Looking at the customer in front of him, Victor felt a bit bad for the guy.
The dude is maybe 33-34? And the stress is already killing him. Maybe I shouldn’t try to rip him off with the prices…Having a mental debate against himself, Victor sighed and looked at Pepi laying contently on the couch.
Life is brutal at times bro. Every man for themselves. Maybe if you continue visiting here, I might throw in a small freebie, but now money is tight so you gotta be prepared to bleed a little for my convenience.
Resolving to hike up the prices slightly, Victor observed his customer holding a 50x50 cm oil painting in daze with a slightly guilty smile.
‘’Dear customer. Are the paintings to your liking? I do have to warn you that they may be bit pricey. Quite frankly, I have grown attached to the one you are holding as it reminds me of the past.’’ Remarking with a calm tone, Victor gave a subtle hint of the prices.
Waking from his reverie, Aaron tore his bloodshot and tired eyes of the painting depicting hard times. ‘’Ah. Sorry, I was just too absorbed in the intricacies of the work…’’
Regretfully taking a turn looking at the both paintings, Aaron gulped and took a deep breath.
‘’What do I need to d…’’
As if interrupted, Aaron cut off his own sentence, and corrected himself.
‘’H-how much are these?’’ With a slight stutter, he looked fearfully into Victor’s eyes.
‘’The painting in your hands has some sentimental value, but I can give you a package deal because you mentioned that it would be a gift to your brother. There is nothing greater than familiar bonds, so how about 2 000 remis for both?’’ With a rueful expression, Victor gave his price.
Did I quote too high of a price? I mean he is in casual sportswear and he looks like some high school gym teacher… They don’t make too much right?
The first thing that Victor saw in Aaron when he came through the door was the massive eye bags, and a somewhat constipated face.
The casual sportswear and the general outlook did not give any indication that his customer was too well off, so Victor was afraid of losing a huge sale.
Trying to glimpse any emotion from the stoic, but tired face of the customer, Victor felt his heartbeat rising amidst the silence.
‘’I’ll take em.’’
Breathing an unnoticeable breath of relief, Victor gave a hearty smile at the customer and started to package the articles properly.
‘’I have packaged the paintings carefully, but you still should be careful carrying them home. Do you happen to need anything else Sir?’’
‘’Nah, I mean no I think I am good. I am waiting for my brother to call me, so I should be going soon.’’ Aaron nervously played with his fingers behind his back, and tried to sound normal.
Victor’s eye twitched slightly as he watched Aaron opening his bulging wallet full of 100 remi bills.
SHIT, I totally could have charged a few hundred more… You can’t judge a person by the looks, huh?
Taking a neat pile of 20 bills of 100 remis, Victor deposited the cash casually on his counter with a smile.
‘’Thank you for your patronage! You said that you were waiting for a call? If so, do you want to have a cup of coffee while you are waiting?’’
Nodding towards the already ready and fresh pot of black coffee, Victor smiled genuinely revealing even some white teeth.
Aaron turned his eyes towards the small kitchen area, and after some deliberation nodded grimly and reverently.
With the customers approval, Victor whipped out his self painted mug but frowned slightly after noticing some strange stains on the bottom.
‘’Huh, I must have forgot to wash it after use. No matter, here have this one.’’ Reaching next to the coffee maker, Victor picked up his spare mug, filled it to the brim and handed it over to Aaron.
As the customer watched his cup of coffee with kind of strange eyes, the lamp of the kitchen started to flicker unusually. Victor raised his eyebrow and slapped the old table lamp, fixing it temporarily.
Scratching his back slightly awkwardly, Victor smoothly switched the topic from the faulty light bulb.
‘’Voilá! Back in my hometown there is saying that a slap can do miracles. By the way, I hope the coffee isn’t too black for your taste.’’
I think I read once that word of mouth marketing is one of the most effective ones. Nice idea to give aftersale coffee to give better impression of the shop, Vic!
After playing with some mental gymnastics, Victor felt like a proper salesperson.
Victor watched Aaron downing the whole cup of piping hot coffee in one gulp felt like a weird flex to Victor, but paid no further attention as people are different.
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Man, he must have been coffee deprived to been in such a hurry to get it in his system…
After downing the whole cup of coffee and letting out a small burp, the customer took a napkin, wiped his mouth and took a large mouthful of fresh air.
‘’The…Coffee…Was perfect. Thank you for the…Coffee, I better be going now.’’ With urgency in his voice, Aaron let Victor know that he needed to be someplace else.
‘’Uhh. Sure, I hope to see you again soon! I’ll make more coffee for ya!’’
Hastily raising his voice, Victor felt like he had done something wrong as he looked at the large back of his customer hastily leaving his store with both paintings tucked tightly in his armpits.
After walking midway towards the entrance, Victor saw his customer disappear behind the corner through the windows. Sighing, Victor went back to the kitchen and saw Pepi peeking from behind the couch.
‘’Come ‘ere girl. Why was the customer so urgent to leave?’’ Motioning the puppy to come to him while squatting, Victor put his hand on his chin and pondered.
Pepi leaped up to Victor’s embrace, and he once again asked her the question that he knew he wouldn’t get an answer.
‘’Do you think my coffee was that bad? Maybe his weird flex of drinking it all at once gave him stomachache or something. I mean I have been there?’’
Hearing the monologue from Victor, Pepi looked at the remnants of the coffee with trembling eyes and shook.
Feeling a bit sour, Victor let Pepi down, poured himself a cup and took a sip.
‘’Your right, Pepi… I thought I could save on a cheaper brand, but...this tastes like shit.’’
Slumping his shoulders, Victor resolved himself to never see the fat sheep and his bulging wallet ever again. Why couldn’t I just taste it first… I might have gotten a regular otherwise.
----------------------------------------
What the hell did I stumble on?!? Holding his hands on his throat, Aaron was retching in an inconspicuous alleyway.
With the paintings safely leaning on the wall, Aaron tried to force the ‘’Coffee’’ the shop owner offered to him out of his body.
Hitting himself on the trachea, trying to put fingers on his throat, Aaron tried everything on his knees.
Pitifully struggling on the ground, he felt simply…like shit.
Not even his worst hangovers could be compared, as Aaron felt splitting pain coursing through his body.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a few passerbys closing in and faintly heard some murmuring.
‘’Poor man. I feel bad for the…lower class that have to beg for their survival.’’ A clear male voice was obviously talking about Aaron.
‘’Such is the life of lost lambs. This man obviously has some mental & physical health issues.’’ A melodious female voice continued.
Feeling the pity from strangers, Aaron felt like he was being looked down upon.
‘’What the fuck do you think you know about me, huh? Juuust let me be and fuck off, will you?’’ With some spit flying in a neat arc, Aaron 'politely' told the pedestrians to leave him alone.
Holding in the splitting pain, Aaron was already on the edge and he did not need any false pity on him.
In his family he was the third child, and was always being compared and pitied by both strangers and his family. Robert was the gifted warrior as the oldest whereas the second was the intellectual type, Matthew.
Hearing the holier than thou passerbys commenting on his state, he could not help but share some worldly wisdoms.
‘’We cannot help every single person if they do not want to be helped. Lucy, Olaf. As you can see, the man is not willing to take help. We are truly sorry to disturb you, may the light of god shine upon you.’’ A powerful voice resolutely cut off any further discussion.
The man who just spoke crouched down and left a small but intricate vial in front of Aaron along with a few hundred Remis.
‘’We understand, teacher.’’ With a cheerful exclamation of Lucy and Olaf, the trio continued their way, leaving Aaron retching in agony.
Fucking hypocrites. Aaron had a brief thought in his mind to chase and throw the alms back at their faces.
‘’Cunning one. Do not fight it.’’
With a single whisper from beyond, the pain eased somewhat and Aaron felt a calling from the paintings.
‘’Step forward and embrace your…destiny.’’