Cornershop 3: Sunday Morning, Guinness & A Headline Surprise

Cornershop 3

it’s a hazy & rainy sunday morning.
i bounce into the cornershop
& pluck a Heineken & a Guinness
from the shelf: waitng to be served.

an elderly fella in a flat grey cap
hands over twenty pounds & lifts
his bundle of papers from the counter.
he folds them, then unfolds them.
the glaring headline exclaims:
‘Indian variant grounds for concern Government admits.’

bloody hell! what now? this Indian thing!
look! the elderly man retorted.
I glanced at the headline. the Kashmiri
shopkeeper winced & was silent.
I shrugged my shoulders, paid for my stuff
& hastily departed the cornershop.