Cool As Cucumber

I picked up two nice-looking cucumbers from the lot. They were dark green, fresh-looking, straight and slim. I handed them over to the vendor lady. As I watched her, she picked up 2 other pieces of cucumbers from the same lot. She went over to the scale. There was a big blue plastic bag atop the scale and in there were MORE cucumbers. She placed the cucumbers which I picked into the bag and took them off the scale.

Hey. Those were the cucumbers which I had picked! Why did she put them into that big bag?

Then, she proceeded to weigh those 2 pieces which she had taken earlier. They were not as nice as the ones that I had picked - slightly lighter in colour, a bit bent and bigger too.

"I want those two just now," I spoke to her in Malay. I was not sure if she was Chinese.

"Those are not yours," she replied in Mandarin. "Those are other people's," she explained.

Duh. What sort of logic is that? If those were not available for sale, why were they on display on the table in the first place? And she had taken the other 2 cucumbers from the same lot - the ones she wanted ME to buy.

Though she'd weighed the cucumbers, I refused to buy. I told her I did not want them anymore and walked off.

I was pissed. But what the heck, there were so many other vendors selling cucumbers in the market. Why should I settle for less?

All for a bowl of clear cucumber soup
Slivers of cucumber, meat balls, egg, and Mom's homemade prawn balls. Yum .... and easy to cook.