Thursday, October 17, 2013

October Memoir and Backstory Challenge: Secrets #2



Market Day

Watching the crowds walk past my booth
I amuse myself with the variety of
dogs and owners on parade.
I even see a kid on a leash,
and even that kid is enjoying
the unseasonably warm October day.

I'm surrounded by my paintings and pins,
cards and crafts.
I've been in a market since the Spring of '92
and I am used to not selling much
sometimes

On this Saturday of a  holiday weekend
I sell a mottled gold cat pin.
Ten dollars total for the day,
but the promise of bigger sales
keeps me hoping for the future.

Walking to the car after I tear down my booth
I drag my canopy behind me with one hand,
and cradle my two trays of greeting cards with the other.
I am ready for this part of my day to be over.
I feel the blue plastic containers slipping
and as they are about to fall
a man from behind offers me help
With relief I accept it.
He takes my canopy
and I carry the card trays securely with both hands.

"Are you a vendor?" I ask
"Yes", he says.
"Did you have a good day today?  The weather was great."

He stops.
I stop.

Quietly he leans in toward me and whispers,
"We made $2000.00 today!"

While telling me this his eyes fill with astonishment
and his body barely stops itself from leaping into mid-air.
(Good thing he's weighed down by my canopy, I muse.)

"That's fantastic!" I reply,
as I'm never going to tell him what I am really thinking.

4 comments:

Joy Weese Moll (@joyweesemoll) said...

Oh, that last line works so well. Another poem that had me laughing because the only other appropriate response is to cry. I love the seasonality of this one, too.

cs said...

LOL!
The ideal-selling-conditions algorithm is more complicated than meets the eye. one of my best days was when there was a problem with garbage pickup and I had a massive smelly heap of trash behind my spot. Perhaps it was generating pseudo human pheromones.

Unknown said...

Oh! Kind of you to restrain yourself and kind of him to help. Such acts = priceless!

Unknown said...

Hah! I'm sorry your sales aren't higher; that can be discouraging. Your optimistic outlook will certainly serve you well!