From a recent Political Fiction Class…..

Write a short piece in which an ordinary object becomes the focal point for a conflict between two characters. What does each character believe the object represents, and how do their interpretations shape their relationship and reveal their values?

Whatsit

I visited an estate sale today, not unusual for me as I enjoy spending my Saturday afternoons browsing among the items left by the dead and unwanted by their survivors. Morbid? Maybe. Yet the allure of a cool find and the awe of someone else’s hoarded collection intrigues me.

The deceased on this day was my Uncle. I had not seen or talked to the man in years and frankly did not know he had passed. It was a surprise when Siri directed me to his house. We had never gotten on, as he hated my father and there were hard feelings about both my mother’s and grandmother’s estates.

A few months after my mother’s passing, my siblings and I divided up between us what we cared to keep and decided to hire an auctioneer to sell the remainder. Her family was devastated. How could we allow strangers to pilfer through and take home her belongings? I dreaded the sale day just because of them.

Even so, they showed up in force that day and bought their fair share. It all seemed to go well until a certain crystal candy dish came on the block. Said Uncle, began to bid on it. Other crystal that day had sold for little money. This piece saw its price rise quickly. I doubt it was that great of a piece, I just think a few in the crowd knew they could goad my Uncle into bidding until he won it. He finally had the winning bid, a bid that was outlandish.

This candy dish already had history in the family. After Grandmother’s death,  mother and her siblings disposed of her estate by playing the ‘Everyone gets a pick’ game. In this game, the oldest chooses one item and then according to age each child picks an item. This continues to the youngest who gets two picks. Then the round robin works its way back up to the oldest.

Uncle for his first pick, tagged a large crystal punch bowl. Mother being next grabbed the crystal candy dish. This started the fight. He explained she could not have it as it was the base for his punch bowl. Mother countered that it had never been used as that and that Grandmother had at every Christmas, served ribbon hard candy in it.

The day ended as most estate settlements do, no one speaking and hatred for each other. As time passed they all became cordial with each other. The rift never died.
I timed my arrival at the sale during the last two hours of the last day. My favorite time, as items are 75% off. I poked around in the garage, picked up a couple of rusted hammer heads and then headed into the living room. A curved curio cabinet in the far corner caught my attention. Walking up to it I immediately chuckled at the sight. There coated in dust was the punch bowl sitting on the upside-down candy dish. The $20 price tag was nowhere near the price Uncle had paid to reclaim the ‘base’.

An estate sale clerk walked up beside me and informed me that there is no market for such items and if I wanted all the contents of the cabinet for $5 they were mine. 

I declined, paid for my rusted hammer heads and enjoyed a happy drive home.

Roy Richard September 2024