Unwelcome Yard Salesman

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It was May 17th of this year that I found myself in a very strange position: participating as a vendor at a yard sale that I was not invited to. Days earlier I passed a sign indicating an upcoming yardsale, and on this sign it seemed to invite participants. Allow me to check if I saved a photo for reference.

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The photo is blurry enough that I trust anyone clever enough to figure out the address to not send any anthrax, mailbombs or strongly worded letters to the delightful sisters who gracefully accepted my intrusion upon their abode’s front lawn and temporary place of business. The following was written on site.

Hopefully by the end of the act of writing, I will feel less uncomfortable than I do now. I am not quite sure what possessed me to prepare both a backpack and a totebag chock-filled with items to sell: a couple dozen CDs, 8 books (6 of them manga) two hardly decent controllers and 3 pairs of unopened blue-light glasses. I could say that it’s my father’s influence, having brought me and my brother to the flea market seemingly every week in the summers, when we were young. If I was feeling less sentimental*, I could say it is that I am a Bokononist–and as such, I refuse no strange travel invitations.

Since I’ve begun writing, I’ve certainly gathered my wits a good bit. The three sisters whose yard sale I’ve parasiticized ars [sic] kind enough. I managed to get my headphones to work once more–a vital aid for my social anxiety is to have soothing music playing, possibly over my ears, but presently they are around my neck playing music quietly.

I have taken a break …

* “differently sentimental” might serve better to portray the relationality to Bokonon. Less familial would also be apt.

I could not tell you how much delight this yard sale has brought me, and how much I would like to go to goodwill right now at this very moment but I can approximate that the answer to both is equally a lot. I felt a kinship with these sisters three by the end of the day, and going home at about 3pm to my recollection,

I can tell you that I arrived quite early, and I don’t consider that a mistake, even if it was awkward and painful, for any amount of becoming familiar and accompanied with my hosts would’ve necessitated such a feeling. I can tell you that the moment we had potential customers browsing our wares, we grew more unified, shifting the us and them from the ingroup of them, sisters, and me, hardly welcomed stranger, to me being included in the temporary ingroup of yard salespeople and the ’them’ being whoever so happened to be perusing.

To paint the scene, I will share images.

![[yard001.jpg]]

![[yardlamp.jpg]]

![[yardspread2.jpg]]

![[yardspread.jpg]]

The latter 2 images are of the spread I made on their yard. They were selling the best of their wares on their driveway, most atop plastic tables perfectly suited towards the purpose they then served and equally suited to say, a barbeque, capable of seating a couple dozen guests. This is to say I found it strange that they owned tables which seemed to be exclusively sold to small organizations, schools, and workplaces and things.

It’s worth mentioning that I initially walked there, arriving at maybe 7am. It was awkward for an hour or 2, but I realized that being set up and it being the weekend I could get my dad to drop me off and he’d probably end up buying something.

He bought a book titled Talking with Sartre: Conversations and Debates. It was my first sale!

My life has no room for regrets, but as I’ve learned well from chess, it is best to admit our mistakes. Here are some of mine.

• I would’ve liked to have purchased the small cheap stereo. They said they would’ve given it to me for free, but I didn’t feel as though I had the space, possibly for carrying but more likely in my room. Either way, I had the space.
• I would’ve liked to have purchased the alphabet portrait with animals. I got a photo, at the very least. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find the space on my wall. I could’ve. I’m looking at where I would like for it to be right now. and I wish it was there, or somewhere on my wall. Ah well.
• I would’ve liked to have had a closer look at the children’s toy piano before I told them I had the cable for it at home, and if not that I would’ve liked to at least accepted the opportunity for another backup cable. It is unsurprisingly not the same specification as the generic 9 volt adapter that every guitar pedal runs on. I would say “at least it has batteries” but I don’t have rechargeables and I have been afraid to turn it on for fear of when it won’t turn on. !

![[yardmissed.jpg]]

Regardless, I can say the entire thing was a true delight, and there is a part of me that considers writing them a letter. I even made a drawing of their house while I was their to occupy my mind and hands as an effort towards mitigating my social anxiety.

My favorite moment of the yard sale, utterly delightful, was when I sold my xbox one controller to a kid, no more than 9 years old and this kid was quite shy, the dad had to walk em through the steps of “this controller goes with the xbox we have at home”, “i would like to buy that, how much is it?” and of course the dad handed the kid the money who handed it to me. For as stilted as this experience was, the child quite nervous and of course it was the father doing most of the talking, I cannot describe to you the joy I felt seeing how enraptured the child was by the controller once he was in the clear. It was delightful.

The following are my boons from the yard-sale. All the journals and stationary were given to me for free. The piano was a dollar. The keen-eyed among will have recognized the topmost journal in the stack as what is now my deltarune journal. The porcelain pooches (named Paper & Glass) were probably 3 dollars. The old metal bowl (now at my altar, learn more about that on my vlog about it). I hope to use the piano for more than just a test run at some point. Maybe one day I’ll finally get the bug and wield a soldering iron, playing around with its insides.

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