I RAN INTO Mrs Wu at the market today. What a gossip she is! I had to listen to her for over an hour before I got away.
I think I would still be listening if a little drama hadn't silenced her. Poor Mrs Wu! She was in the middle of a story about her neighbour when the drama began.
A young boy was running along the pavement with a puppy on a lead. The dog suddenly saw a cat and off it went like a rocket. The boy was taken by surprise and dropped the lead. The puppy ran after the cat and the boy ran after the puppy. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch what was happening.
The boy was desperate to catch the dog and he didn't look where he was going. He ran into Mrs Wu and knocked her over. She fell backwards onto the fruit stall behind her. She is quite a heavy woman and the stall collapsed under her weight. There were oranges, apples, mangoes all over the place. The stallholder rushed forward and ran into another stallholder who was pushing a cart across the road. There was absolute chaos.
And then the puppy came running along the street as if nothing had happened. He stopped in front of the boy, looking up and wagging his tail. By now, a policewoman had come over to help.
'Listen to me, young man. The next time you bring your dog out for a walk, please hold onto the lead more carefully. Now, run along home before you cause any more accidents.'
The boy and his dog vanished quickly into the crowd and the rest of us began to pull Mrs Wu out from the pile of fruit that half buried her. How angry and embarrassed she was! I won't forget this morning's little drama for a very long time - and neither will Mrs Wu!