The Ginger Beer Stall.
At the busy fair the people are milling around and enjoying themselves among the rides and the stalls. Between a row of stalls there stands a small stall marked with a large sign that reads; ‘Ginger Beer’. Inside three women are working and selling fresh, cold ginger beer. Two are elderly, and the remaining one is young. They sit and around in the stall and talk while there is no other work to be done, and while business is slow.
The two older women are named Naomi and Beth, and the younger one is named Clair. They sit in the stall and talk, while on the counter before them there stands a few rows of ginger beer bottles. The bottles are small, and labeled on the side. The rest of their stock is packed away neatly in large cooler-boxes which are packed behind the counter. It has been several minutes since someone had last stopped to buy some of their brew. They continue with idle conversation.
“I hear Jamie will be home next week,” says Naomi, while Beth gives a small grunt.
Then Beth says, “Yes, but apparently he will stay over for a night at Bob and Mary on his way home from the base.”
Clair listens with interest and asks, “Will he be home by Friday or Saturday, do you think?”
“I’m not sure,” says Naomi, and then adds, “Probably Saturday, I would guess.”
“It will be good to see him again,” says Clair, and she seems to smile a bit as she says it.
“Yes, it will,” the two older women answer in agreement.
A man and a woman stop at the counter to buy a few bottles of ginger beer, and Clair gets up to help them.
“Four bottles, please,” says the man, and Clair serves them.
Afterwards the couple wanders back into the throng of people milling about the stalls, and Clair returns to her chair, and the company of the two old women…
