Max, the butcher


Next to the building I live, there is a butchery. The butcher is a man in his 50s, very well-mannered. He has never ever said any bad word to me. That’s because he never talks to me. His son, on the other hand, is the one always serving from 4pm to 8pm. To be truly honest, sometimes I cannot find him if I go there between 4 and 8, but I noticed that in this sort of cases, he is there earlier. And if he is not, then for sure he is walking out the back door at 8.30pm exactly, closing down the shop with his father. During work hours, he always smiles. At closing time, I have no clue, because I make sure he doesn’t see me.

His name is Max. That’s what the nametag on his chest says. I suspect he is a creative spirit, since he has this sort of dreamy look every time I catch his eye. There’s no wedding band. And i’m sure there’s no girlfriend either, since all the time he looks at my hands 2 seconds more than necessary. So what’s the harm in a little civilized exchange of smiles?

For 3 weeks, since I saw him running in the neighbourhood, I’ve been buying meat every single day. And so far, the smiles have been going back and forth and growing from showing one tooth up to showing almost the complete rows of teeth. And that’s all. I’m pretty sure some “i don’t sneeze because baby flies die from the draft” doll has deceived him. Otherwise I cannot understand how come in 3 weeks he hasn’t said a word. Obviously, there is something going on.

Yesterday I went shopping again. This time i needed some pork. I got in the butchery, queued for a while. It fit perfectly, because I had an excuse to throw glances at him from time to time. Max has been eyeing me all the time. He’s quite cute actually, although having to spot him behind the carcasses is not really a top fantasy of mine.

- Hello. What would you like today?
Huge grin appearing on my face.
- 200gr of pork meat.
- Coming up, fresh, he replies with a smile.
- Thank you!

Did you notice how he said “fresh”? There was a longer “e” than normally. And he didn’t blink at all. Just smiled, and looked at me.

When I got home, I unpacked the meat. It was packed very nicely, very considerate, in 2 layers of paper, so its juices wouldn’t ruin my other shopping. I bet he doesn’t make this effort for every customer he has. When I unfolded the second layer, I noticed there was something written on the paper. So he finally decided to give me his number, or make a move or something. It was about the time, since I kind of ran out of ideas of meat recipes or friends whom to offer the meat to.

The paper had a few words scratched:
- Stop stalking me. Thank you :)

2 comentarii:

Henkka said...

the last upper-cut-knockout-punch came out of the blue, well hidden, well bluffed and yet it hit like a hammer hits the hot iron. hard, sharp - even brutal, but making perfect sense. in the name of the art its what it should do, has to do.
so a nice little piece of art from an artis. ;-)

Loredana said...

:) Still looking forward for a piece from you :P

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