3. Trigger

He was at the supermarket.

Eggs.

Nothing more.

His colleague stood beside him.

They were talking.

"Why don’t you speak German?"

asked an older man —

German from Russia,

his accent rusted,

his question sharp.

He stayed calm.

Like water that knows

it’s not the fire’s business.

But his colleague flared up:

"You don’t speak proper German yourself!"

He lifted the carton.

White shells. Brown shells.

Same inside.

“It won’t kill me

to take the cheapest ones.”

He paid.

For the eggs.

And for the moment.

But not for the insult.