Every Saturday/Sunday my father visits the flea market in my town.
This Saturday I decided to join him and see with my own eyes all the “marvels” people sell there.
When I woke up the air was moist and cold.Everything looked damp and most of all… sad.
It was the kind of day that makes you sad,no matter how happy you are.You could see all shades of grey,from the dark grey of the asphalt to white grey- of the clouds,resembling the ash of a volcano.
The smell of freshly made coffee made me turn away from the window and to light a cigarette; I started drinking my coffee and smoking my morning cigarette. I was looking at the ash my cigarette was producing and how from bright orange and red burning tobacco,it turned into grey-white ash….grey like the life outside my window.
Suddenly a bright orange light appeared on the building in front of me,a light that looked like a flame,bright orange,just like the tip of my cigarette,and it just sharply pierced through the grey atmosphere,lighting it up and inspiriting it ….it was nothing more than a sunbeam,the first ray of Sunlight piercing and dividing the clouds.
I started feeling better,as if I was seeing the Sunrise for the first time in my life. I didn’t have that sad feeling anymore;there was a sunbeam telling me that there is still hope for a beautiful sunny day,that the cold winter hadn’t yet conquered, that the cold and rainy days were still far away from me.
I got dressed,left the house and started walking with my father.
The Sun was becoming stronger and stronger by the minute, and its warmth could be felt all around.
Sunbeams were heating the yellow,brown and yellow leaves,giving tress the hope that the cold snowy days were still far away from them and they needn’t worry yet.I walked a lot and as I was walking I received a thicker and thicker carpet under my feet with every step I made, a carpet made of leaves. It wasn’t a red carpet,but a colorful one….yellow with pale shades of green,red with striking brown lines and a few green leaves that had been killed(still in the “prime” time of their life) by the storm that happened the night before . The carpet was being set and leaves were saying good-bye to the trees that gave them birth,in a beautiful dance,a slow waltz happening all around me; I was the witness of the second most beautiful event after springtime….autumn was taking her rights,it become more and more powerful by the minute. The perfume in the air was mixed,the air brought to my nose different fragrances,from the smell of baked pepperoni and pumpkin( that women put aside for winter time) to those coming from the freshly cut grass and leaves,from the trees and the rain that had washed them a few hours before.
I was so impressed by nature that in what seemed to be only a few seconds later I was in front on the flea market.In all this wonderful scenario I entered the open-air market.
I could see people putting things directly on the blanket that the trees had set for them (made out of the beautiful leaves I have mentioned before)on the ground or on a blanket they brought from home.
The things they were “selling” didn’t look so fancy and clean,they actually looked very dirty and dusty.
At a first glance you would definitely see them as junk,and you would look the other side,afraid you would get a skin disease just by looking at them,but then,when you came closer and looked at them,you could discover the beauty of that antique object you were looking at.
They were selling everything,from silver cups,forks and spoons,to books,photos,old phones and radios.
Every tiny thing had a history behind it….the cups,forks and spoons had been used by “lords and princes”,the books had belonged to great men,the phones had witnessed love stories and the photos were images of long lost loves….everything had a long history or at least a short story behind it,a story that would make that thing sell better, a story that would help the owner remember one more time the greatness of the object he was selling.The memories linked that object to his own life story and he was trying to remember them all again,just before the moment in which a good buyer would approach him and take him away from what was dear to him, from the memories that were linked to that dear old thing he was selling now.
I asked an old man why was he selling all those beautiful things and his answer shocked me a bit,but also impressed me a lot,he answered:
“ They are my life,from this cups I used to drinking tea and coffee every morning with my wife,but now she’s gone,and all I am left with are memories of her and these cups.I am selling the cups because I hope they will bring the same good memories to other people,to another couple.
I am an inch away from death and I want these cups to be in a secure place after I die.I have no kids to leave them to and it brings me a lot of pain to leave them to a stranger,because they have been in my family since over 2 generations ago,but I’d rather know they will be with a nice couple rather than with the executor that will squander them after I die,in order to get his money back for the credit I owe to the bank .”
That was a sad story,the story of a life and a few generations back.
Why where people doing that? Why were they selling the things that were dear to them?
The answer is pretty sad: financial crisis.
This plague invaded Earth two years ago and now everyone learned these two horrible words that we knew nothing about until a couple of years ago….but this is another horror story that I am not going to discuss about right now.
Wondering around the flea market I managed to find a few nice things that I could afford,so now I have two silver candle supports (that for sure held candles and lighted many romantic moments of the couple that sold them to me),an antique camera,a small table watch and a small silver fork(that used to be used for fruits).
Looking at the “spoils of war” I understood again why my father goes there every week-end.
I said good-bye to the flea market and started my journey back home.The temperature was rising and it felt more and more like a summer day, a day in which the Sun just wanted to show it still had the strength to make people abandon their jackets and bathe in its light for a few more minutes,remembering the hot summer days that aren’t that far away.
See yah next week flea market!
See yah all next time.
I wish you a lovely fall day and come back whenever you please,or whenever you want to get away from the monotony of everyday life.
