A Half-Dozen Eggs

A Half-Dozen Eggs

by Mark Mitchell

Thomas was in Krakow in Poland. He got a cheap five-day deal, complete with flights, hotels, meals and transfers, for €199. So far, he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Krakow was a beautiful city and he found the people extremely friendly. The price of food and drink was almost a joke compared to prices in Ireland.

      On the second last day, Thomas decided to visit the concentration camp in Auschwitz. He knew it would be gruesome, but felt he had to go. Most of the hotels were located in narrow streets and the tour buses were unable to access them. The tourists were told to meet the bus in the market square which was about the size of a football field. It was full of stallholders selling all sorts of items from fresh veg and fruit to souvenirs. It was a very colourful sight to behold and there was a great buzz about the place. A little old lady sitting on a box with a carton of six eggs for sale caught his eye. The weather was freezing with intermittent snow. He felt sorry for her.

      Thomas did the four hour tour of Auschwitz and was shocked and appalled at what he saw. He felt he knew as much about it as anyone else, but seeing it first-hand put an entirely different perspective on it. When he got back to the market square, he went into a pub called The Wardrobe

and began to warm up after a few pints. Through the window he could see the same old lady sitting in the bitter cold, selling her eggs.

      ‘Sorry, I can’t do this,’ he said, as he marched across the road to ask the old woman how much were the eggs. She wrote on a piece of cardboard - 15 Zlotys. This was under €4, so he took the money from his wallet and gave it to her. As she was about to give him the eggs, he indicated that he did not want the eggs and returned to the pub for more pints, feeling better for his good deed.

      Thomas kept an eye on the old woman through the window and was gob smacked at what he saw. As more and more tours came back to the market square, he was amazed at the amount of people who did exactly what he had done. He stopped counting at the tenth person. He just smiled to himself. There he was feeling sorry for her and she was probably making more money than any of the other fancy stalls, but still keeping 100% of her stock at the end of each day. He laughed to himself. Fair play to her, he thought, she should be on Dragons’ Den.

      About three weeks later, Thomas met his friend Kevin, who had also been to Krakow. They shared stories and Thomas asked him if he ever saw the old woman in the market square. Kevin burst out laughing.

      ‘What a scam. Did you fall for it?’

      ‘Of course, I did. I mean, who wouldn’t?’

From First Flight