B-92 radio stories of This one, made without any help of The Other One

Garbage

Good evening, my name is This One. The Other One apologized, he will come some other time.
Last year I did something that troubles me even now.
It was september, just like now. I was wandering around looking for a place to dump a donut packaging or a beer can, I can't remember. The first thing I found was a garbage can next to an ice-cream stand.

"Hey, boy, you can't throw your garbage there", said the saleswoman to me angrily.
"Really? Then where, lady?"
"Into a garbage can, where?"
"Well, this is a garbage can, isn't it?"
"Yes, but for my garbage!"
"I see. Your garbage has a prior importance in comparison to mine."
"Of course. This can is for ice-cream packings. You see the title?"
"All right, lady. I will buy an ice-cream. Give me the one with vanilla. As your customer, I can throw things into your garbage can, don't I?"
"No, you ain't! What do you think, someone buys an ice-cream, and he can come with garbage trucks here, ay?"
"I didn't come with any trucks, I just..."
"You just this, you just that! Bla bla, twinkle, twinkle. You are all so polite, and then you laugh at old people behind their back. Your old man didn't batter you enough, that's what..."
And then I lost my patience.
"Lady, eat shit!"
To that kind of remark she couldn't find a reply. I went on my way in anger, and she kept mourning. As I came home, my conscience started to trouble me.
During next few months, I had many nightmares related to this event.
In the first one, my university professor was explaining students:
"As you might know, in ancient Greece there were two words for love: eros - for sexual love, and filia - for love between friends and in family. Well, they also knew two words for garbage. Domestos - it was domestic garbage, and xenos - it was foreign, alien garbage. While domestos was worshiped and even used in sacrifice rituals, xenos was thought to bring desease and evil. Throwing xenos into a dish provided for domestos was considered an insult to goddess Demetra, and an offender would be punished by poor harvest for years."
In the second nightmare, I was selling ice-cream behind the old lady's stand instead of her. Countless garbage trucks were passing by, dumping their trash into my can, while I was desperately trying to empty it. People stared at me with disgust.
In the last nightmare, me myself became a sleazy, melted ince-cream. Kids were licking me with their awful tongues and thowing me into garbage cans.
I couldn't stand it anymore. I was looking for the old lady to apologize, to explain that my assault on her garbage was a result of sudden madness. I went to her boss, to the police, but no one could identify her.
Lady, if you are listening to this show, hear my song of regret, and let it be a peace between us.

Lady, forgive me
For dumping my garbage
into your garbage.

I didn't know
That garbage should be dumped
Elsewhere.

Lady, forgive me
For spoiling your garbage
With my garbage.

Let there be a peace between us
And between our garbage
It is, after all, just a garbage.
It is, after all, our garbage.

<< previous story --- next story >>