That was the reason why Vovka didn’t buy anything for his Uncle and Aunt. He decided to buy a chocolate bar for Mama instead. He thought that Uncle and Aunt might not come, but Mama would for sure – and she liked chocolate. It made her cheerful, and she often had it. Even when there was no chocolate left, Mama would smell the paper it was wrapped into and smile.
Vovka thought that over and bought biscuits, sooshkas and a chocolate bar. He did that rather fast. Buying cheese was a harder task, though. Vovka spent a lot of time standing in front of a shop window. The sorts of cheese were so many and it was so hard to pick up only one. There were white cheeses, yellow cheeses, with or without holes in them, soft cheeses, hard cheeses, smoked and salty ones and also curd cakes. Even the shape was different – round, rectangular or sliced. There were cheeses for a picnic, cheeses for tea and for a snack. And oh, how they smelled! Vovka even closed his eyes and shook his head.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw an old lady, but such a strange one that he even forgot which cheese he had chosen. The old lady was wearing an old-fashioned dress, the one that could be seen only in old movies or in a museum. Her hat was old-fashioned, too. Sometimes Vovka saw ladies that wore hats, decorated with flowers or bows. But on the old lady’s hat there were tiny cows and calves, sheep and lambs, and goats – all with little bells hanging on their necks! Vovka’s mouth went wide open.
The old lady paid no attention to him and started to read the labels, following them with her hand in a glove – that way it was easier for her to read, Vovka guessed. He looked at her strong glasses and felt sorry for the old lady – the letters were so small and she was straining to read them.
”Can I help you, madam?” asked Vovka.
The moment he said that, the old lady suddenly vanished, as if he had never seen her before. Vovka was completely amazed! But also another wonderful thing happened – a new sort of cheese appeared in the shop window. Vovka had never seen this one before. On a bright yellow wrapper it was written with red letters: “Magic Cheese, weight 200 gr.” There was also a smiling little mouse on the wrapper. It even seemed to Vovka that the mouse winked at him. Well, of course, it could not be real – had anybody ever seen winking mice? Suddenly Vovka wished to try this magic cheese so strongly that he took it and went straight to the cash-desk. But, strangely enough, a cashier didn’t take any money for it.
