Dumb Kid

Guro, the young man who worked for Buck’s Shoe Shop, opened the store at eight even though he was supposed to open it at around nine. He wanted to show his boss that he was responsible to the store and able to be trusted. He vacuumed the rug and cleaned the shoe boxes.

He was bending down behind the counter where the cash register was put when he heard the door was opening. “It must not Mr. Buck,” Guro said to himself. “He never comes before nine thirty.”

The door slammed shut. “Oh, you scared me.” A girl in bright colored dress with no hat was standing in the door way. She smiled at Guro and asked, “You weren’t hiding yourself, were you?”

“N- no,” he stammered. “I- I was just arranging my shoe boxes.”

The girl smiled again and stepped closer to the shelves where the shoes were displayed attractively. Guro noted that her face fascinated when she smiled, her teeth were neat and gleaming behind her red lips.

“It is a pretty pair of shoes, isn’t it?”she asked.

“It is,” Guro started to speak, then he remembered that she could be a customer. The girl seemed not to hear him, moving her head around, looking at every corner of the store. Her smile left her face, but her mouth was still open. Suddenly, she turned back to Guro and smiled again.

“I want to get a pair of shoes,” she said in a friendly voice.

“Certainly,” he replied, smiled at the girl, and left the place where he was ‘nailed’ – behind the counter.

“Please do have your seat,” he said very politely. The girl sat down and crossed her legs.

“Let’s take a look at the size,” Guro said, trying to be like Mr. Buck. The girl raised her foot toward him. Guro slid the shoe off gently. There was a small hole in her stocking. Guro thought that the girl would feel blush, but at a glance, she seemed not to be embarrassed. She swung her leg gently while Guro looked inside the shoe.

“Five and half,” he said and stood up. “Anything special you want to see?”

“Oh, …. I don’t know,” she replied. Guro went to take a box and showed it to her.

“Oh, no. No. It’s too conservative for a young girl like me,” she said. Guro took down an other box. He was looking at her, their eyes met. She smiled again and blushed.

“Try these ones,” Guro suggested.

“Oh, no!” she said. “I want something a little more ….. you know, something a little …..”

“Oh, sure!” he responded quickly.

“How about this one?”

The girl looked at it and pouted her lips.

Guro hoped no to lose a customer just because he was too dumb to bring a kind of shoes she wanted. The girl thought that he was a dumb kid who didn’t know all about.

“What about this one?”

“I think it’s okay, she said. “But ….”

“Alright, I’ll take all of the boxes then you can open and try them,” Guro tried to be a good and patient seller.

Anytime Guro took a box and opened it, the girl shook her head and said, “No.” Sometimes she smiled, nodded, and said, “Maybe this one.” They both opened almost all the boxes in the store. While looking at him, the girl said, “Maybe, I have messed up this place for you, haven’t I?”

After opening so many boxes and trying the shoes, finally the girl said, “I like this one.”

“Should I wrap them or will you wear them now?” Guro asked her, satisfied to be able to serve his customer so well.

“Errrr ….,” she looked at him and said quietly, “I don’t have any money with me.”

For a moment Guro stared at her, but then said quickly, “It’s alright. You may take them without any money.”

The girl’s face shone. She took the shoes Guro had wrapped neatly. Then, she got the door and disappeared.

After the door closed, Guro still stared at it for a few moment. He could not believe what had happened to him. He took his thin wallet out from his pocket, counted his dollar bills. The sound of the cash register woke him up from his unconsciousness. He dropped the bills and took out the change, nickel.

By Sandra Dewi – English Dept., Unitomo Sby