. Even though beverages are more expensive there, it’s worth it not to have to carry them very far.

The elderly man who sits behind the counter is perplexed, though. He’s never seen me buy solid food. I stop in about every other day, usually purchasing two or three bottles of water, plum juice, orange juice, “refreshing water” or soda. And everyday, as he calculates how much I owe, he laughs and says, “You! Wa-tah pa-ty!” and laughs hysterically. At first, I didn’t understand. I guess I still don’t. But now I laugh along with him.