“Can you remember which ice cream she prefers? I cannot recall and the stuff comes in so many colours!” For the first time, Maria looked flustered.
I tried to assist. “Try blue. Is there a blue?”
“There is blue packaging, but no blue product.” Her voice crept louder, but there were no humans nearby to hear her.
I scanned the cold cabinet with the glass doors, before pointing to my recommendation. “This one is pink and features a picture of berries. She likes berries. This will suffice.”
Maria lost interest in the ice cream and turned to the cold shelves on her other side. “I would like to try this coffee milk. It appears to be cold and contains coffee. I will not burn my tongue with this.”
I looked at the list Vanessa had given us, as we wheeled the metal trolley between the aisles of products. “She will want meat, like the humans eat. They do not just eat fish, so she must do the same.”
Maria examined the products on either side of us, until one caught her eye. “She also likes these fungus items. Look, there is a flat bread meal with pieces of fungus on top. Which will she prefer?”
The products she indicated were round, flat and yellow, sprinkled with other materials. They all looked much alike.
“We are here to purchase food for several weeks. I recommend we purchase some of each. If we need food for several weeks, fresh is not sufficient. We must purchase more of what will preserve for longer. Items which are frozen or encased in metal will remain fresh for longer. Those fruits are frozen. We should purchase more of those.” I directed Maria’s attention to the fruit and she looked at them thoughtfully.
“She has expressed a preference for berries. What are these orange items? Mango cheeks? I thought mango was a fruit. Aren’t cheeks a body part?”
I patted my face, then reconsidered and touched my behind, too.
“They might be pieces from the rump of the fruit? She will not approve and I will not touch them.”
I almost agreed with her, but a sudden thought made me return to the box of strangely named fruit. “She may approve. She expressed her preference for that male human’s rump. Perhaps her taste runs to these? I will purchase some and explain my reasoning if she complains.” I suppressed my laughter at the thought.
I need not have worried, for Maria’s attention was caught by another package of food. “Moon-shaped pastries? These look interesting. I will purchase these also.”
In another aisle, I looked for the last item on the list, something with which to restrain hair. I found round, stretchy fabric rings and shiny, flat fabric strips on a cardboard roll. The rings came in blue, but the strips were only available in pink and yellow. Thinking of the ice cream, I chose the pink. I placed several packets of the blue rings and the pink strips into the trolley, hoping these would suffice.
We paid for our purchases, once we had completed our selection. Maria packed the items into white foam boxes for storage and transport in the back of our vehicle. I returned the wheeled trolley. In the window of another shop, some human swimwear caught my eye. A picture displayed near them showed a human woman wearing this swimwear, lying down on a beach in the bright sunlight.
I reflected that I would like to recline on a beach one day. If this was appropriate attire, then I had to obtain some.
I ventured into the shop. The swimwear was pale blue, the colour of Vanessa’s clothing, but if these were required, I would make sure I conformed to even the colour. Vanessa would understand.
But if she did not…
I purchased two sets of swim clothing, one in her size and one in mine, before I returned to the vehicle, where Maria waited impatiently.
I opened the vehicle door before I remembered an important omission. “Oh! I forgot to purchase that fire drink!”
Maria’s impatience increased as I returned to the shop to purchase more of the drink called whiskey.