Chapter 48: Edel Feelings

ON SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 BY GUTEZAGUTEREZ0980

The fruit platter was all gone, so I said goodbye to Deacon Reynolds.

I tried to give the money I got from the church to Edel, but he wouldn’t take it.

“Edel, what’s the matter? Take it.”

Looking at his eyes, Edel seems to have decided something.

“Ginjiro-san, I want to continue this stall. I… can you sell me some ice…..?”

Ginjiro hesitates whether he should tell Edel, who has been expressing his feelings to him with straight eyes, his own mixed feelings.

—

Looking at the other person who was silently looking down, Edel realized that the future he imagined a while ago would not come true.

“I can’t support Edel continuing to run the stall.”

Edel regretted asking for the favor.

To be honest, I had a feeling that if it’s Ginjiro-san, he would be willing to support me.

But it can’ t be helped if he doesn’t want to sell the ice. I understand that.

Just… the happy memories of the past few days are going to be far away.

I just have to work again as before.

Only that’s all I have to do ……

The wife pushed herself to collect a lot of mangoes.

When I told the chairman that I sold a lot of mangoes, he was very happy.

When I brought home my mother’s favorite pineapple, she thought I had stolen it and was furious with me.

But when I told her that I sold a lot of pineapples and got an allowance from the chairman and used the money, she cried.

The pineapple was so sweet and delicious.

I look up at the dazzling summer sky because I’m about to burst into tears.

The sky looks cloudless and blue, yet nothing comes into my head.

—

Ginjiro scratches his head and tells Edel, who is holding back tears, how he really feels.

“If it’s Edel, it’s fine to sell ice. I just don’t know if I can support continuing to have a food stall.”

Ginjiro was thinking about how to explain, but the silence seemed to have made Edel sad.

It’s okay to sell ice, but not for resale.

I want Edel to set up his own store, independent of Thomas Company.

Of course, independence that is not a betrayal, but independence in a WIN-WIN relationship.

In the future of my business, I wanted a friend who I could trust.

With Edel, I thought that the idea of a fruit business would work well.

I took a sunflower from the item box and gave it to Edel.

“I’m planning to start a full-fledged business after the summer festival stalls are over. So I want to grow with Edel. I don’t want you to keep doing the stall, but I want you to do a bigger business. With the ice, at least you can do business with the church in the summer, right?”

“Yes… I have to talk about independence, I’ll ask the chairman and the wife.”

“It would be better with Milia, the commercial guild member.”

‘Thank you very much!’ Edel said, with bright red eyes.

‘I’ll do my best!’ and bows.

“Let’s shake hands.”

Edel reaches out his right hand, it’s a tiny hand, but Ginjiro thinks it is a more powerful handshake than the priest Werner’s earlier one.

—

Back at the stall, there was a long line, and the grandma was selling an unbelievable number of shaved ice.

Her son is working hard to shave the ice, and the grandma just takes the orders and gets the coppers.

Syrup is self-serve.

Six silver coins and 282 copper coins.

That’s how much the old lady earned in the two hours we were away from the stall.

She had sold 114 bowls of shaved ice, but since she served it to the children for free, that means she had made more shaved ice than she had sold.

“Fufufu, I made a fortune!”

We decided to take a break once the line for the food stalls was gone.

The grandma was overjoyed seeing the money.

“Is it really okay?”

Her son and his wife are apologetic, but there is no problem.

I learned a lot from the grandma’s serious way of doing things.

The self-serve shaved ice syrup allows customers to decide the amount of syrup to their liking, which increases customer satisfaction.

The grandma even called out to customers who had finished eating and sold them refills.

That was a blind spot.

The customers’ faces looked so happy when they ordered refills.

The power of  Grandma who was able to reach out to them, and myself who was not able to notice that much.

I felt again that I should work hard like the grandma and Edel.

—

Eating meat skewers from a food stall with grandma and her family, I was hungry.

The meat skewers were delicious, but the grandma sprinkled them with crazy salt that Ginjiro had.

When I told her that it is delicious to cook meat with cola, she rushed me to cook it as soon as possible.

Although I could purchase a cassette stove from the net store and make it, I told the old lady that I would make it next time I went to her field.

Ginjiro felt lonely because he felt he would never see the grandma again unless he promised her something, so he forcefully made a promise.

If it’s a field, maybe we can have a barbecue?

“Thank you very much, Grandma. I will go to the fields next time, and we will talk again.”

“That’s a promise.”

After saying goodbye to grandma and her family, Ginjiro, Harry, and Edel reopened the shaved ice stall.