Thein Pe Myint (15)

The following text and translation covers the page 15 of Thein Pe Myint's short story "ငွေစိန် လှေလှော်ရင်း တက်ကျိုးခြင်း", which I have scanned from page 343 of "ဝတ္ထုတိုပေါင်းချုပ်သစ်" [A new collection of short stories]. the translation continues onto the following page (၃၄၄) with the words "အချိန်လု လုပ်နေကြရသာပဲ။".

Vocabulary:

လက်ခမောင်း ။ upper arm
ခတ် ။ to beat or strike
မြူးထူး ။ to rejoice; make merry.
ခုန်ပေါက ။ to gambol; frisk; jump about; caper.
မလှမ်းမကမ်း ။ nearby place; short distance; proximity
ရစ် ။ numerical classifier for counting instalments, stages, chevrons, stripes
သကာ ။ molasses
စပ်စု ။ be inquisitive, intrusive, meddlesome, nosey
တွန်း ။ strenuously; with all-out effort

Translation:

While he was forcefully paying a bill of money, [he said]

"Sir, I'm treating with the profit that I got from you. Take it."

"I'm not taking it mate."

"Oh, Ngwe Sein has come back. As for my wife, I depend on her. Since the road, I've come up with a plan to free her."

He nearly tapped his upper arms and jumped about in glee. While guarding against danger on the sidecar, Ngwe Sein moved the box of shoes and tray with one hand from the front seat and while placing them on the last seat passed by in front of us. Htun Khin followed behind his wife. As for me, I became more interested in their affairs and stayed nearby and followed to arrive at the location of their shop.

I was looking out at the husband and wife as they laid out their market stall early. What they were saying, I do not know. However, while Ngwe Sein looked out at me and Htun Khin looked out at me I guessed that they were speaking about me.

After a short while Ngwe Sein lined up the sandals in rows and Htun Khin came to me and [said],

"My wife said she must know about [you] sir. Later, if you have a need for sandals please come to us, sir. The brand name is not famous but [you] will get a good quality. As for the profit, it will not be made much."

He was trying hard to show a sweet face of a sweet person to me being a shop customer. As it was now, I could not see the temperament that discusses just according to his own affairs. As for me, I came to not want to be inquisitive into his affairs.

"I have a wife and children. Will you please go and make a purchase?"

"I don't have a wife. And I don't have children. If you want me to make a purchase, I'll buy for the demands of my house. However, I still want to talk with you."

"In front of the house, sir. However, I can't get much time. When I get time, I have to work hard selling."

"Of course, what you say is correct. People must take up your work time."