(essay)

“EVERYTHING IS DISCOUNT TODAY!”

In the Bit Barkles’s store you can find everything your heart desires, and even things that you couldn’t even suspect existed. Bit’s “Place of life” was so large that sometimes it seemed as if the visitors actually lived there. I saw a couple of times how clients came in to look after something for themselves for home comfort or peace of mind, but they never came out. Bit reassures me, saying that this is how it should be.

In his shop, everyone gets what they came for. It happens that people don’t understand what they want, and they come with the words: “I’m sure that I need to be here.” Nobody leaves here empty-handed. If they leave at all, of course. And it’s not because Bit is a great store owner and just a nice friendly person. The secret is that you won’t see, hear, try and you even feel such products anywhere else.

A lot of departments have been built in the shop, which are replenished with new products over the years. They come to us with the development of customer requests. I don’t know how Beat predicts what should be on the shelves six months later, but he gives me a clear task to order this or that product for a certain day and even a certain time. The shop, along with the skills of running his own business, was inherited by Bit from his parents.

There are legends that the Barkles were the founders of the city. Allegedly, residents of neighboring villages and cities heard about the unusual “Place of life” and began to gather in whole clans. Not just single families, but all relatives who had the honor to share blood and surname. But where the Barkles themselves came from has always been a mystery.

For several centuries now, the Barkles have run their own business, which has prospered more and more over the years. Even in times of war and famine, the Barkles not only kept afloat, but also helped the locals without any noticeable losses and colossal costs. Until Mr. Dickens entered the store.

“Are you Abiton Barkles?”

“Hi. You can call me Bit,” — Bit isn’t used to having “cold” strangers in his shop. And even those who don’t greet. Bit calls “cold” those who come to his shop with the clear intention not to buy what the soul asks for. Bit says this because such people have no soul.

“I want to buy your shop.”

“It’s not for sale.”

“I didn’t ask if it was for sale. I said, ‘I want to buy it’.”

“How can you buy something that is not for sale?”

“You and I are somewhat similar, Mr. Barkles.”

“What, may I ask?”

“Show me the shop. Take a look at the products, and you will see for yourself that I am right.”

No one then could have thought that this “cold” would bring us so much fire.