He was slowly getting used to his new surroundings. After the initial excitement of being in a strange new country had worn off, then came loneliness and depression. These were as inevitable and predictable as the tides of the ocean that rose and ebbed scarcely half a mile from where he lived.

It wasn’t a bad place to be in as a foreigner. The natives stared, but then one can get used to just about anything. He vainly tried to learn the language; he considered it a sign of respect. But English had completed its conquest in this part of the world and his feeble attempts were usually met with an indifferent response in the planet’s favorite tongue.

Since work was what had brought him to the faraway land, he suppressed all thoughts of desire, hopelessness and discontentment, and settled into a routine. Part of this routine, of course, involved frequent visits to the grocery store. It was during one of these visits that he saw her. The land boasted many, many varieties of bread — rye bread, white bread, whole wheat bread, bread with sunflower seeds, bread with chocolate, breads with character, breads for every occasion. It was a simple culinary passion gone amuck. The grocery store he chanced into that fateful day was not the one he usually went to, indeed it was a good mile from his residence. But someone had recommended their bakery, so he walked in purposefully.

He stood in line glancing at the day’s pickings. The three women behind the counter kept up an energetic pace passing the bread, pricing it, slicing it, selling it with smiles thrown in for free. There were some delectable looking cakes too. He was staring at one of these sweet monsters when a vision casually, yet compellingly brushed against his peripheral sight. As we mentioned, he was now not averse to being stared at, so he languidly tilted his head to meet what he thought was a surreptitious gaze. And he saw her. She was at the counter, selling bread and she was not looking at him. Fate it seemed had handed him a vision, and he could look at nothing else. The enchantment was total and complete. He willed the line simultaneously to move slower and faster; slower so he could look to his feeble heart’s content, faster so he could attempt to talk to her.

The line moved and he edged closer. Time and clarity were abstract concepts, as was reason. Why he should have fallen so completely is inexplicable, but these things happen. It was soon his turn to be served. This was beyond trying to be impressive, trying a feeble joke, or otherwise trying to be memorable even if for an instant. He simply smiled and looked at her eyes before dropping his gaze to an undefined region on the cash register. She smiled tentatively and then: