M and I are nice and generous people, sometimes to a fault. At Christmas and Easter, we go grocery shopping and spend hundreds of pounds and give it all to the homeless charities to help those less fortunate, and give to the Dogs Trust, Shelter, Centre Point and many more.
Today was no different. There is a girl from the middle east who sells the Big Issue outside our little Co-op in the village. We have always bought an issue from her, chatted and never paid the cover price of £2.50, but given her £5 each time as this helps them get out of poverty etc. At Christmas, we did the same and gave her a Christmas card with £10 in it. Today she asked if we had a good Christmas and New Year and we chatted until she pointed at M, and said “Your Brother?”. I said, “No, my husband” at which point she stopped chatting, turned slightly and lifted her scarf up over her lower part of her face. M after a second or two said “well then” and we went into the shop.
We laughed at her reaction, but being a Muslim, we were not surprised by her closing down. We have come across lots of intolerant people in the past, some of which I have ended up fist fighting with, but, have learned to roll our eyes and ignore the uneducated and intolerant. After getting some groceries we left the Co-op and as we pass, she smiled and told us to have a good day. A complete contrast to her first reaction.
We can only surmise that she realised that we are generous people and she has made quite a bit of money from us. A lot of people who shop there tend to ignore her and as such, she can be there all day trying to flog her allotted number of magazines.
I hope that she is back to being chatty and that she can see past the gay thing, or she will miss out.
Mr Knitter 