What if I ain't no violinist?

168. Twoset Artist

Eddy had travelled to a foreign country, working as an art teacher in an art college. He didn't receive much of a salary as he was only offered a part-time job and so he had to scrimp and save to ensure he could feed himself till the end of the month. A small shop he walked past to the college sold fruit at the shop front. The shop owner was a friendly young man with a veeeeeeeery long first name which Eddy gave up trying to pronounce after asking him 5 times to repeat it for him. The young man was amused by Eddy struggling to pronounce his name and giggled. The first part of his name sounded a bit like "Brett", so Eddy asked if it was okay to call him that.

"Brett?"

The young man repeated his new nickname as he grinned as he pointed at himself.

"Yes. Brett. Is that okay?"

"Yah! Yes. Brett good!"

Brett gave him a thumbs up and proceed to pack an apple and a banana in a small paper bag for Eddy. Eddy gave a shy smile as he received his usual order as he handed over the money.

As a travelling artist, Eddy had learned early in his career that a banana was called a banana in most countries. Eddy found this information invaluable because this meant he could order bananas almost everywhere he went. He also always looked up the word for apple in each country and this way he could purchase two different types of fruit to enjoy every morning. Eddy was actually keen to try some of the other foreign looking fruit that was neatly on display at Brett's shop, but some of the fruits looked so foreign, he couldn't even figure out which part was supposed to be eaten or how to prepare them and such instructions required a higher level of linguistic skills. Besides, Brett had memorised the tall Asian man who would visit his shop every morning to buy an apple and a banana and he would be smiling and packing the order into a small paper bag as Eddy approached the shop, stealing Eddy's opportunity to order anything else. Eddy didn't mind as he was a man of routine and having some consistencies in his life gave him comfort such as seeing the nice young man at the shop front. And of course to a somewhat smaller degree eating apples and bananas for his morning snack...!

After a while, Eddy had discovered Brett's shop had a few tables inside and Brett would serve meals for lunch and dinner. Since the college canteen was closed on Saturdays Eddy started going to Brett's shop for his Saturday dinners. After making a few errors by randomly pointing at something on the menu and ending up with something he didn't particularly like, Eddy managed to find a few dishes on the menu that he enjoyed

Eddy looked forward to this treat of eating out on Saturday evenings as he usually ate on his own. At least in Brett's small eatery, he was greeted with a friendly smile and he got to interact with Brett as Eddy would try to strike up very small "small talk" with some of the new words he'd learnt during the week. Eddy knew Brett was busy taking orders and also in the kitchen, so he didn't want to take up too much of the shop owner's time but Brett seemed to never be in a rush and took his time taking Eddy's order and show appreciation of Eddy's effort in trying to learn a new language. Brett would sometimes reciprocate, greeting Eddy with an English greeting, sometimes very iNtErEsTiNg ones. The other Saturday Brett greeted Eddy with "Yo dude, welcome to the hood"!!

Towards the end of the month, Eddy would have very little money left and he would always order a dish that was like an omelette. It was a large and fluffy egg thing that was folded over with a lovely filling of meat'n'veg inside and it was served with a bread roll, it made a pretty filling meal despite being one of the cheapest items on the menu. Other customers would be ordering separate meat dishes, side dishes and even a glass of wine. Eddy would shrug and say that he had "a small appetite today" in the foreign language he was trying to learn. After a few months, Brett seemed to have caught on to the monthly pattern of Eddy struggling to pay for a full meal by the end of the month. On one of Eddy's "Omelette Saturdays", Brett had brought over 2 bread rolls instead of 1. When paying for the bill, Eddy tried to pay for the extra bread roll but Brett simply placed his finger on his lips and winked, refusing to accept the extra money.

The season started to change. Eddy had arrived in this foreign country in autumn with the cool, clear and crisp air. They were now plunged into winter and the air was bitterly cold. Eddy would arrive at Brett's shop in the mornings to purchase his fruit wearing practically every single piece of clothing he had to keep him warm. His shirt, thin jumper, cardigan, jacket, scarf, were all worn together in an attempt to create enough layers to keep him warm, without much success.

It was the last Saturday of the month which happened to be the last day of that month. Eddy arrived at Brett's eatery feeling cold and starving. At least it was warm inside. He glanced at the two couples sitting at the other tables. He couldn't help notice the variety of piping hot dishes they had in front of them. Brett approached Eddy's table in his usual friendly manner.

"Hey Eddy, nice to see you."

His pronunciation was perfect you would almost take him as a native English speaker, even though the conversation could never go further due to Brett's very limited ability to speak English. Eddy smiled and ordered his omelette. Brett smiled back and made his way back into the kitchen. Eddy was still cold and rubbed his hands together.

Brett returned to Eddy's table earlier than usual. Eddy looked up and noticed he was holding a bowl of piping hot soup which he placed in front of Eddy.

"Eddy I need a favour, I made a mistake with my orders. No charge. Drink for me, please?"

Eddy looked around the small eatery. There were only 2 tables occupied and they already had their food. How could Brett have messed up an order for such a small number of customers? Why was Brett so fluent in saying this phrase?

There were lots of questions Eddy wanted to ask, but more than anything he wanted to thank Brett.

"Thank you so much, Brett."

He managed to get those words out in the foreign language he was learning. Brett smiled back and went back into the kitchen.

Eddy struggled not to get his tears into his soup as he enjoyed the taste, warmth and fullness each spoonful brought him.