I was happy to find that Elly hadn’t wasted her Friday lying in bed. She had actually gone shopping and bought some food. Noodles, vegetables, fruit, milk, eggs and that was it, questionable food but food none the less. She had also unpacked so I guessed she was staying.
We decided she needed a mobile for Poland as her old phone didn’t seem to be working. I suggested that we could visit the shopping centre tomorrow and buy some meat, pizzas, beer and a phone for her.
She seemed restless but I only wanted to collapse and flick through the channels. What was I going to do with the disaster that was work? She cuddled up next to me and we flicked through all the channels at least twice with either one of us disapprovingly ‘urgh-ing’ at each show.
“How about a game?” I suggested.
“What kind of game?” She turned and smiled suggestively at me.
“Erm, I don’t know.” And I didn’t. I didn’t have any cards, no monopoly, no chess set. What was I suggesting?
“We could go to a club.”
“Ok.” I was tired and stressed but what the hell could a club hurt?
Damn!
There were too many hot women. I mean 9 and 10’s all over. Elly never left my side all night and as soon as I opened my mouth a harem engulfed me. It seemed that English guys had it pretty easy in Poland. Elly marched me to the dance floor and made it impossible for me to think about anyone but her. I was never the greatest dancer but I put my two-step to good use, or so I thought. She pouted and writhed, twitched and boogied then pouted some more.
Before I knew it we were back home and the clock said 4 am. I didn’t believe it and I moved the couch into position for what I promised Elly would be a romantic sunrise. We both fell asleep soon after and the sun rose on the other side of the building anyway.
Waking up with Elly’s drool was about as nice as it got. Someone once told me that baby sick was the least offensive sick of all. In that case Elly’s drool was the diamond encrusted platinum bracelet of the drool kingdom.
I didn’t want to wake her but as I slid out she stirred.
“Morning beautiful.” I said stroking her hair out of her eyes. She just rolled her eyes back in her head and fell into the crevice of the sofa, her head facing away from the sunlight intruding on her sleep.
I got up, showered and decided to nip over the road and investigate the shopping centre by myself. It was only 8 am but the supermarket was already open and I took a trolley. I leisurely made my way around picking up Nescafe, green tea, sugar, bread, cheese in all its forms yellow, green, white cheese, cottage cheese, brie and some gorgonzola. I was astonished when I found the meat counter and realised I couldn’t order anything.
I pointed at the thing I thought I wanted and then the old woman asked me a series of questions I couldn’t answer so I shrugged and headed off towards the refrigerated section hoping to find some meat there.
I did, lots of hotdogs in plastic packages instead of tins or jars. Later I discovered that each individual hotdog was wrapped in its own plastic casing, inside the plastic packet, weird . I couldn’t find any bacon but I think I found turkey and ham slices as they had little pictures on the labels. As long as they weren’t logos I was ok.
I found pizza’s, some French bread style ones and normal ones but none were deep pan and deep pan was my favourite. I loved mini Chicago Town pizza’s, the pepperoni or breakfast pizzas were my favourite but I couldn’t see them.
Then I found pizza pockets, a treat that had disappeared from British shelves when I was a teenager or at least where I or my mother had shopped. Maybe Poland wasn’t so bad after all.
I finished off getting some domestic products like cleaners, bin bags, toothpaste, shower gel and bars of soap. I felt proud of myself. I was striking out on my own. I had never really considered being by myself in a strange country, managing a new team in a new discipline for me. It had all happened so fast but here I was doing it. Living it.
I returned to the flat to find Elly awake. I started to put my shopping away and she smiled at the pizzas. I had bought too much and hadn’t checked the size of my fridge or freezer. It turned out that my freezer wouldn’t fit one pizza in and was basically useful only for ice.
“You don’t fancy a pizza, do you?”
“Ok.” She said happily skipping over to the couch.
“Can you put me one in as well please?” I said as I searched for a place to put the cleaning stuff and bin bags. I found a spot, next to the bin bags and cleaning stuff that was already there.
Elly stayed glued to the couch watching Gummy Bears in Polish.
“Hey.” I said. “Do you want a pizza?”
“If you will eat.” She said only turning to me for an instant before returning to her cartoon.
“You mean if am cooking it you do.”
“Yes.” At least she was honest about her laziness.
I put the pizzas in and finished unpacking my food. When I was done I ran a glass of water from the tap and she simply turned to me and wagged her finger.
I had forgotten the water. What had she drunk?
I got the pizzas out and settled down next to her as the Loony Toons came on, they were followed by Inspector Gadget and finally a turtle called Franklin that I’d never seen before. She was so cute singing along to the theme tune quietly like I couldn’t hear or see her bobbing about. I washed up as she finished watching him and his bear friend on their adventure.
“Let’s get you a phone.” I said.
“Ok.”
With that she was up and we were out the door and I was back across the road at the shopping centre for the second time that morning. It was surprisingly warm for September, maybe 15 degrees or something. I didn’t bother with a jacket but I hadn’t packed my sunglasses and I wished I had. Most other people were in their large winter coats and that is when I wondered if it really did get cold there.
“How cold does it get here?” I asked Elly.
“Why did you expect Polar bears in the street?” She seemed disappointed with me.
“Nothing like that.” I said as a man dressed as a giant tankard passed us by.
“Do you think we are all car stealers as well?”
“Thieves. Car thieves.” I corrected her. “And no, why would I?”
“Come to Poland, your car is already here.” She said. It made no sense but we were inside the shopping centre, so I let it rest.
We found her a phone and she got a contract. She wanted to look at some dresses and handbags so we did. I was bored. Well bored as a kid in a candy shop and my sweet tooth was nourished by the endless stream of beauties swaning about.
We returned to the flat at 5 or 6 pm to drop off the days’ bounty and we planned to eat then return to the shopping mall and watch a movie. I had remembered to buy water, four big five litre bottles of the stuff and she had bought some apple juice and fresh orange.
“So, when are you going to visit your mother?” I asked her just to make small talk. She nearly choked on her orange juice though and then gave me a sheepish look.
“Am still in England.” She said.
“What about your friends?” I would have wanted to see my friends and am the most anti-social person I know.
“In England I am success, here am failure.” She sounded sad. “They should live in hope.”
“That’s nice.” I lied.
“Anyway you hate your friends and family.” She said to my surprise.
“No I don’t. Why do you think that?”
“You left England and them behind.”
“I know that after six months here I will go back to a better job and opportunities. The people who love me, the friends who are true will be there when I get back and we’ll slip back into things like nothing ever changed.”
“Things always change.”
“They do.” I conceded. “But the true centre of a person doesn’t and real relationships are based on true centres. Superfluous things like hobbies, fashion or music change but true centres rarely do.”
“Moze.”
I heard this a lot. It meant maybe, among other things. Sometimes it was a good place to leave a discussion but I wasn’t sure if I was convincing her or myself at this point.
“It wouldn’t matter if it was 6 months or 6 years.” I continued. “When I go back I’ll still be able to have a pint with my friends or brothers while watching the footy.”
She didn’t answer. She just slinked off to the bathroom. Maybe it wouldn’t work for her. Am not sure I carried any hope with me on my foreign adventure. I doubted anyone would have been surprised to see me back. Well I was determined to succeed and I didn’t want to feel like a failure so I could understand her from that perspective.