My Walk with Claude – part Six

My wife was just a block down she was inside a front yard filled with tables of every kind of knick knack, glassware, toys, pictures, table ware, books, lamps, and more.  The tables extended into the back yard and there were even people shopping on the front porch.  It was with some difficulty before I could get my wife’s attention, she was so enamored with the array of hidden treasures, she was mostly oblivious to the outside world.  I finally got to her side while she was mesmerized by some old crockery,  

“Sorry I was gone so long, I guess we can go down the street to see what else is for sale.”  She looked at me “I haven’t had enough time here, you only gave be maybe fifteen minutes, I need at least that much time or more to check everything out.” 

Fifteen minutes?  I was sure that I had been gone for at least an hour or more.  But she said it was only fifteen minutes.  If that was true, I had a lot more to think about regarding  the events of today so far.  I decided to not question the timing of things with her, it was best to just go along for now.  I started to walk along the tables and look at some of the things for sale and try to organize my thoughts.  Even if my wife was so caught up in her shopping that she didn’t realize how long I was gone, but even with that, that would not explain her thinking fifteen minutes versus being gone for more than an hour longer than that.  I tried to focus on some old bookends on a desk, they looked like they were busts of Charles Dickens or maybe it was Mark Twain?  My wife thankfully interrupted me : “Okay, I think I have looked at everything here and I will pay for this stuff.  Are you getting anything?”

  I told her that I didn’t find anything that I could live without.  Within a few minutes we were on our way up the street.  Searching for more bargains and items that were only available today and at such bargain prices.  They day was getting a bit more humid and with all the crowds of people, it was time that we got in the car and availed ourselves of some air conditioned comfort and whatever water was available in the car.  Reluctantly my wife agreed to depart from the scene and the town.  After we had gotten cooled off a little, I asked her :

“Annie, don’t you think that we should just drive for a little bit and take a break from the shopping.  We can stop at the next big flea market or town that looks interesting, as long as it at least twenty or thirty minutes from now.  Maybe we can find a place to pick up something cold and refreshing to drink as well.”  Surprisingly, she agreed : “I think you’re right, we need to cool off a bit and wait till we see something pretty good.  I know that I got some great stuff in that last town.  What about you?  Did you find anything there?”

“Not really, oh I guess one thing, I did get a book.  That’s about it.”  I could not even begin to tell her about what might have transpired back there, or maybe didn’t.   My thoughts were too confused to be able to speak about it at that point.  She would think that I was crazy and I don’t know myself exactly other than it had been an amazing experience and would be hard to completely put out of my mind.

I turned on the car radio to listen to some music and maybe start thinking about something else.  The music seemed to calm my mind and the rhythm of the road helped me to concentrate on where we might be stopping next.  After about forty five minutes we found a large flea market with just about anything you could ever dream about, if you were a seasoned flea market shopper.  We parked the car and began our exploration of all the treasures, buried and otherwise.  Looking at all the tables and booths and tents filled with family heirlooms and items that might have fallen off the back of some delivery trucks.  There were also many trailers dispensing every type of foodstuff, from elephant ears to corndogs and even some deep fried candy bars.  We picked up a couple cold drinks to satisfy our parched throats.  While I was drinking, I was able to take in  some of our fellow shoppers.  There were women who were wearing tank tops and short shorts, all to allow them the ability to display some very colorful tattoos which were arranged over various parts of their bodies.  Some had larger areas to allow the viewing of all the tattoos in great detail.   The men were not as plentiful in the crowds but were of all ages from little toddlers running around looking for something fun to do, to old men pulling carts or some just walking around looking for their wives or a cooler spot to wait.  Finally, after what seemed like hours, we were able to depart from this carnival of buying, selling and eating.  We were back on the road and heading for our destination for the night.

We got to the town where our motel was.  We found a small diner with an expansive menu.  The food was actually quite good and we were able to even have enough room left to split a piece of home made apple pie topped with vanilla ice cream.  This was a perfect ending to the day.  After checking in to our motel, we knew that we were done for the day.  It was time to get ready for bed,  maybe we might watch some television, but after all the experiences of the day, it would soon be time for some sleep.  Before going to bed I went into the small bathroom to change my clothes.  I emptied out the pockets of my shorts, taking out my wallet, keys and change.   I noticed that I still had something in my back packet.  It felt like I had my comb in there, but I never carried it in that pocket.  I fished around in the pocket and pulled out two popsicle sticks!  For a moment, I couldn’t think of where those could have come from.  I didn’t remember eating a popsicle….or did I?  It all came back to me in an instant.  The park, ice-cream Jimmy, sitting on the bench with Claude… Claudine, the kids running around the park.  The youthful Claudine, talking of Patrice and France.  I had put these popsicle sticks in my back pocket to give to her later.   So it all really happened?  This was a bit of tangible evidence that I could not disregard.  Now I really did not know what I should do.  I decided I could not tell Annie anything about this, as I don’t know what I could say without sounding a bit crazy.  I went to bed and turned my light off. ! was quite tired, but I wondered how much sleep I was going to get that night.  I started running through my options of what I might do going forward.  I could go back there tomorrow morning.  I don’t know how I would explain that to Annie.  :”Let’s drive back almost 100 miles tomorrow because I wanted to buy something else in that town?”  That was not going work.  Maybe sometime in the fall I could figure out a way to come back down here and go to Claudine’s house.  Sure.  Just knock on her front door : “hello, remember me?  Pete, .. here are your two popsicle sticks.”  That just did not seem to be a realistic way to resolve this.  It was all so tenuous right now.  Did we spend part of an afternoon in her past life, or was it just fifteen minutes?   I was impatient and wanted to go back and speak with Claudine again, about the whole day together and about her life and everything we discussed.  But, whatever I did, it would have to be in a way, that would continue what had happened or what I imagined had happened today. It had to be where we had left it this afternoon. Finally, after a mostly sleepless night, I settled on the only plan that made the most sense.  I would have to wait until the big sale next year.  We would come through the town again, and hopefully Claudine would be selling her books and treasures in front of her house and I could maybe connect once again with her.  Or was this all a one time thing and she would not even remember me.  I had no other choice.  It would be difficult, but I could only put it all on hold for now.   I would wait and come back again next year.

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