In Vilkaviskis main street optician one and optician two seem to go through a period of mourning. The shop assistants don’t speak unless spoken to, and when they do, it’s brief and business-like.
At optician number three things are quite the opposite. It’s only half the size of optician number one and optician number two, but it must be the grey turtleneck that makes the difference. On this sunny Monday one customer after the other walks in, and the optician welcomes each and every one with a cheerful chat.
When it’s my turn he notices my glasses. “People around here would’t touch round glasses with a stick, not when you would pay them a hundred Litas. Look, here’s a Harry Potter frame, nobody wants it.” Mine are oval and, frankly, made for children. At the time I picked the smallest frame available so the glass would stick out as little as possible. I’m quite err.. myopic.
We’re here for contact lenses. They’re good for cycling in the rain and in the sun. The eye test is done before I realize it. While I’m waiting in the shop for my associate’s eye test, new customers keep walking in. A glossy brochure explains how sports design is now mixing with the formal wear of the board room, and sporty frames in particular.
Customers keep shuffling in, among them an aged lady of around eighty. She wears a bright red and blue headscarf over her sand-coloured rainjacket and her back is bend. After the mutual cheerfulness the turtleneck explains he’s not optician number one from the next block where she planned to go to. He’s optician number three. Haha, nevermind, I’m here now, she says. I’m tired of my current specs. I want glasses that don’t block the edge of my vision! I want a big white frame and it has to be round!
The optician disappears and returns with a big, colourless round frame. He hands it to her and goes on to the next customer. The lady bends over to a mirror and peers into it with half-closed eyes.
‘Yeeh! Round glasses, for people with an open frame of mind!’ I want to cry out in a wave of like-mindedness. I leaf through the glossy brochure one more time instead.
