Photo and text by Corey Amaro
We found many old, wonderful, brocante things yesterday. We ran out of room in the van to stuff in another ribbon let alone the carved piece of gilded wood, nor did we have the energy to walk two inches let alone a couple of miles to take it to the van…. we started at five in the morning and we sat down it was seven in the evening.
Freshly cut corn fields can scratch your legs if you walk around in them with shorts on, and not long pants.
Thankfully it wasn't hot yesterday. In fact it was borderline chilly. I had on an over sized tunic, a long sleeved shirt, a sweater, a scarf, French Husband's long shorts underneath my tunic (because when you are cold you will wear anything… for example many people wore blankets.) a hat and hiking shoes. I felt like a real Queen of the Brocante! Let me tell you no one dresses to impress when they sleep in the back of a van, and hike around in freshly chopped corn fields… I was good in my skin as they say in France. That is until a dealer who was flirting up my French Husband asked if I was his Mother.
If it hadn't been the end of the day I might have thought of a good comeback. But unfortunately I looked like the Queen of Bag Ladies with my scratched up legs, guy shorts that kept falling to my knees, sun burnt lips, and dirt covered clothes from carrying a stone fountain.
French Husband said, "Oh no this is my wife."
In my head I calculated, then said to French Husband, "If she thinks you are 40, because you could pass for forty, and I look 60ish, and if I had a child when I was twenty, then yes I could be your mother. Or if she thought I was fifty some, which I am, and she thought you were 30 some, and if I had you when I was 20 well then I could still be your mother."
French Husband shook his head, "Or she is a blind bat, rude, and not worth listening too."
"One thing is certain when a woman of my stature marries a handsome man, one that others find more attractive than she is, well than the woman needs to be one very strong character. I'll go with that. Strong character." I offered confidently, but bruised.
French Husband hugged me, and as he did I winked at the dealer.
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