More Stories from the Past Week

One of the best things about the flea market is the stories we find.

First one was from another vendor. This vendor said, "You'll never believe what my son does for a living."

And he was right. I've never heard of this job before, and I wonder if any of you have either.

What does he do?  He catches birds. Not in the wild though--he catches birds that get into stores and warehouses. The son told me he loves his job. He said he has learned so much about birds, like which ones are wary and hard to catch, which ones are more curious, and which ones he has to put on a camouflage costume to catch, He travels all over the place, working for a company that specializes in this line of work. Fascinating.

The other story--or maybe it was more of an observation--was one of the customers at the market yesterday. A man who looked to be in his early 50's just walked and walked and walked, circling through the market over and over again. Now it was really hot and humid and everyone was sweaty, He was too but he kept right on walking. And talking--to himself. He didn't make eye contact with anyone, just walked and talked. I wondered why he'd come all the way out there, or if this was just a regular routine for him. I wondered where he was from, who he was, what his story was. No one knew anything about him. So for me he will remain The Walker.

Oh, and that hatchet I mentioned yesterday? The trend continued with every man coming into the booth picking it up, until a young woman came in, picked it up and two others as well, and bought all three! I believe they are destined to be wall art on her garden shed.

Today we got the vehicles unloaded. We made an early start and were at the barn where the market was held before 8am, so we were first to get in and get started. A good thing since today was another horribly hot and humid day. We then reloaded the van with things to take back to our booths, but there is still a pile to be sorted out and put away. Maybe tomorrow I will get that done.

This afternoon we mainly tried to stay inside. I unpacked my books and things from the creative writing class I taught the last week of June, and tied up some loose ends from that. And packed ebay--lots of packages going out tomorrow.

The day ended with a visit from neighbors and a spectacular thunderstorm that lit up the skies. Since the sun was setting, the sky was the oddest color, pink and yellow and yet storming mightily. I took photos but my phone can't get service right now to upload them, and I still haven't unearthed my camera from the flea market stuff. One step at a time, right?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.