Gems

This might look more like a brain than the quartz rock I think it is. I could go fire up the Gimp editor (poor man's Photoshop), but the learning curve is steep. I did try to get a dark background to make the rock stand out, and it certainly does that. But the quartz crystals are all washed out with too much flash.

I was just getting back to the house after a two mile walk, and there were five young people on the yard across from mine. Four brothers and one sister. I know that two kids live there, I suspect the other three are what Jim calls "the ex's".

They shouted something at me, and I crossed the street to see what was happening. One little guy, about five years old, was holding what looked like a rock. I heard "Mister, you want to buy a ...". Passing traffic drowned the end of the sentence. I asked "You want to sell me a rock? I have a whole back yard full of them."

"No, it's a crystal" the boy explained.

"Let me see that." I examined the rock, it looked much like one I could find in my back yard, but it would take a while. I admired these kids' enthusiasm. "How much do you want for it?" I asked, reaching for my wallet.

"Ten bucks" said the little entrepreneur. My admiration started to dim, and my wallet reversed direction.

"Ten bucks?" I asked, "Will you take one?"

"Sure!" This kid was too easy. I found a one in my wallet, handed it to him, and headed home. I noticed that the older sister (maybe ten) had moved closer during the exchange, no doubt watching out for her young brothers.

I got home and put the rock on the kitchen table (that's the dark background in the picture). This was about the most interesting part of my day thus far, so I decided it may be a musing topic, picked up the camera and went back to get a shot of the kids.

Here they are. The sister doesn't like pictures, so she shied away. I hadn't noticed that they had actually set up the rocks on newspaper for presentation. I thanked them and as I walked away, I could hear them shout at cars passing by, so I guess they were targeting all passers by.
And that was that. I took a picture of the rock, and now it rests with the thousands of others in the back yard. To the kids, it was more than just any rock. It is a crystal! The way the mid day sun hit those quartz flecks, the way they sparkled, it was no ordinary rock. It has value. Not the sort of value that will make them hang onto the rocks forever; maybe instead, the value was that they could sell them and make money for the next trip to the candy store. I just admired those darned kids, and had a little touch of nostalgia.

A long time ago, when I was the size of these kids, there was a major project to repair the bridge next to my parents house. It's the same bridge that is now closed for replacement for the next ten months and my dad watches over the job from his house. He is only allowed to walk across the bridge with special permission from one of the engineers, and then only if he wears a helmet and a red vest.

The workers at that other project when I was a kid weren't so nervous about liability. We climbed all over the bridge with the work going on. And at break time, the workers would hand us (myself, my brother, and a neighbor Joel) some money and have us go to Fred Moore's country store or Johnson's garage to buy them sodas. And they would let us use some of the money for candy! Every day while they worked there, I looked forward to break time to run off and get some candy at the store.

Now, hours later, CSNY 's Teach your children lyrics are still running through my head. I didn't teach them anything,. I'll bet their father taught them to be careful out there selling things to strangers. I wish these kids all the best. I'm going to set up a competing rock stand one day, but hopefuly selling gems of wisdom. Engineering and technology. Writing, photography, and photoshop ... not so much.

Joe Wronski November 21, 2010