Juan Moisés De La Serna - A Touch Of Happiness

I was already late, although I did not care, because I liked very much how the morning had been resolved, although I was quite angry at first, because when I arrived my son was alone at home when my mother supposed to be with him.

I asked him how he got home and he told me that he came with one of his friends, a neighbour of ours and that his mother had brought them both; al-though this was fine by me, because he arrived home, I did not like it very much, because if someone is responsible of a task, the person must comply and even more when it is about my son.

But strangely all that bad mood had vanished when she opened the door, it was as if a breath of fresh air had entered and had made me forget all my com-plaints.

Although I usually left my son doing his homework, today I barely had time to say goodbye and I went running to work. Luckily my place of work was next to the house, I just had to walk a little faster to be able to recover the extra time I spent more preparing the food.

I left the house in the direction to the supermarket in the neighbourhood and when I arrived I met the the supervisor who told me,

- Hello, miss, I see you are looking radiant today, I’m glad, that’s the attitude I want for my employees.

Radiant ?, I did not really know what he was talking about, he surely wanted me to do extra hours and that’s why he told me such a compliment. I did not give it more importance, I put on my apron and started charging in my box.

-Hello, it shows that today is a beautiful day, said an elderly man I always saw buying the same thing every day.

-You know, today I recommend an offer that we have, if you are interested in adding it to your diet.

-How do you know I’m on a diet? The strange man asked.

-I’m very observant, besides, you are ageing well, you must be doing so-mething.

-Oh, thank you, you’ve noticed, but it’s not just about the food, I walk about eight kilometres every day, can you believe it at my age?

- Well, if I may, I recommend some supplements that contain iron, it is good to replace the mineral salts that are lost - I replied with a smile.

- You know, I am very happy that you attended to me, whenever I come I will try to make it that way. And in confidence, if you think I need something else do not hesitate to tell me, because despite the saying “the older the wiser”, the truth is that my head is too small and sometimes I can not fix my eyes on everything.

-Why do you take care of yourself so much? -I asked wondering.

-You know, there’s a girl, I met the other day at a party, but I was shy to ask her for a dance. She also seemed somewhat demure and I want to look good for this Friday.

-Do you have a new party? I asked surprised.

-Yes, every Friday at eight in the social centre, you can come if you want, I’m sure you would have a good time.

- Thank you very much, but I have no partner, I replied sadly.

- I would be happy to be your partner, the man told me, winking at me. Al-though, to tell the truth, I am already interested in another person.

- So are you going to tell her? I asked quietly.

-I don’t know, I never have the courage - he said with shame.

-Try with some flowers, that always helps and if she does not accept you, you will only have lost a bit of your ego.

- I no longer have pride miss, time took it away, it’s something else - he said in a mysterious tone.

- Listen to me, some flowers, even just one, but not a red rose, I said, winking at him.

-Oh, why not? He asked surprised.

-Don’t be mischievous, you already know what it means.

And we both got that nervous laugh of complicity that two friends have when they touch personal issues and the man left happily towards the direction of the florist as he told me, to prepare for his attack next Friday.

I stayed alone for a while as no client came, surprised at what had happened.

Normally, I had the habit of not talking to customers, since it was very stress-ful to have to be marking and thinking about the answer I had to give.

The only reason I would talk to a customer was to give the total cost of the purchase, and I would do this with haste, since usually there were one or two more customers waiting on the queue

But at this moment, it seemed time was not important, as if what was really important was to dedicate a little time to this man who was always looking down, instead, he was encouraged and had a big smile.

“Let’s see if it’s true what my boss told me of him having a good day,” I thought within myself.

The next customer arrived, she was like those women difficult to deal with, because they complained about everything. I still remember yesterday’s argu-ment, because some yogurts had today’s expiration date. She complained and argued that with so little time she was not going to have the time to eat them all and that she would have to throw more than half, so she asked me for a dis-count of at least half the price.

The day before, it was because I mistakenly gave her a penny less of her chan-ge. She was very angry saying that, if the products were already expensive, she could not afford not having her change back correctly.

But strangely I did not feel afraid or intimidated by her presence as in other occasions. She was one of those people who were hard to forget and it wasn’t nice meeting them, those type of people if you saw them on the street you would prefer changing sidewalk before facing them. I had barely begun to dial when she asked me,

-Hey, which perfume is it today?

Feeling surprised I told her and she spoke to me again saying,

-I might buy a bottle of that, you know I like to wear perfume, but in very little quantity, I prefer my own smell to mix with the perfume.

- That way people will know you by you smell, I said with a forced smile.

-Indeed, I do not like those people who because of lack of hygiene they hide their own smell behind a litre of cologne.

-Besides, they say it’s an aphrodisiac, I mean personal smell, I pointed out.

-Yes, I have also heard about that, but they say that men are rather visual, that’s why I always wear clothes of one size less than mine.

We both laughed a lot with that statement, the truth is that I didn’t know the woman, perhaps I had judged her wrongly or maybe too easily.

Now that I knew her a little better, she seemed to be a beautiful person, and of course anybody could have a bad day even her, that would explain the clashes we have had in the past, nothing to remember anymore.

I said farewell with a smile and after a moment of being alone I heard on the public address system that I was needed in customer service. That shocked me, because when a cashier was needed they usually send a girl to give the errand to avoid causing the scandal of using the speakers.

When I arrived, the manager with a big smile told me,

-See, some of us have been talking and we believe that you will be the emplo-yee of the week.

- In all my years here I have never been employee of the week - I said surpri-sed.

-Well, you are today, he replied winking at me.

-But that means …

-Yes, indeed, collect your things, because you free for the rest of the day.

It seemed like a dream come true, I had always envied the luck of some people getting off thanks to being the employee of the week, but it had never really touched me until this moment.

I felt lucky, as if I had been touched by providence, capable of doing anything, of making my dreams and desires come true.

I left after hugging my colleagues and even a customer who crossed my path and gave everyone a nice smile. I went to a children’s goods store, because I wanted my happiness to be shared with those that are mine, and although I didn’t have much money I wanted to surprise my son so I went to buy him a toy.