A Predator at the Antique Shop

The Ethical Will of Donald Armstrong, Part 11

For an explanation of what an ‘Ethical Will’ is, please see my previous post, ‘I Leave to You … Whatever Wisdom I May Have Gained.’

Like many fourteen or fifteen-year-olds in the pre-digital era, I had a newspaper route. Every day, rain or shine (or snow), I would make sure that my customers had all the news that was fit to print — or, at least, all the news that a local editor considered fit to print. I delivered most of the papers to private homes, but a few went to local businesses, including the only antique store in our small town.

Some customers paid the newspaper company directly, and the latter would then send me a portion of the proceeds. I would visit the other customers every other week and collect their payment, part of which I would then forward to the company. I had a sense of pride in my thriving little business.

One day, I walked into the antique shop to collect my payment. Typically when I came to the store there would be two or three people, sometimes more, walking along the rows of tables that displayed the owner’s wares. I, too, was fascinated by the discarded treasures — tchotchkes (knick knacks), old telephones and appliances, books and clothing — that lay in repose, waiting for someone to adopt them.