A Plethora of Prompts - 3. Prompt #121 - A Rare Find

Spring Lake Antiques – 5 Miles Ahead

We have something for everyone!

The large, wooden sign looked like an antique itself. The once brightly colored paint had faded, but not to the point of being unreadable. The arrow pointed more toward the ground versus down the road, but the point was made. I was surprised I had even noticed it on the winding rural road I was on. If I hadn’t slowed down for the driver making a right turn in front of me, I probably would have driven right on by it.

I glanced at the time displayed on the car’s console. I had about an hour to kill before reaching my destination, so figured what the hell? At the least I would kill a few minutes, and at the most, I would find some kind of treasure. Maybe something to take my mind off my upcoming appointment.

Exactly five miles later, I pulled into the gravel parking area in front of a weathered red barn. It didn’t look much better than the sign. It didn’t look like all that great of an establishment, but sometimes those places held the biggest treasures. Not that I expected to find any such thing. But there was always hope, right?

The parking lot was empty, so I wondered if the place was even open. There were lights on inside and an open sign on the door, so I pushed it and entered the place. Loud bells jangled in my ear, causing me to flinch. I hated loud noises. I took a few seconds to look around before making the most important decision when entering these establishments – do I start to the right or to the left?

I chose neither. I stifled my gasp as my eyes locked onto an object on a shelf right in front of me. I had trained myself not to outwardly react when seeing valuable objects in places such as this. An antique poker face. I was a master at haggling. I walked slowly over, heart pounding and hands shaking. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans before reaching up and removing the ceramic horse laying on its side on the middle shelf.

The poor thing was missing three of its legs, but it had a sticker on its side with its name and the name of the manufacturer. I’d only ever seen a handful of others made in this color. People waited a lifetime to find this particular animal. I turned it over, looking for a price tag, but couldn’t find one.

“I was unpacking a box of things to put out for sale, and that poor fella was in there. Couldn’t find any of the missing pieces, so I was going to throw it out. I must have gotten sidetracked. It’s yours if you want it.” A middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair had appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

My poker face was not good enough to hide my horror at the thought of this beauty being thrown in the trash. “Yeah, I want it. How much?”

The man smiled. “Seriously. I was going to toss it. It’s yours. No charge.”

I stared at him. No charge? As in free? These guys were all out to make a profit, so giving stuff away was absolutely unheard of. “Thank you. Wow, that’s very generous of you.”

“Generous?” he laughed. “I’m glad you think so. It has no value in that condition.”

I wondered if there was anything else he had trashed. The thought made me sick. “Actually, it does still have value. I’ve been looking for this piece for years. Please tell me you haven’t thrown anything else like this out.”

“Really? Wow. I had no idea. No, I haven’t, but there may be more of these in the estate I just bought. I will definitely not throw them out, no matter the condition.”

“I don’t mind paying for this. And can I give you my number if you do come across any others?”

“Absolutely. And no charge. Seriously. You can pay for any others I find.” The man winked. “How about I wrap that up for you while you browse?”

“Perfect.”

I didn’t find anything else in the shop I particularly wanted, but the man called me about a week later to say he had found a box full of more horses, and he’d reserve them for me if I wanted them. I couldn’t get over there fast enough.