It was a beautiful autumn morning. The sun was shining through yellow leaves on the trees and the air was fresh. Streets were empty because most people were already at work.
Peter was walking to his work, too. He was enjoying the fresh air and the quiet street. He was thinking about the things, which he had to do at work. He was not paying attention. At first he didn’t notice the woman in front of him, but when he came closer, she spoke to him:
‘Excuse me, sir. Could you please help me a little bit?’
Peter stopped thinking about his work. He looked at the woman and tried to understand what she wanted from him.
She was a nice woman and she was maybe fifty years old. She was wearing a blue jacket and a dark red scarf around her neck.
There was a big blue bag on the ground and she was holding the straps of bag. It seemed to be very heavy.
When Peter came closer, he saw what was in the bag. It was full of big red apples. The woman smiled and explained to Peter: ‘These apples are from our garden, but I think I put too many in the bag. It is too heavy for me to carry it to the gate of my house,’ said the woman. ‘Could you please take one strap of the bag and help me to carry it to the gate?’
‘Sure, no problem,’ said Peter. ‘I will carry the whole bag for you. It is not heavy for me. Just show me the way, please. Where do you want me to take the bag?’
‘OK young man, thank you! Please, come this way. It is only few meters from here. There are many cars in front of the gate and so I had to park my car further down the road,’ the woman said to Peter.
She was right. The gate was only thirty meters away. When they came to the gate, Peter asked the woman: ‘Where do you want me to put the bag? Will I leave it here? Or do you want me to take it to the lift for you?’
‘No, you don’t need you to take it to the lift. You already helped me enough. I can carry it few meters no problem,’ she said. ‘But before you go, please take some of these apples. There are many of them in the bag.’
‘Thank you very much, but it was no problem for me to help you with the bag. I do not want any apples.’
‘No way! You helped me and you deserve something in return! Here, take some,’ said the woman and she started taking some apples out of the bag.’
‘OK, OK,’ laughed Peter. ‘I will take one. That’s enough for me.’
‘OK, but take one of these, too. There are two different kinds of apples.’ said the woman and she gave Peter two apples.
Peter took them and smiled at the woman. ‘It is very kind of you. Thank you very much!’
‘No, I thank you for your help young man.’
‘Don’t mention it. It was nothing. But I have to go now or I will be late for work.’
‘Of course, I understand. Thank you again, and have a nice day!’ she said.
‘Thank you. And you!’ said Peter and started walking again.
pay attention – dávať pozor
seemed to be – zdal sa byť
No way! – v žiadnom prípade
deserve /dɪˈzɜːv/ – zaslúžiť si
in return /ɪn rɪˈtɜːn/ – na oplátku
Don’t mention it – nehovorte o tom; to nestojí za reč
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