Before opening the door, I wanted to make sure who it was, so I switched on the flash-light and aimed the beam at the figure standing outside the main door. To my surprise, even under the stupor, I was able to make out the beautiful face of a strikingly beautiful young woman, about 30, who looked upward.

More out of curiosity than a desire to sell something to her, I hurried downstairs and within a few seconds I was standing in front of her. My first experience of the sight was really awe-inspiring. She smiled and entered the shop, leaving behind an intoxicating aroma of the perfume which she was wearing, as she passed by me. In her blue-black sari, with long dark black hair, and a white round smiling face, she seemed to be an apparition whom I had often seen in one of my drunken journeys of poetic imagination.

Since the town is small, any new arrival becomes quite noticeable, and I realized that she was not one of us.

“Shop was closed…?” She started in her sweet mesmerizing voice.

“No…no…I was alone so I thought of calling it a day one hour earlier than the usual time,” I tried to assure her that I was ready to serve her.

I could guess from her face that she was aware of my state, for my breath reeked of the whiskey which I had hurriedly gulped down before coming downstairs to open the door. It was cozy inside the shop but I could easily find out that she was feeling very cold.

“Would you like to sit down for a while?”

“Oh…thank you. I have to buy a few things, make up stuff. It is really too cold outside. Can I have something hot to drink?” her eyes were twinkling in the candle-lit semi-darkness of our store where we sell almost everything, except for edible things, that is useful to women.

“I can prepare tea if you can wait for a while…?” I said hesitantly and waited for the answer.

“What about a hard drink?” she said without even a hint of womanly demureness which often happens to be a kind of disguise for what she actually has in her mind.