A Second Chance

When Will You Learn?

Jack's Point of View

I bite my lip and look at the street signs, I attempt to read them but I haven't learned a thing in Norse. I let out a frustrated sigh and pull my phone out of my pocket.

I scroll through and call Otto's number, he answers
"Hallo?"
"Hey, Otto. It's me, Jack."
"God, Jack. How is you doing?"
"Fine but I'm trying to find a supermarket."
"Supermarket? They may have those all over in America but there's not many here in Norway or at least not in this town. Think the closest one is in Oslo, the capital."
I grunt and hit my head flustered on the steering wheel.
"Ok, well then do you know where I can go? To buy food, I mean."
"Ja, there's a year-round farmers market in town."
"Ok, great could you give me directions?"
"Of course, get on the.." Then he went on for a minute giving me names of streets, in a language I have yet to learn.
"Ok, sorry but I don't know where any of those places are."
"That's alright, where are you?"
"I'm at the intersection near the apartment complex."
"Ok, I'll come over to the complex and you meet me there."
"Alright, thanks buddy."
He hung up unexpectedly, I just shrug and stuff my phone back in my pocket.

I turn my car over and drive back to the complex, to my surprise Otto is already there and it looks like he walked here.

I drive closer to him and he gets in with a cheeky smile and takes his scarf off. "Hallo"

I blink at him "Hello?"

He nods his head and chuckles a bit "Ja, so have you learned any Norse yet?"

I hesitantly shake my head slowly and chuckle a bit at my own ignorance. "No, I haven't had the time. The move was actually quite sudden."

He nods his head and looks me up and down, "It's okay you'll learn soon, right?"

I nod my head as I drive out of the parking lot, "Yes, of course I will. I kind of have to if I'm going to live here for a while."

"How are you going to learn?" He asks pointing his finger in the direction I'm supposed to drive the car in, I turn the car in the direction he gestures.

I think for a second as I drive up to a farmers market. "I hadn't thought that through yet. This whole move was very.. impulsive. Maybe I'll by a book or something."

He nods his head critically as I park the car, I stop the engine and we both get out.

He moves his jaw as if he's grinding his teeth, "You know, it's in your best interest to learn Norse. I mean how will you find that special someone if you wouldn't be able to talk to her?" He asked giving me a weird grin and arching his brow, as if he was trying to intimidate me.

I blink at him, confused by his sudden interest in my love life. I think for a second and shake my head at him "I don't know why you would ask something like that."

I puts his hands up defensively as we reach a little stand that's selling dry pasta and tomatoes. I turn back to Otto who gives me a cocky wink and pats my back. "Sorry, didn't mean to offend. Just wanted to help. It's just you don't seem very experienced when it comes to woman. Have you even ever been with a woman?"

I smile and look back at the food, I grab a blue reusable bag and fill it up with the biggest and reddest tomatoes, moving to other surrounding stands, picking the biggest mushrooms and even got some special herbs a lady had convinced me to buy.

We walk to a near by store and I get some pasta, the last ones they had were some shaped as hearts and the other box had bow tie type shapes. I decide to take the heart shaped pasta.

After we leave the store with my left hand dangling at my side holding the heavy groceries, the bag being weighted down by so much food.

We walk back to the car, when I spot a book store across the street. "Hey, Otto. Lets go in there.", I say pointing in the direction of the store.

He shrugs and walks with me across the street and into the store with me. I hand him the groceries and he takes it with a smile and wanders around the front desk.

I turn to an employe for help, "Um, excuse me. I need a book to help me learn Norse."

He nods and points to a little triangular rack with a variety of books: English-to-Norse, Norse-to-English, a series of books to learn Norse and a travel guide of the city and the countries biggest tourist attractions.

I skimp through one that's called 'Common Norse Phrases', it has a variety of colors on the side with the pages, changing color with the sections. I flip through it and turn to the red section- the romance section. I read through some of the translations and whisper to myself the words using the annunciation notes in the margin to help.

I smirk to myself, grab a travel guide and go to the front desk to pay for it all.

I take the bag from Otto and toss the books inside. We cross the street again and go to my car. I unlock it and put the now bulging blue bag in the back seat.

I drive thru the streets back to my apartment as rain starts to pour heavily. Before I shut the engine off I turn to Otto, who looks deep in thought,

He's a funny looking guy: relatively short for his age, he looked to be around his mid-twenties. His face was splashes with dark freckles of different shapes and sizes. Brown-gold like hair covered the top of his head, styled in a very dull buzz-cut.

I interrupt his concentration by speaking. "You need a ride home?"

He looks up at me smiling slightly, "No, I parked my car behind the complex. I'll be going now."
He jumped out of the car with an energetic springiness to him.

I watch as he disappears behind the complex, once he's out of sight I grab the groceries. The rain continues to pour so I pull my hoodie off and hang it over my head as I walk back to my apartment.