A few days ago, we visited a flea market in Webster, FL. Not just a flea market – but a giant, temporary, land of hawking, yelling, buying, selling, dust, ‘antiques,’ produce (what we really went for, honest), contraband, carnival food, trailers, stalls (more than 900 we were told), strollers, scooters, “people and more people” (John Cougar Mellencamp lyric from Pink Houses, thanks Don Neill for teaching me early on about social stratification) and everything else you could imagine and then still much, much, much more.
They set up at 3:00 AM we are told. Gates at 5:30 AM. And the whole thing is gone by 3:00 PM – kind of like Brigadoon (mythical land, appears every 100 years)!
As we were walking amongst the scene, I could barely take it all in, and it was then when I realized what was really going on. The last few weeks have been a near-sensory overload of questions, ponderings, wonderings, constant analysis, more questions, attempts at answers, and so on. Not in a bad way – I tend to be a thoughtful person, but as XTC wrote, ‘senses working overtime’ (yes the song’s from 1982).
It was at this moment when I discovered the plot. Laura was trying to kill me. She was hoping, like a scene from Total Recall (a classic Arnold Schwarzenegger movie), that my head would literally explode from excessive stimulation!
Wasn’t it her who suggested the van and the plan. Wasn’t it her who suggested we sell everything and live on the road. Wasn’t it her who suggested we go to the flea market?
Well, I’m not dead yet – but at least I am aware of what is really going on!
"You shouldna be too surprised lad" Everything is exaggerated in Florida - even the bugs.....
ReplyDeleteAnd ya know, now that I think about it Andre, I seem to recall Laura mentioning something about "there'll soon be more room in the RV for my stuff!!! Ha ha... have fun!