Member-only story
TALES FROM THE VILLAGE SHOP
She Tried to Pay for Her Newspaper Using Her Keys
Nothing is right when there aren’t any puppies
Volunteering in my local village shop gives me a chance to interact with my neighbors. There are the children who wander in to buy sweets, the walkers who stop mid-hike for a coffee, and the regulars who come by every morning to pick up their newspaper.
For some of the older people in the village, their morning walk to the shop may be the only time they get out of the house or speak to another person all day. Mrs. S is one such lovely but lonely lady.
Mrs. S walks slowly these days. Her husband died many years ago and she lives alone. Her children and grandchildren are all far away and busy with their own lives. Distances that once seemed close and connected due to modern travel technology, expanded during Covid and no longer feel possible.
Mrs. S comes every morning to pick up her paper. During the early days of mask mandates, she would stand in the open doorway fumbling with her mask, struggling to get it on. Standing at the counter, she regularly pulled it down to her chin in order to have a little chat.
“I just can’t hear with this thing on,” she would say nonsensically. Now that the mandate has been lifted…
