Breathing easy

Another perfectly wonderful day, made expressly for the big errand walkabout; some tasks were less pleasant than others, such as checking out accoutrements for the elderly at the medical equipment store, but it's important to be prepared. Passed by a dreamlike little confectionary, as it called itself, straight out of Alice in Wonderland, at the very sleepy end of University Way. Inside, an astoundingly optimistic young woman was making heavenly-looking French style macaroons, and chocolate marshmallows, and other such dreamstuffs. I wish her survival, the location is dreadful unless she has some good wholesale connections.
Happened upon a wonderful store full of rugs, exotic clothes and jewelry, and pillow covers, which were the exact things we have needed to spruce up the aging throw pillows around here. Finding out that the proprietor was Turkish, I asked him if he knew of the Turkish writer, Orhan Pamuk. Yikes; his face literally darkened, and he growled that Pamuk was "a communist, no, worse, an atheist, he shouldn't be taking down god!" He did go on, more reasonably, to comment that "Well, he's a writer, they have to do dramatic things to sell books." Pamuk is someone I admire, for his outspokenness about human rights among other things. I did not press the topid further. He gave me a short history of Turkey whilst adding up my purchases. He said his religion was Islam, and cut me a deal on the pillow covers; maybe I was supposed to have haggled, but no matter. I gave him a rounded up amount, and he said,"As long as you don't approach me on the judgement day, asking me for the change." I told him that generally, I was not a judgemental person, which is mostly true...