Donnerstag, 13. August 2020

112) the big disappointment
Written by Rainer: rainer.lehrer@yahoo.com
Learn languages (via Skype): Rainer: + 36 20 549 52 97 or + 36 20 334 79 74
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The big disappointment

There was no movie theatre in town, no record or book store, no jeans or sneakers in the clothing stores. However, there was a toy store. The shelves of the semi-dark, almost storage room were filled with large boxes on which the contents were depicted in a fantastic environment. For girls a wide variety of Barbie dolls at parties or in front of the infinite wardrobe, riding horses or in the carriage in wedding dress. Strollers and baby dolls. For boys Batman, Superman, a mountaineer, rally driver on a safari with wild animals, an astronaut on Mars.
The saleswoman at the store had already known me for a long time and wasn't exactly happy to see me because I never had enough money to buy anything. Today I think it must have been quite depressing for her that even rare guests usually didn't take anything away. The business was a holdover from a time when people didn't have a car and bought everything in the local area.
So I entered the shop there once a week until at some point I noticed a large box with a hang-glider. I showed her my open hand with a few coins, about which she just laughed scornfully in my face and like an old witch said that it would cost me about a hundred times as much.
This face was covered with an inch thick layer of make-up, partly gold teeth and partly dentures that almost fell out of her mouth when she laughed, either heavily coloured hair or even a wig.
The floor space behind the not-so-wide desk was probably even higher. My forehead came only to the edge, so I couldn't see what was happening behind it it.
She leaned over it, so her head appeared almost exactly above mine. I swallowed, startled. She put her hand on my head, turned it a hundred and eighty degrees so that my whole body had to move with it, if it didn't want to lose the connection to its head. Now I had my back to the desk and my eyes saw the door. My legs caught the effect of a push from behind, my hands prevented my nose from pressing flat against the glass door.
I haven't been to the store for a long time. She had been kind enough to put the said box back in the window. Or was it sadism? The mason jar effect? You can see the apple compote in the jar, but you cannot open it and enjoy the contents. It just smiles at you!
The sight of the box, or rather the figure depicted on it, as it flew over the landscape, had a magical effect on me. However, my birthday had just passed and Christmas was still a long way off. How to take it and not steal it? I asked all of my adult acquaintances and relatives. Some also gave me a little bit of money. But that didn't turn out to be a hundred times as much. For months, I walked back and forth between the shop window and possible donors. The time in which the sum of money only wanted to grow very slowly seemed almost endless to me.
The closer I got to my goal, the more impatient I became. And then finally, on a Sunday visit from a relative, the last remnants were gathered. I was almost flying through the deserted streets of the small town. The shop was of course closed. One more day! What agony! The night passed sleeplessly. The walk to the shop was made without breakfast.
However, it didn't open until ten o'clock. I sat in front of the door for many long hours. Neither rain nor wind could drive me away. When the door was opened, I was completely soaked. Freezing and with trembling hands, I put the money on the counter. She counted it. This took a long time because there was a lot of change as well. "Let’s see! We saved and collected the money! That took a long time. There have already been a few kids here who were interested in it.” A shock went through my limbs. Was it just the empty box that was in the shop window? Finally, she made herself comfortable. She also looked like a witch from behind, only the black raven was missing on her shoulder. She came back with a sneering smile, pushed the package into my arms, opened the door and I disappeared into the street. It didn't matter to me then (and still does not matter to me today) that I didn't get an invoice.
When I got home, I was glad to find no one in the house and went straight to my room. I didn't even take off my wet jacket and began to examine the contents of the box. The hang-glider was quickly constructed and the little man with a crash helmet positioned as in the picture. I took the whole hang-glider in one hand like a paper airplane, stood in the corner of the room and let it fly. However, as often as I tried, it fell to the ground like a stone. The result was no better from the window on the first floor. Exhausted and with elevated temperature, I went to bed.


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