Today were were in Lautoka town, doing some shopping - mostly toys for Joana. On our way back I decided to stop at a shop and buy a rugby ball. Noticing the Adidas shop I asked our regular taxi driver, Darman, to stop there. Vara and I got out and walked up to the shop, which looked closed. There were two female employees with the same outfit standing just inside the door talking so I made hand gestures to them asking if it was closed. They affirmed my suspicious with gestures from behind the glass door.

We walked across the street and were just about to get into our taxi when a male employee bursts out of the shop, runs half way across the street out and yells out, “Boss boss, come come we open”. I walk back across the street and he motions for me to go inside so I do. I’m in the store looking around and there’s just him, a security guard and the too girls.

He asks “what you looking for boss?”. “Rugby ball”, I reply. He motions for me to follow him and there in between a bunch of rugby boots was a single rugby ball. I ask, “How much?”, pointing at it. He takes it of the shelf and hands it to me, “for you, good price, only 99 dollars”.

“What!”, I exclaim, taken by surprise. “You got anything else?”. He studies my expression for a while then asks, “How much you want?”. “I was looking more for something around 40 dollars, or 60 if its a match ball. This is just a size 5 training ball.”. The guy walks over to another shelf and brings out a stuffed ball that you can fit in your fist and hands it to me. “This one 30 dollars”.

I don’t know whether to laugh or swear at him. “Are you serious?”. All serious he exclaims, “This good ball, good souvenir.”. I look around, everyone in the shop is staring. In my best Fijian accent, “Boss, I’m from Lautoka, whats regular price for this ball”. A bit startled he looks a me, “Sorry Boss, all out of stock”.

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