Idyllic Morning
The dog was really huge. Konrad stopped moving. The dog turned around its axis and lounged lazily on the unmown grass. The boy breathed a sigh of relief. Somehow he lost his appetite for peaches.
"He might have warned me that he had such a beast," Skalski muttered to himself, hearing his heart pound.
The dog was no longer paying attention to him. He looked old and slow, tired of life. His shaggy fur was not as fluffy and shiny as that of a young individual. Konrad stared at the sad animal ignoring him now and felt a twinge in his chest. This dog probably belonged to Sławek's grandfather. They had to spend a long time together, a few, maybe a dozen years. For a man it is a lot, for an animal - a whole life. Now the old man was gone. The dog has lost its master. Even it could suffer in mourning.
Konrad rubbed his burning eyes. He was surprised to find that his hand showed traces of water. What is? He wasn't crying, was he? He couldn't cry looking at the sad old dog.
He quickly looked away and looked around. The trees in the orchard bent under the weight of juicy peaches, eye-catching, shiny cherries and early-ripening plums. Sunflowers grew by the fence, the first specimens of which faded, but many were still beginning flowering. The currant and gooseberry bushes formed a natural hedge separating the yard from the orchard. Manicured strawberry beds and then a greengrocer with maroon beetroot leaves, green parsley and carrots, with knotted cabbage heads, exuberant chives and tomato bushes.
Behind the net, hens digging in the sand with their claws or nibbling oat grains, a stone well with a wooden roof, a pile of branches with withered leaves, a stump with an ax and chopped twigs tied into bundles. Sticks of wood stacked against the wall of some farm building, a gray cat shamelessly licking in the sun, bees and wasps buzzing around a large tree from which ripe pears fell with a splash ...
The view was quiet and relaxing. Beautiful, like a picture from a fairy tale or Orzeszkowa novel. Konrad did not think that such places still existed in the world. He was convinced that a concrete civilization had swallowed them all. He himself was her creation, the son of asphalt streets, car horns, exhaust gases and shop windows. He had no idea that this frozen, gentle, delicate world lay several dozen kilometers from his home.
The world that made Konrad take a deep breath of hot but clean air. He no longer struggled with the emotion that overwhelmed him, though he knew how silly he must look now. He was glad to see this place while it still existed.
He wondered if his father, wanting to take over this land, realized what it really was? Did he see these beautiful trees or did he feel this gentle, idyllic atmosphere? Probably not. If that were the case, he would not be able to treat this place as another land investment. If he did, he was seeing through the eyes of an investor, not a human, and he certainly did not see this obvious beauty.
"Mom would like it here" Konrad muttered under his breath making the dog lazily raise its head. He left her almost immediately.
Yes, his mother would definitely welcome this place with a smile. She could forget all her problems with her husband. Take a break from all the fights he kept on her for any reason, blaming her for everything just because she was at hand.
Konrad took out his phone and took a picture of this lovely place. Not all. He chose the orchard as the most beautiful. The abundance of fruit made this place especially appealing to him. In town, fruit does not grow on trees, it is bought in supermarkets. He wondered if those here tasted like the others. He wanted to feel the juiciness of the peach and the sweetness of the cherry in his mouth.
He swallowed hard. The dog did not pay attention to him, but it made him all the more dangerous, because it was impossible to predict when he would attack and Konrad did not dare to come closer. He sent his mother a picture saying that this was the view from where he stopped.
"It's beautiful there. I hope you will have a good rest," his mother replied.
Konrad also hoped so. Meanwhile, however, the rumbling in his stomach reminded him that he was hungry. It was high time to go to the store. He would have liked pizza, a hamburger, or a hot dog, but he doubted there was any eating place nearby. But maybe he'll spot something in the grocery store.
Konrad Skalski raised his head and looked at the sky, which was not a single cloud. The heat pouring out of him was unbearable and he felt like going anywhere, but then it would get worse, and he really didn't want to settle for his dry provisions. Anyway, ice on a stick or a cold beer will cool him down perfectly.
Konrad went out on the road and looked at the area. On the right there were only fields, meadows and forest, on the left - the village he was passing through. It was from her that a large, dirty-yellow vehicle was coming towards him with a bang, taking up the entire width of the road and raising clouds of dust. Skalski, who has never seen a Bizon off-stage in any movie, took a moment to recognize the machine. She has really impressive size and was moving forward like some angry animal. Konrad stepped out of her way and watched the harvester drive on and turn into one of the nearby fields. She lowered her frightening mouth, in which the rollers armed with metal spikes turned, and drove into the grain, spitting out the threshed straw behind it.
Konrad stared at it for a moment, intrigued by an unfamiliar phenomenon, but the sun was burning so hard that the air he was breathing became heavy and unpleasant, so he moved towards the village, wanting to return from it as soon as possible.
One of the first buildings he passed was a bakery which smelled of freshly baked bread. Although it stood almost on the edge of the village, Konrad recognized from the large movement in it that he was popular with his clients. Next was the church, and in front of it the commune office. As soon as he passed them, a crossroads appeared.
It only took a moment for him to decide which way to go. He rejected one road at once, for it looked to lead to the cemetery, the other, being an extension of the one he was walking, gave the impression that it did not extend too far and that it was a quiet, neighborhood street. So he turned left, because this street seemed to be the main one. Immediately he saw three signs reading: "Grocery and industrial store." They were so close that they were separated by at most three houses. The first looked like a remnant of the old, better times of the Polish People's Republic, the second - like a part of a residential house adapted for a shop, and only the third, with a parking lot in front of the entrance, reminded the boy from the city of a real store. He had no qualms about choosing the last one.
The locals also probably chose the third most often. The parking lot was blocked with cars and bicycles, and the doors were closing every now and then as the customer entered or exited. Konrad Skalski went inside and was surprised to see that it was a self-service store with two cash registers and a payment terminal at each.
It was noisy in the store, as the saleswomen were calling each other to the meat department or to alcohol. Someone asked if there was that and that product, and the saleswomen in a blue apron leaned out from behind the cash register to indicate the appropriate shelf. He counted four saleswomen and still had the impression that there were not enough of them. It was lively and energetic here, and although you could see that they are all busy, they enjoy their work.