Yes, you may accuse me of favouritism, because the woman I'm about to tell you about is one of my favourite weekly conversations. And we've never even spoken a full sentence to each other.
I meet her during this one pharmacy shift I practically cycle every week, which mostly contains repeated medication that goes through the mailbox. That immediately means that for the few addresses where I do have to ring the doorbell, the faces have become quite familiar. And there's this one woman who really sticks out.
After I've rung the doorbell at her house, I walk straight to her kitchen window. She always opens the curtains quite abruptly, as if she wants to rapidly inspect who's there. As soon as the curtains are opened, I see a friendly face with faded tattoos on it, instantly showing a smile as it recognises me.
I have to hand her the medication through this window. There's two windows that can only be pulled back a little bit on her side, so we cooperatively and carefully have to slide the packages through the slit in between the window frame and the windowsill. As she speaks neither English nor Dutch, our conversation through this interaction isn't actually verbal, but it does definitely feel like we're talking to each other during this task.
After we've completed this, she sometimes makes - as she did today - wild waving handgestures, that I now know mean that she wants me to stay waiting while she goes back into the house, away from the window. As soon as I've signalled my promise to wait, she disappears behind the curtains and comes back with what seems to be whatever fruits she was able to find inside. Today it was an arm full of tangerines I happily accepted. We continue with completing the same task as with the medication, but of course in the other direction. The interaction concludes with us nonverbally thanking and greeting each other, after which we both continue with our days.
This almost ritual-like interaction leaves me with a smile on my face for at least the following 5 minutes, every time. A completely kind but not completely uncomplicated transaction, that is carried out without complications. Kindness and a willingness to help each other sometimes really are all you need.
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