You have to imagine this: a photo was not appropriate.
I was standing in front of the books table at a rummage sale, contentedly and casually going through the books; the crowd had thinned and it was more relaxing than earlier during the rush. An elderly woman was beside me and we were both absorbed.
The lady behnd the table leaned over and said, "I remember you from last year. How have you been?"
The older woman said she was fine and had just turned 98 and wondered, at times, why she was still around when most of her friends were gone. A lively chat followed and I listened in. Now, the context of why she was "still around" has not stuck in my memory: it was pretty standard fare. What impressed me then, and is with me still, is that a 98-year-old woman was at a rummage sale. I did not have an "amazing!" reaction. I had a "why not!" thought. And when I swivelled my eyes sideways to see what book she was looking through and saw it was an art book on the Tate Gallery - well, neat! Maybe she is planning a trip there.
Given the chance I would have found out; but she got ferried away to another part of the sale and another conversation and I went and picked up my (heavy) bag of Needlepoint magazines from the forties and fifties, being held while I strolled the rest of the books.
Comments