‘Alright, lover? Cold, isn’t it? Had a good Christmas, have we? No biscuits this morning, lover?’
The new woman behind the counter in Mr Mishri’s shop was bombarding me with breezy questions at eight o’clock this morning.
‘I don’t eat biscuits.’
She gave me a look that would terrify a cobra. After a beat, she redefined herself, smiled and declared: ‘My sister’s son is gay.’
‘Good for him. How – eh!?’
‘Just the milk is it, lover?’
‘I’m -’
‘Seventy-five pee.’
I fumbled in my pocket and several one-pound coins spilled on to the floor.
‘Oh, dear,’ she tutted. Then, leaning over the counter, she whispered conspiratorially: ‘Make sure you pick ‘em all up, my lover – Arabs come in here, you know.’
On the way home I was musing with Audrey over why Mr Mishri had employed this odd woman, this unfortunate middle-aged female with the apparent deadly power of inconsequent suggestion.
We came to the conclusion that he had perhaps had another one of his brain hemorrhages, or was having an ironic joke at our expense.
Back in the warm kitchen, I boiled the kettle for the first Earl Grey of the day.
‘I don’t know about you, Audrey,’ I told my little dog who was watching me with big brown eyes, hoping she was about to be handed one of her chews made from sheep’s lips, ‘but, as it happens, I quite fancy a biscuit. Custard Cream, actually.’
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