A Helping Hand
By: DL
(Copyright 2007 by the Author)
The author retains all rights. No reproductions are
allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...
dl@tickiestories.us
The trip back to Bury St Edmunds and the Sainsburys Supermarket didn't take long and the 2Js were quiet and cuddled up together in the back Julian as ever, was sticking close to Juan!
Fortunately, by the time we arrived at about 17:50, the car park wasn't too crowded the main rush was over and we had no trouble parking [I dropped the boys at the main door and told them to go to the cafι, where I would meet them] and then I parked up by the far fence where I'd be able to see the car from the cafι and we'd literally only have to leave via the rear exit to reach it!
I was lucky enough to be passing the said rear exit when an elderly couple left, and so I managed to squeak in the Exit and consequently was able to surprise the boys by grinning idiotically as I met them at the entrance to the cafι [they'd had to walk the length of the store from the front door]; best of all, we had indeed managed to get in just before they closed the cafι!
I let the boys go ahead whilst I collected a couple of trays: I stopped and got myself a coffee at the hot drinks counter (the boys declined my offer of a hot drink); and joined them as they chose cold drinks from the on-tap dispenser. Once they'd got themselves Regular Cokes I got myself a Diet Coke and as we passed the chilled drinks on our way to the cashdesk I asked Juan if he'd like a carton of orange juice: he hesitated indecisively [LOL: I should moan]; so I picked two cartons out and added them to the assortment on the tray.
We had to wait at the cashdesk for one of the staff to emerge from the kitchen [the cafι was winding down for the night]; and once he'd rung up the collection of drinks I had on the trays he asked if we'd like anything else and having checked out the menu carefully before [the boys apparently hadn't] I asked if we could have three cottage pies [they only did one main meal each afternoon/evening] and paid with a £20 note as the youngster gave me the numbered marker for our order [all hot food was delivered to the table by the kitchen staff, who simply surveyed the cafι for the appropriately numbered marker as they exited the kitchen].
I asked Julian whether he would take the second tray and get the cutlery and condiments for us while I went and found a table Julian picked the tray up and walked over to the serving bar where everything you might need was laid out, closely followed by Juan. As the table nearest this was free, seated four and was beside the window nearest my car this worked out well naturally enough, I chose it!
It didn't take long for the boys to acquire the bits we needed and join me at the table [they didn't have far to go, LOL] I had sat down facing the window as usual and thus predictably enough Juan slid into the nearest seat opposite me and Julian walked round behind me to take the seat next to him. Julian asked inquisitively "Why did you order three cottage pies?" as he sat down. I grinned as I handed them their cokes and the orange juice cartons and replied "because its the only main meal available and I didn't think you'd want another fried meal today there wasn't anything else. Anyway, unless you're a closet veggie, its nice and you should enjoy it!"
Julian grinned as I said this and solicitously opened Juan's carton of orange juice for him. "Have you eaten here before, Julian?" I asked, suspecting from the way he'd not been totally sure of where everything was that the answer was 'no'. He shook his head and I said, "Well, I think you're in for a surprise!" He looked at me quizzically, but I'd decided not to elaborate he'd know as soon as the food arrived.
We all sipped our drinks me the coffee and the 2Js their cokes and didn't have long to wait for the food. It was brought over by the same young man who had taken our order, and as the order was for identical items he quickly deposited a plate in front of each of us and retrieved the order marker before returning to the kitchen. Julian was studying the cottage pie with a disbelieving look on his face even Juan was watching him and grinning! The reason was that back then they still made their own cottage pies and they were served in individual ceramic dishes on a plate; along with roast potatoes, peas and gravy.
Having overcome his surprise, Julian soon began to eat his meal and we all simply concentrated on eating. We sat and finished off our drinks once we'd eaten the food. I looked at the boys and said: "Well, Julian its your turn to try and establish what Juan would like to eat: you pair can do the shopping! I'm going to go and get myself another Diet Coke and then I'll wait by the inner window for you to get back to the checkouts: remember, get what you want to eat, I'll pay for it."
Julian looked at me and said, "Aren't you coming?" I grinned and replied "Not bloody likely: you two can do it and then I can blame you if something's overlooked!" He and Juan exchanged glances, and I said: "and remember not to just pick the cheapest I usually buy brand names!"
Saying that I rose and went and got myself another large Diet Coke and strolled over to the larger 'stuffed' type chairs by the inner glass partition separating the cafι from the store and took a seat from which I could survey the comings and goings at the checkouts. Julian came over with Juan in tow and stopped by my side: "You really meant it?" he said, disbelievingly. "Of course I did." I replied. "I thought you'd learnt by now that I hate shopping with a vengeance; and as you of all people know, I've already tried unsuccessfully to establish what Juan would like to eat."
He stood there hesitantly and I said, "Well, what's the matter? I'm not going to drive off and leave you stranded at the checkout you can have some money if that makes you happier." Julian shifted uneasily and made up his mind "OK. Come on Juan; I'll just go and get a trolley and meet you by the fresh produce inside the main entrance." He looked briefly at Juan who nodded and then he made for the front entrance I took pity on him and called "Julian" he stopped and I pointed at the nearby rear exit and he grinned as he changed direction.
Juan stood there undecided whilst this happened, and I said: "Don't worry, its shorter that way; he'll meet you with a trolley by the front door." He nodded and set off the way Julian had been going before I had stopped him and I relaxed in my chair and sipped my coke.
You may think it was heartless of me to send a still sore and sensitive Juan trundling round a supermarket instead of letting him rest and going myself [and with perfect LOL 20/20 hindsight I might agree]; but back then I, as an individual, was noticeably lacking in both social skills and, to a degree, commonsense! [Which in itself is quite funny, but I'm not going to elaborate: some of my new Internet friends will certainly be amused though, as indeed, would my boss!]
I nursed my Diet Coke for nearly twenty minutes, and as there was still no sign of the boys I reluctantly decided I'd better go and find them! Back then, the store which had only been open about two years was about 40,000 square feet; of which two-thirds roughly was the public 'shop' side [the rest being storage, offices etc.]: it wasn't 'small' [well, not for the UK].
I walked to the main centre crossway and then walked down it, looking right and left down each intersecting aisle as I came to it. I found the boys in the meat aisle [only about four aisles in from the start!] and noted as I joined them that they'd got quite a large selection of fruit and vegetables.
"So, who's the budding Fanny Craddock?" I said as I stopped by their trolley. Both boys looked quizzically at me, and judging by their expressions I thought that Juan was oblivious to who she was [for those similarly lost by the allusion, Fanny was one of the first and a noted one of the television cooks]; Julian I was sure knew who Fanny was, but I guessed couldn't get the point I was making: which was who out of the three of us, was going to cook!
"I was just wondering which of the three of us was a cook, is all!" I explained. Dawning comprehension blossomed over Julian's visage as he grinned at me before turning to Juan: "Do you like cooking?" he said. Juan had been standing there, looking quite lost, as he hadn't hooked up with where the conversation was leading before Julian brutally brought him into the picture!
"I do," he said, "but I've never had much chance outside school." At this I looked quizzically [note to self: must find a synonym for that] at him. "So you cooked at school?" I said; Juan grinned as he replied "Yeah; in my third year we were allowed limited choices between group lessons: I chose Domestic Science rather than Latin or Religious Education!"
This made me smile as I said to Julian: "Well, you obviously know I haven't been a practising chef; what about you?" He grinned, ignoring my question and instead turned to Juan, saying: "Looks like you're elected, lover!" which made Juan blush deeply.
I guessed that what had made Juan blush was the open declaration of affection by Julian [it had surprised me too], but looking round, we were alone in the aisle and there weren't many in the store. I decided that there was possibly more harm than good likely to result from chiding Julian on circumspection here, so I mentally noted to talk to him at home.
Juan's blush quickly faded and he grinned as he said, "I'm not that advanced; just the basics." I looked at Julian before replying "I think that means you're better qualified for the job than either Julian or I!" Julian grinned self-consciously at this but nevertheless nodded his agreement.
"So, what's been keeping you?" I enquired, looking from Julian to Juan. "We weren't sure what you liked or wanted to buy." Julian replied. I paused and digested this, concluding that I had indeed been unfair as well as selfish in sending the boys unaccompanied to do the shopping. "Well, Juan, as it seems you've volunteered as resident cook, I guess it's up to you to chose the ingredients you need." This pronouncement caused Juan to frown and I continued "Fruit and vegetables are fine, but I haven't got a freezer if we're quick we might make it to Currys before they close and get one added to the order for delivery on Monday: what do you think?"
Both boys frowned as I said this. And I had quickly had a newer [and better for me at any rate] idea. "Tell you what, you carry on with the shopping don't get any frozen stuff and I'll pop up to Currys and buy a freezer while you carry on!" Both boys looked askance at me as I uttered this and I wondered briefly if they had spotted my less than altruistic ulterior motive!
Finally, Julian said, "OK, I guess." I was fairly sure he enjoyed shopping as much as me, but buying a freezer was a necessary chore given the sudden blossoming in resident population at chez Dave it was a dirty job that someone had to do; why not me? [LOL]. "I won't be long, and I'll find you when I get back." I said as I turned and deserted them before either could rationalise a reason for my accompanying them.
The Currys store was [and is] just up Bedingfeld Way about 400 yards from the Sainsburys Supermarket so it didn't take long to get there. I was pleased to notice that my acquaintance the supervisor was in attendance at the main Customer Service gondola and so I made my way over and waited patiently to attract her attention. She was merely watching her assistants as they cashed up the cash registers for the night and soon spotted my lurking presence and looked inquisitively my way; I mouthed, "Can I have a word?" and pointed over to the freezers. She may not have made out what I'd meant but clearly noted that I would like to talk to her and she wasn't far behind as I arrived in front of the massed ranks of freezers of every make, shape and size.
Turning to her as she joined me, I said, "Thanks for sparing me a moment. As you know I bought some items that you're delivering on Monday afternoon. I should have thought that I need a freezer; can I buy one now and have that delivered with the TV and VCR on Monday?" She wasn't slow on the uptake, and said, "Just a minute; let me get the stock list of what's available for delivery." I had known that the display stock was never sold until it was going out of stock [i.e. the model was being discontinued].
She returned quite quickly with a clipboard and studied it briefly before looking up and saying, "It seems there are only four models that we don't have at least one of in stock, so which would you like?" I had thought briefly about this whilst making my way there: my kitchen was small and already equipped with fridge, washing machine and dishwasher: there was no room for a freezer; so I had concluded it would have to go in the built on garage.
This being so, I decided to get a quite large chest freezer and of those they had on display there were three 'frost-free' models [they didn't need defrosting!]: it will come as no surprise that I'd choose one of these! Of the three, I preferred the Phillips rather than the Currys own-brand model and Zanussi ones that I could have picked. My friendly supervisor confirmed that it was in stock and assured me that it would be delivered on Monday with my other purchases. I accompanied her back to the sales gondola and handed over my credit card to pay for the purchase [my friendly credit card company was probably wondering what had occasioned the sudden burst of activity on a card that usually only bought petrol! Thank the lord this was before they got smart and started blocking 'out of character' transactions and requiring customer verification and authorisation: I hate it when you get singled out and everybody else stares at the suspicious character in their midst.]
Freezer safely purchased I made my way back to Sainsburys and the boys. I admit that my thoughts turned briefly to going right and taking the 45 mile scenic route to kill some time; but I had resigned myself to the thought that to do so would be unfair on the boys, so I turned left for the 400 yards back to the store. As the time had flown by and we were now approaching the time they locked the rear door (for 'security reasons' whatever they were), I parked in the pickup point by the front door [yeah, I know but there weren't many people around!]
Locking the car remotely as I strode away its no fun doing that these days any more as nearly everyone can do it now! I reluctantly entered the store and went once more to the central crossway and commenced my search for the boys. I was delighted to find them down the far end of the store [it meant they'd nearly finished!] idly surveying the freezer aisle's contents.
"So, all done?" I enquired hopefully as I joined them. They both glanced my way, and I noticed a wicked gleam in Julian's eyes and a wide smile on Juan's face as they turned my way. "We wondered whether you'd get back before we finished." Julian said wryly.
"I was as quick as I could be." I said defensively, mentally patting myself on the back for foregoing the scenic route back that would have left me with a moral dilemma, facing similar accusatory remarks!
Whilst this had been going on I had scanned the viewable contents of the trolley and said, "Have you got any drinks?" Julian glanced at Juan as he said, "No, you said 'food' so that's what we've got." I held my hands up: "OK, OK but I guess we'd better get some."
Julian turned the trolley around and we headed off to the back of the store where both the alcohol and soft drinks were located. Stopping at the canned drinks I instinctively scanned the shelves for the best price on their canned drinks I drank either Coke or Pepsi (Diet naturally), purely depending on which was the cheapest at the point of purchase!
It always amused me that you needed to carefully check the pricing to ensure that you got the best price: why buy 24 cans when they were doing 12 packs with BOGOFs? [LOL: Buy One Get One Free my favourite expression]. As they were indeed doing a BOGOF on 6 packs of Coca Cola [all varieties] I grabbed four packs of Diet Coke and turning to the boys said "I notice you've been drinking Regular Coke, is that what you'd like?" Both boys nodded their heads so I grabbed four packs of the Real Thing [LOL: remember those Ads on the TV?] I wandered off down the next aisle and collected some 2-litre bottles of R Whites Lemonade [another TV Ad that I loved: 'the secret lemonade drinker'] as they were also on BOGOF, then continuing to get some Schweppes bitter lemon and finally Robinson's Orange Squash. Realising that I hadn't really paid much attention to the boys' likes/dislikes I asked them what variety of orange juice they liked or if they would prefer something else; as neither ventured an opinion I grabbed two eight-carton packs of Sainsburys own-brand which was what had been in my fridge: I figured as they'd both drunk it without complaint it should be a safe bet.
As the trolley was now severely overburdened I asked the boys if they could think of anything else we needed and getting nothing but a shake of the head from them I said "OK, well we may as well go then," and turned towards the front of the store and the checkouts.
I couldn't help but smile to myself at the look on the young girl's face as we stopped at her checkout (she'd obviously been counting the minutes to closing which was nearly upon us). I pointed Juan to one of the seats against the wall the exit side of the checkouts whilst Julian unloaded the trolley onto the conveyer belt and I got ready to bag the spoils.
Mercifully as the store was nearly closing the paying and packing didn't take long and thus after once more denting my credit card we collected Juan (well, OK, Julian did!) and made for the front entrance and my illegally parked car! Julian helped Juan in, and then came and helped me stow the goodies in the boot, and as the last items were stowed he took the trolley over to one of the nearby trolley parks, ignoring my tutting. On his return he looked at me and said "Now what?" I said, "Well, I never take the trolleys back after all, they employ youngsters to collect them and if we all returned them they'd be out of a job!"
Julian looked at me with disbelief as I said this; little did he know that I was deadly serious! We both got in the car Julian wasn't slow in scooting over alongside Juan and set off home.
Arriving, I told Julian to take Juan inside and park him as I didn't want him to help unload the car and then pack stuff away: walking the store was one thing, bending, reaching and hefting and carrying was something else. He returned and between us we quickly transported the provisions inside and then set to trying to find a home for them the whole thing took us about twenty minutes (and Juan did come through once but retreated as it was apparent that neither Julian or I would let him do anything). Finished, I said to Julian: "Well, I think we deserve a drink and a rest after that!" and as time was getting on I grabbed three orange juices from the fridge and we ventured through to the lounge.
Juan had been leaning against the far [left] side of the bed/settee, but as we came through he sat up and slid along so that Julian could sit there and quickly cuddled up with him! I sat down on the right and we all sipped at our drinks. I was curious as to how things had worked out with the boys vis-ΰ-vis Julian's gift for Juan, so as they were relaxed, I thought I could enquire: "So, Juan, have you opened your presents from Julian yet?" I asked.
I quickly realised that I was treading on shaky ground from the nervous look that swiftly flitted over Julian's face before he quickly leant over the left side of the bed/settee and deposited his empty orange juice carton on the floor. I was saved from an embarrassingly deafening silence by Juan, who sheepishly said he still hadn't opened them yet.
Sadly, I took his answer as legitimising the topic and asked, "Why not?" Juan blushed and wanly smiled as he answered: "I just put them in the back pocket of the seat when we went out this morning." I looked at Julian and said "And you didn't want to wake any 'sleeping dogs' did you?" He blushed at my remark, and I got up and went and retrieved the offending objects from the car, handing them to Juan as I sat down beside him.
He sat there turning them over in his hands as he had originally, and wanting to get it over and done with, I said gently: "Don't you think that opening them might be appropriate?" He looked up and smiled wanly again and then seemed to finally find the necessary resolve to deal with the issue.
I had thought that judging by their shape, they were CDs and as Juan opened the first one it transpired that I was right. He smiled as he turned it over and studied the track listing before putting it down and repeating the process with the others. Judging by his mood, I think Julian must have spent some time innocuously establishing his musical tastes (at least he didn't have to worry about what Juan had already got as he'd only got the three I'd paid for and he'd chosen from Currys).
Finally he reached the small envelope and gingerly slit it open with a fingernail and extracted a handwritten note wrapped around some money. Julian watched him closely as he read the note, and as he finished leant forward and pulled him towards himself and sat back. Juan didn't resist, but just snuggled his face up against Julian's shoulder and laid there peacefully as Julian's arms enfolded him. All seemed to be well at last!
To be continued . . .
Feedback always welcome: dl@tickiestories.us
Posted: 08/24/07