Short Attention Span
It’s been a while since I was last blessed with serving regular customer Ms Mukta madam. She mock-apologises for not having been to see me, but explains that she has been busy on holiday abroad with her husband, Simon. She then sarcastically enquires as to whether I have any plans to go away this year, knowing full well, of course, that I can have no such plans – being a slave! But, before I can politely and respectfully answer her, her phone rings and she suddenly loses interest in conversing with me. And rightly so, for it is only natural that a superb young woman like Ms Mukta madam would prioritise a conversation with one of her friends over me. After all, I’m just her local, humble-head shoelicker.
Speaking of which, her magnificent mind may be elsewhere, but her outstretched dirty shoe is still resting on the footkiss block beneath my forlorn face. And so I put my tongue to the use for which it is designed – cleaning dirty shoeleather, right up until the point where Ms Mukta turns to walk away from me without acknowledging me, but still chatting away merrily on her phone.
No conversation of unequals with customer-mistress Ms Mukta today for me, it seems. Still, at least I got to study her plain, grey socks – which is important to me because customer-mistress Ms Mukta’s socks are my life!