- Do you want garlic? - my daughter asked.
- Only a few, you know they dont make me feel very well, I replied while undressing.
When I returned to the dining room, the food was already served and my dau-ghter told me,
-Do you know what Ive been thinking ?, Im off this weekend, if you want, my son and I can go somewhere, and you can have the day off for whatever you want.
-I would rather spend it with you, its been long since we went out somewhere as a family, even if we just play at the park.
My daughter must have liked that, because she came closer and gave me a soft kiss on the head.
-I want to play with the ducks -said my grandson with a few words.
-But you must know, I answered. Ducks are very smart and they know who eat their food and who does not. Would you like them to know that you eat little?
-No, today Ill eat it all, he said with a big smile.
That was wonderful because for the first time in a long time the three of us were at the table eating together, normally my daughter ate standing up or took her food in a lunch bag and ate on her way to work.
But today, even after stealing a part of her valuable time, she sat down and my grandson, who would always start a war in order to eat, was eating everything his mother had given him and even without protesting. Once we finished eating I went to clean the dishes and my daughter went to work.
I was already late, although I did not care, because I liked very much how the morning had been resolved, although I was quite angry at first, because when I arrived my son was alone at home when my mother supposed to be with him.
I asked him how he got home and he told me that he came with one of his friends, a neighbour of ours and that his mother had brought them both; al-though this was fine by me, because he arrived home, I did not like it very much, because if someone is responsible of a task, the person must comply and even more when it is about my son.
But strangely all that bad mood had vanished when she opened the door, it was as if a breath of fresh air had entered and had made me forget all my com-plaints.
Although I usually left my son doing his homework, today I barely had time to say goodbye and I went running to work. Luckily my place of work was next to the house, I just had to walk a little faster to be able to recover the extra time I spent more preparing the food.
I left the house in the direction to the supermarket in the neighbourhood and when I arrived I met the the supervisor who told me,
- Hello, miss, I see you are looking radiant today, Im glad, thats the attitude I want for my employees.
Radiant ?, I did not really know what he was talking about, he surely wanted me to do extra hours and thats why he told me such a compliment. I did not give it more importance, I put on my apron and started charging in my box.
-Hello, it shows that today is a beautiful day, said an elderly man I always saw buying the same thing every day.
-You know, today I recommend an offer that we have, if you are interested in adding it to your diet.
-How do you know Im on a diet? The strange man asked.
-Im very observant, besides, you are ageing well, you must be doing so-mething.
-Oh, thank you, youve noticed, but its not just about the food, I walk about eight kilometres every day, can you believe it at my age?
- Well, if I may, I recommend some supplements that contain iron, it is good to replace the mineral salts that are lost - I replied with a smile.
- You know, I am very happy that you attended to me, whenever I come I will try to make it that way. And in confidence, if you think I need something else do not hesitate to tell me, because despite the saying the older the wiser, the truth is that my head is too small and sometimes I can not fix my eyes on everything.
-Why do you take care of yourself so much? -I asked wondering.
-You know, theres a girl, I met the other day at a party, but I was shy to ask her for a dance. She also seemed somewhat demure and I want to look good for this Friday.
-Do you have a new party? I asked surprised.
-Yes, every Friday at eight in the social centre, you can come if you want, Im sure you would have a good time.
- Thank you very much, but I have no partner, I replied sadly.
- I would be happy to be your partner, the man told me, winking at me. Al-though, to tell the truth, I am already interested in another person.
- So are you going to tell her? I asked quietly.
-I dont know, I never have the courage - he said with shame.
-Try with some flowers, that always helps and if she does not accept you, you will only have lost a bit of your ego.
- I no longer have pride miss, time took it away, its something else - he said in a mysterious tone.
- Listen to me, some flowers, even just one, but not a red rose, I said, winking at him.
-Oh, why not? He asked surprised.
-Dont be mischievous, you already know what it means.
And we both got that nervous laugh of complicity that two friends have when they touch personal issues and the man left happily towards the direction of the florist as he told me, to prepare for his attack next Friday.
I stayed alone for a while as no client came, surprised at what had happened.
Normally, I had the habit of not talking to customers, since it was very stress-ful to have to be marking and thinking about the answer I had to give.
The only reason I would talk to a customer was to give the total cost of the purchase, and I would do this with haste, since usually there were one or two more customers waiting on the queue
But at this moment, it seemed time was not important, as if what was really important was to dedicate a little time to this man who was always looking down, instead, he was encouraged and had a big smile.
Lets see if its true what my boss told me of him having a good day, I thought within myself.
The next customer arrived, she was like those women difficult to deal with, because they complained about everything. I still remember yesterdays argu-ment, because some yogurts had todays expiration date. She complained and argued that with so little time she was not going to have the time to eat them all and that she would have to throw more than half, so she asked me for a dis-count of at least half the price.
The day before, it was because I mistakenly gave her a penny less of her chan-ge. She was very angry saying that, if the products were already expensive, she could not afford not having her change back correctly.
But strangely I did not feel afraid or intimidated by her presence as in other occasions. She was one of those people who were hard to forget and it wasnt nice meeting them, those type of people if you saw them on the street you would prefer changing sidewalk before facing them. I had barely begun to dial when she asked me,
-Hey, which perfume is it today?
Feeling surprised I told her and she spoke to me again saying,
-I might buy a bottle of that, you know I like to wear perfume, but in very little quantity, I prefer my own smell to mix with the perfume.
- That way people will know you by you smell, I said with a forced smile.
-Indeed, I do not like those people who because of lack of hygiene they hide their own smell behind a litre of cologne.
-Besides, they say its an aphrodisiac, I mean personal smell, I pointed out.
-Yes, I have also heard about that, but they say that men are rather visual, thats why I always wear clothes of one size less than mine.
-Yes, I have also heard about that, but they say that men are rather visual, thats why I always wear clothes of one size less than mine.
We both laughed a lot with that statement, the truth is that I didnt know the woman, perhaps I had judged her wrongly or maybe too easily.
Now that I knew her a little better, she seemed to be a beautiful person, and of course anybody could have a bad day even her, that would explain the clashes we have had in the past, nothing to remember anymore.
I said farewell with a smile and after a moment of being alone I heard on the public address system that I was needed in customer service. That shocked me, because when a cashier was needed they usually send a girl to give the errand to avoid causing the scandal of using the speakers.
When I arrived, the manager with a big smile told me,
-See, some of us have been talking and we believe that you will be the emplo-yee of the week.
- In all my years here I have never been employee of the week - I said surpri-sed.
-Well, you are today, he replied winking at me.
-But that means
-Yes, indeed, collect your things, because you free for the rest of the day.
It seemed like a dream come true, I had always envied the luck of some people getting off thanks to being the employee of the week, but it had never really touched me until this moment.
I felt lucky, as if I had been touched by providence, capable of doing anything, of making my dreams and desires come true.
I left after hugging my colleagues and even a customer who crossed my path and gave everyone a nice smile. I went to a childrens goods store, because I wanted my happiness to be shared with those that are mine, and although I didnt have much money I wanted to surprise my son so I went to buy him a toy.
Before entering the store, I saw a person selling lottery coupons. I had always been suspicious of those games that take away you salary and also your illu-sions with them, because years and years pass by without winning, neither you nor any family member, despite the gossip that says that they have heard of one person or the other who won but nobody ever knows the person directly.
I bought a number and I left the change to the seller, who delighted me with a poem as a thank you, the poem despite being short was beautiful and so I let him know.
After I went into the store and looking around a lot I decided on a ruben cube, although I knew that my son was more of wrestling toys, it seemed a good en-tertainment that would help you focus on difficult tasks.
Well, to tell the truth, I did not expect him to ever solve it, because when I was younger I tried several times and never succeeded.
I asked the clerk to wrap it for me as a gift and once I paid I went home exci-ted. There was my mother sitting on a chair watching TV and knitting a scarf, even though we did not need it, because we already had a collection, but she liked to weave it and it kept her busy.
After greeting her, I went to my sons room, where he spent the afternoons. Al-though there was no one to watch him, he knew that I would ask him about his homework in the evening before dinner and I would check if he had done them well. For that reason he divided his time as he wanted into studying and rest time, if he liked he could do his homework first and then spend the rest of the afternoon playing.
When I arrived he was colouring a notebook, seeing me enter he was surprised and looked at a clock in case time had gone without realising and he said,
-Mom, what are you doing here at this time? Are you okay?
-Im doing great, Ive only come to see you earlier, to know how you were- I replied with a smile.
- Im fine, thanks, but you have to go unless they might complain at work, he said hurriedly.
That filled me with pride, knowing that I had such a responsible son.
-Look today I have no more work to do, I have been granted the afternoon off, so if you want we can go to the park for some time.
-I still have homework, he said with a sad face.
-Dont worry, Ill help you to finish it later if you come with me.
He quickly released the coloured pencil and with a big smile he threw his arms around my neck and said,
-I love you mom.
This made me feel emotional again, the truth is that everything that a mother could wish was this, seeing my son happy and he telling me these beautiful things.
-Look, I said. Since you have been well behaved , I brought you something.
-What is it? He asked excitedly.
-Open the wrapper and youll see I said as I gave him the gift.
He did so quickly and found a cube of six faces, each one of a different colour and looking at all its sides he asked,
- And what is this for?
This put me in a difficult place, because although I had tried to solve it, I did not know what the instructions were or how it was solved, so if he asked me to do a demonstration I could not do it.
-Well , this -I said taking my time to find the right words-. Each side con-sists of of the cube having all the cells of the same colour.
My son looked at the sides again and after a moment he said,
-Mom, it has them already, look all the yellow cells are here and on this other side the red ones.
-Yes, right I said, laughing at the occurrence of my son. Wait a minute.
Picking up the cube, I turned the pieces around, I gave it back to him and said,
- Now you have to reorganise it.
He took it between his small hands trying to figure out how those pieces mo-ved and he realised he could only make horizontal or vertical movements, of a row or column. After trying several times and before his desperation I said,
-You can move several columns or rows at a time, that will make the work easier
He looked at me with a face of not being too convinced and started spinning the chips again. I knew that it was going take a good part of his afternoon, so I said,
-Well, leave that aside because we have to go, Ill ask grandma if she wants to go down too.
I went towards the living room and before I said anything to my mother, my son called me and said,
-Mom, mom, look
I was surprised, because I left him only a few seconds ago , I turned around and to my surprise I saw in his hands the ordered cube and a big smile. I took it to look at every side and after checking that all the colours were well placed, I said,
-Very well done, son. -And I kissed him on the cheek as a reward-. Now take the jacket so you dont catch a cold.
-Are you going out? My mother asked me, listening to what I had told her grandson.
-Yes, lets go to the park for a while, they gave me the afternoon off.
- What have you done this time?
-Nothing mom, just that Im the employee of the week.
-Really? She asked, getting up and opening her arms to give me a hug-. Im so proud of you, she said putting her arms around me.
I had a strange feeling, we always fought so much and now it seemed she had a big heart, I smiled at her and asked,
- Do you want to go downstairs?
-No thanks, its too late for me, I dont want to catch a cold.
-Okay, take a rest, we will not take more than half an hour.
-Ill be here, I also want use this time to make dinner, Im going prepare so-mething really good, youll see, its going to be very special, my girl is em-ployee of the week.