His eyes scanned frenetically back and forth across the glass display.
It was nowhere to be seen. Tray after tray of red meat lay on view, but the fresh chicken fillets he craved were noticeable only by their absence.
The butcher repeated his alien mumble through thick grey whiskers, emitting a tone of gruffness, which betrayed his patient expression. He stared forward at the customer, content to play the role of headlights opposite this blinded deer.
Holding an index finger up with a wavering left hand as he stalled, the deer’s mind ran amok through the audio files of his recent self-taught Korean lessons.
Digging deep, he scooped gold from the darkness and as the lightbulb flashed in his head, he mouthed with no great confidence, “dakkoki”.
The butcher leaned closer to the counter and cocked his ear.
“Dakkoki!”, the deer resonated with the belief of a warrior.
“Ahhhh, dakkoki!”, smiled The Butcher. He held up one finger to accompany his inquisitive look.
The deer put up two fingers in response.
The Butcher turned, pulled open the door of the freezer behind him and disappeared inside.
“Now we’re going places”, thought the deer. “This Korean language is a piece of cake”.
A minute later The Butcher returned and set to work with some plastic bags just out of sight of the deer.
Arching his neck to see if things were still on track, the deer was alarmed to see that his chicken breast fillets were much larger than expected.
They also had wings attached…..and legs….and thighs and an entire ribcage.
The Butcher slapped two full chickens on the countertop, bagged and labelled. With a grin on his face, he was clearly proud of his successful interaction with the mute deer.
Reluctant to dig any further in this hole, the deer lifted the bags and nodded at the Butcher.
You win this round Korea.
Rambling Irish 