Sketchy Memory

Saturday afternoon, I went to buy fruits at the market and passed by one of my favorite shoe haunts. There, I saw this really nice pair of black shoes that had a Bottega Veneta vibe to it. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry and didn't have time to stop by and examine whether it was worth buying or not.

I went back to the store this afternoon, the shoes were gone. Since only 2 days had passed, my guess was that they rearranged the racks and the pair must've moved to another section of the store. After scouring each rack, the shoes really weren't there. Gone in 2 days!

One of the salesclerks recognized me and asked what I was looking for. Like a contestant in a charades contest, I started describing the pair of shoes - complete with hand gestures - in the hopes that she'd understand me. Judging by the blank look on her face, it was obvious that she didn't. Suddenly, she went away and came back a few seconds after carrying a piece of paper and a pen.

From "charades", the game suddenly became "pictionary."

I sat down and started sketching the shoe from memory. After a minute, I held up the sketch to 3 of the girls. In unison, they all exclaimed:

WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!*

Upon hearing the ruckus, another group of girls approached us. The girl who was helping me initially snatched the sketch from my hand, showed it to the other group who then shouted:

WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Not long after, the girls were already in a circle, passing around the sketch while saying:

WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

A few minutes after, one of them approached me and had this huge smile on her face. She gave me a thumbs-up sign, patted my shoulders and said:

"You very goooooooodddddddddd..."

From her reaction, it felt like I discovered the elixir of youth, or the cure for cancer. I wanted to tell her: "People! It's just a sketch!"

She hurriedly went inside the stockroom, and emerged with a box. First, she handed me back my sketch, then she opened the box to reveal the pair of shoes I was looking for. Yes, it wasn't on display, but apparently, they still had it in stock. If not for my 1-minute artwork, I would never had known.

As I was walking out of the store, the girls started chatting animatedly in Cantonese. They were probably still talking about the drawing I made. Then again, maybe I'm just vain and I bet you think that talk is about you. Don't you. Don't you.

Looking at the sketch a few minutes after, I must say that my memory served me well at this instance. Here's what I drew:



And here's the actual shoe:



Hmmm... maybe I should intern at Jimmy Choo.

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* WAAAHHHH is the default Chinese expression for amazement, delight, surprise, and all other emotions in between.