An Unforgettable Memory
The silence was so dense and heavy I could almost feel it but it was always like that between me and dad. He had told me to go grocery shopping with him because we had come back after the summer vacation and there was no proper and edible grocery at home, so we were headed to the local store. Dad was really sick and weak after the flight back from our homeland so I made myself do all the shopping quickly so that he wouldn’t have to tire himself. And whenever I am in a rush, I become embarrassingly clumsy, bumping into this and that, and you see things flying here and there but of course it’s unintentional!
But I,surprisingly, managed to get all the things that were on the shopping list so after I filled the shopping trolley I pushed it to the counter and as I was emptying the contents of the trolley I pushed it to the counter and as I was emptying the contents of the trolley and oh just my luck, that’s exactly when the cream cheese glass jar decided to take a roll down the trolley and smash itself into pieces onto the floor. I wasn’t scared of anything like if the cashier would add some fine or anything.
My dad naturally possesses a loud voice but it was further enhanced because he is diabetic, which gives a sympathetic high tone. So he started screaming impulsively and loudly in front of everyone at me how I was always in a hurry, how I can never get things right, how I always made a mess, how I am never careful enough and it went on and on. I was so ashamed and humiliated at myself for not being more careful and I was filled with disgust for myself as I bent down to pick up the broken pieces of glass on the floor and hand it to the cashier who put it in a grocery bag.
While I was giving it to him, my fingers were painted with blood which had bled out as I picked the pieces but I didn’t notice the physical pain for it was nothing compared to my emotional tornado. Yes, you have every right to think that I’m over-sensitive, emotional, and a hormone-crazed teenager with extreme mood swings. But when the cashier asked me, “Did it hurt? ” I was so deeply touched and moved by this simple act that it made me swallow my tears and tell him a feeble “no”.
This cashier whom I have probably never talked to in my life before could make such a big difference with such a simple but kind and touching deed. I had no idea that sometimes kindness strangers are the garnishing in life we need so that we can digest the main course. And as for the main course, he didn’t even bother turning and looking back at me and continued walking to the car and I took all the grocery bags to the car and we continued in our silence.
