Short Story: The Victoria Market with Seb and Claire

The Victoria Market with Seb and Claire

This short story was written about a trip to Victoria Market. Seb and Claire are fictional characters but I used real experience of the market as a background to their shopping trip and their friendship. These stories are just fun short stories about living in North Melbourne. I’ve tried to use as much showing writing as I could here as I could. I enjoy writing short stories and always try to enjoy them as much as I can.

‘That fish has been dyed,’ Sebastian said.

    ‘How do you mean,’ Claire said, leaning on the cold, curved glass of the display cabinet.

    ‘Soaked in dye. To make the colour orange, bright orange.’

    ‘Even here? At the market?’

    ‘I think so,’ Seb said. ‘I think so.’

    ‘Well I’m going to buy it anyway,’ Claire said. Once again, she pressed her hand on the cold glass of the fishmonger’s display cabinet. She waited for the woman serving to finish wrapping the order in front of her. The woman wrestled with the white paper, it crackled as she expertly folded it and secured it with a piece of Scotch tape. 

    ‘Two pieces of the salmon, please,’ Claire said. The woman serving had dark hair, tied back. She wore a blue apron. She was efficient, fast. But she was also friendly. There was a man behind her cutting fish into fillets. He had the same kind of apron on. 

    ‘Twenty-one dollars,’ the woman said, wrapping Claire’s fish now. Again, neatly folded into a parcel. ‘Cash or card?’

    ‘Card,’ Claire said, bagging the parcel, pressing her card against the machine firmly. The card flexed. There was a beep and shortly after that the screen flashed ‘Approved.’ ‘Shall we go up to fruit and veggies?’ Claire enquired of Seb.

    ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘And maybe a coffee from that place on Elizabeth Street. 

    Seb put his arm around Claire.

    ‘Not here,’ she said. 

    ‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ said Seb. But they moved apart. 

    ‘Let’s just go up to the fruit and veggie section,’ Claire said.

    ‘Ok,’ said Seb, wounded. He was shaken that she would not let him put his arm around her.

Bright neon light bore down on them. The concrete floor exuded cold. That and the refrigeration of the fish and meat—piles and piles of it behind cold glass, that’s what made this section of the market so frosty. 

Out the sliding doors it was a sunny day. 

    ‘I’m going to the organic section,’ Claire said. 

    ‘I’ll meet you there,’ Seb said. ‘It’s too expensive for me.’

    ‘Whatever,’ said Claire, thinking about the specials she would find and how it wasn’t that expensive to eat food without chemicals all over it. 

    ‘You can wash fruit and stuff in soapy water,’ Seb said, anticipating Claire’s logic. 

    ‘I know,’ she said. ‘I know.’

They went their separate ways. Claire made her way to the organic section. She took one of the blue plastic baskets (they had dispensed with the wicker baskets they used to have). The handles of her plastic basket clacked against each other as she picked it up. She started looking round at the displayed produce. She got tomatoes, cauliflower—wrapped in cellophane, apples, bananas, a packet of rice, some canned lentils. It didn’t take her long to fill her basket. She held it in both hands because it was heavy. She made her way to the check out. Seb appeared beside her. 

    ‘You all done here,’ he said.

    ‘Yeah,’ she said, packing her shopping into her backpack. She thanked the woman behind the counter. ‘Let’s go.’