Ahead of me, I saw a small stall standing right on the sidewalk but slightly off to the side. On the stall, there were several open boxes of tangerines and a scale. Behind the stall, under a canopy, stood a mustached, swarthy man in his fifties. He cheerfully called out from time to time, paying no attention to the chilly weather:
"Tangerines, full of vitamins! Come on, folks, get your own garden. Half sugar, half honey."
I don't know what made me stop, maybe it was those same tangerines that looked like a cheerful sunny spot in the surrounding dreary grayness, or perhaps the vendor's joyful call.
"How much are your tangerines, my friend?"
"Hmm..." I hesitated, trying to figure out how much money I had with me. "Well, a kilogram, probably. How much are they?"
"A kilogram? All right!" said the vendor, bustling about deftly, putting the tangerines into a bag, which he immediately placed on the scale's tray.
"So, how much are the tangerines? You didn't say."
"Ten rubles. Enjoy them, my dear, and make sure you treat the lady too," he said, handing me the bag of tangerines, which I took automatically.
"That's awfully cheap."
"Take it, take it! It's a sale, just for people like you. And hurry up, or you won't have time to treat her. She'll be gone. And I still have to sell more tangerines."
He pushed me along to keep going. I left after paying and, after about ten steps, realized that I was walking and foolishly smiling, remembering what happened at the counter. "What does it mean for someone like me to treat a girl?'" I was stunned, stopping in my tracks. But then a particularly unpleasant gust of wind blew icy snowflakes in my face, and shivering, I continued on my way. But my mood somehow improved. I felt a sense of celebration, anticipation of something joyful, truly New Year's. Ten minutes later, I was entering my entrance.
I decided not to wait for the elevator and started walking up the stairs. On the third floor, leaning against the wall, stood a girl. The neighbor's niece, Lena, I think I had seen her a couple of times in passing. A pretty, cheerful girl, at the moment she was looking gloomily at the neighbor's door.
"Happy New Year!" I said with a smile.
"Happy upcoming year, the new one hasn't started yet," the girl corrected me with the same gloomy expression on her face.
"I see. Have some treats..." I handed the girl a bag of tangerines that I was holding. "And what are you doing here? If I'm not mistaken, your name is Lena, your uncle introduced us, I live on the fourth floor."
"Thank you," the girl said, taking a tangerine from the bag. "I remember you. I wanted to make a surprise, congratulate you, even dressed up as Snow Maiden and came without calling, but they're not here."
"Well, maybe they just got delayed somewhere. Come with me and wait for them at my place."
"I don't know, it's kind of unexpected. Is it convenient for you? I was already going to leave, but I don't really want to go out again in this weather."
"Oh, don't worry about any inconvenience. Here, take another tangerine. I was strongly recommended to treat you with them."
"I don't understand, who recommended it?"
"I don't know, maybe it was Santa Claus, although he spoke without an accent and without a beard," I chuckled and started walking up to the fourth floor, desperately hoping the girl wouldn't refuse. The girl hesitated for a moment, took a bite of the tangerine slice, smiled at something, and followed me.
A year passed. On December 31, Lena and I were returning from the store where we went to buy food for our New Year's Eve feast. Our friends were supposed to come over, and our third-floor neighbor and their family were also going to join us, so we had to go to the store again. Lena decided to come with me, thinking that I might forget something again.
We walked along the same sidewalk where I once met a mandarin seller, and although I had passed by that spot hundreds of times since then, I had never seen him again. But this time, as we approached the same spot, we heard a cheerful voice saying:
"Mandarins, full of vitamins! Come and get 'em, folks! Half sugar, half honey."
"That's the beardless Santa Claus I told you about," I said to Lena.
"Oh...hello there, my friend!" the seller greeted us with a smile. "I finally managed to treat the girl to some mandarins,"
He said, deftly grabbing a bag of mandarins and offering it to the blushing Lena.
"Here, miss, you need vitamins in your condition."
"How much do we owe you?" I asked.
"What, what? No money needed for regular customers. It's on the house!" the seller waved his hands. "Hurry along now, your guests will be here soon, and I need to sell more mandarins."
For some reason, we didn't argue and happily walked away, still smiling. We could hear the seller's voice behind us, calling out:
"Mandarins, full of vitamins! Come and get 'em, folks! Half sugar, half honey..."
