Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Banal Wanal
On tuesday she came to my studio. She wore a distraught look on her face. After some prodding, she explained to me how she had been ripped off by a local vendor the night before, and how she wished she weren't so timid and that it hadn't happened so far from her home and that she really should go back to the vendor and take back what was hers.
She had been away from our neighbourhood at the time, and was down on the west side. She had needed to purchase a bottle of wine for a dinner guest she was to have that evening, as he was a finicky sort who would not approve of a glass of beer. And so she had stopped by a distributor in the area in hopes of finding a suitable vintage. She was in a rush, for she had ballet at 7 and it was already 6. To make matters worse she had to stop by home before leaving for her practice, so she was likely already to be late. In her hurry when she purchased the bottle of wine she neglected to check the price that she paid and the vendor, unwittingly or not, took advantage of her haste and charged her an elevated amount.
For the rest of the night she went about her business, first to her ballet practice and then back home where she made dinner for her coming guest. It was only after her guest had arrived and the bottle had been brought out for enjoyment that she glanced at the receipt, which had apparently fallen on the table when the bottle was removed from its bag. She immediately realised the error. Such was her anguish over the discrepancy that she immediately ordered her dinner guest to go home and, not wishing to hear his rapacious demands, went to her room and cried.
On tuesday I tried to console her, emphasizing that it was only a bottle of wine and that the price she had paid was really not so atrocious. But she was too disturbed to be softened by my words. She left, I regret, in not much better condition than when she had arrived. Still, at the time she left she appeared to have no plans to go back to the vendor. Upon leaving she explained to me that it was simply too far and too much trouble given the fact that she had no transportation, but she did so sheepishly, for we both knew very well that this was of little matter to her actions.
On wednesday she returned to my studio as she always did, and we partook in our affairs in quite the usual fashion. Still, I discerned almost from the first a noticable change in her demeanour. But I said nothing and instead only looked to her at times with imperceptibly raised eyebrow of which I doubt she was even aware.
Towards the end of the session she solicited that I stop for she had something to say. I agreed. She told me that the day before, after our chat, she did in fact go back to the vendor, that she had left straight there from leaving me, and that she had walked the entire way in fact. I admit that I was more than a little surprised.
She went on to say that she felt much better about things now that the matter was settled. I concurred and mentioned that I had noticed that she was in better spirits today. She smiled brightly. She then explained to me, with a not a little malice, the satisfaction she had felt as she watched the vendor's establishment burn to the ground.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
