How little it takes to connect

with strangers, with no common language save, perhaps, a smile.

I adopted my daughter's practice

of food-shopping almost daily while in Germany, a habit born of necessity

there because of the tiny refrigerators in most German kitchens.

Since she and Rainer remodeled

their kitchen, however, that's no longer the case. Theirs is a huge American

model, Rainer's pride and joy. Nonetheless, when I visit I frequent the

outdoor market almost every day for sheer love of the spectacle. There's

nothing prettier than arrays of food scarlet radishes, glistening lettuce,

stacks of golden cheeses, clear-eyed fish on beds of ice chips, bundles

of asparagus, bins of potatoes, not to mention vegetables I could not

identify.

My problem was seldom "what

is it?" since I was perfectly happy to experiment with unknown veggies;

my problem was more often how much to ask for. After all, you can point

at what you want, but guesstimating quantity and then expressing it in

both a foreign language and a foreign system of weights and measures that's

when the simple act of grocery shopping can become a monumental challenge.

On this particular evening,

cold and rainy of course, I knew we had some leftover pasta, a staple

in Mary and Rainer's diet, and I thought some fresh spinach would be a

nice addition. At home we have spinach salad at least twice a week and

it seemed exactly right to go with cheese tortellini in a creamy garlic

sauce. I found the market, but no spinach was obvious in the first couple

of green grocers' stalls.

Finally, "Haben-sie Spinat?"

I asked someone in my lame Deutsch. "Ja," says Frau and, of

course, asked how much I wanted. I'm not sure what I'd have asked for

in ounces, much less grams. When I faltered, she asked, "Fur ein

Person oder zwei Personen?" for one person or two? It was going to

be just me and Mary that evening: "Zwei, bitte," I replied confidently.

Frau turned around, reached

down into a crate behind the counter and filled a bag while I fumbled

around in my purse. When I got it