Losing my Voice & Finding Another by Cooper Thompson

Author:Cooper Thompson
Language: deu
Format: epub
Publisher: Brandes & Apsel
Published: 2019-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Recognition

I went to the doctor’s office one day. I had been there a few times, but on this particular day, I went without an appointment because I only needed a prescription and could get that from the receptionist. When I walked into the office, she greeted me by name. I couldn’t believe it: someone knew my name. It felt great.

I was beginning to get noticed. The woman at the cheese counter in a local grocery store smiled when I came in and asked me if I wanted cheddar cheese, like I usually did. The butcher at the Friday local grower’s market greeted me and asked me how I was. The man who sold homemade ice cream at the same market called out, 'Hallo, Herr Thompson,' when he saw me coming. I had once telephoned him to asked him if he could bring some pistachio ice cream the following Friday to the market. It was my wife’s favorite flavor.

In the Hauptmarkt (main square) in the center of Nürnberg, there is an open-air food market every day. As I walked through the Hauptmarkt, I went out of my way to make personal contact with some of the people where I regularly shopped even if I didn’t need to buy something from them on that day.

One day I stopped to say hello to Ruth, a young woman selling locally-grown vegetables. She was only there once a week, so I didn’t see her very often. The last time I had seen her I needed her advice on which type of potato to buy when I was cooking a casserole for my sister-in-law Johanna’s 40th birthday party.

Ruth has a big smile and lots of energy. She was excited to see me on that day and wanted to know how the potatoes worked out. I told her, and then asked her if we could use du. She responded, 'We already decided that a while back.' I didn’t remember that, but I liked that she was so relaxed and decisive.

As I talked to her and looked at the produce she had, I got inspired to cook something for lunch. I told her what I was thinking: a couple of South Indian vegetarian dishes.

'That sounds tasty,' she told me.

So I asked her, 'How late will you be here at the market?'

'Until 1pm.'

'I’ll go home and cook, and then I’ll bring you back a hot lunch.'

'You will?'

'Sure, why not?' I was sure that no one had ever done what I was proposing.

'That would be great. Then I’ll have something for my husband and me.'

I went home, cooked, and a couple of hours later walked back to the Hauptmarkt with three containers for Ruth. It was a little like being in India and delivering tiffins at lunch time. As I walked, I felt happy. This was the kind of contact with people that I had been missing here.

This produce stand was my favorite place to shop in the Hauptmarkt. Most of the time Hilde, an older woman, was there. Hilde didn’t seem as easy going as Ruth.

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