I bought illegal socks last week.
I’m not kidding.
Stores are closed here in Prague.
But you can still buy clothes for children.
So that’s what I did.
I bought some socks for my imaginary children.
You know, the kids who foolishly only brought three pairs of socks with them when they returned from the US six weeks again and soon had not one pair that didn’t have a hole.
Yes, those kids.
ADVENTURES IN SHOPPING
Normally, I don’t feel good about lying.
But this time it was fun.
In fact, it was the shop assistance’s idea.
She’s the one who explained the situation with the government.
And she’s the one who kindly informed me of the loophole.
(A loophole is a kind of mistake in the law that you can take advantage of to legally do what you want.)
I told the kind lady, “Yes, my poor children, they have holes in their socks.”
“What size shoe do your children wear?” she asked.
“Oh, little Joey’s growing fast. He’s already up to a size ten.”
We both smiled.
Then she led me to the secret elevator in the back.
It took me to the underground shopping level where I got to walk around totally alone.
Later, after I paid and was leaving, I thanked her, and added, “And my children thank you, too.”
She laughed.
It was the most fun I’ve had buying socks.
RAPPORT
This woman and I had something called “rapport.”
What’s that?
And why do you need it if you want to improve your speaking?
I wrote a new article about this subject on the new Teacher Creature blog.