“I could use a couple of good oil drums,” said the man whiskered in steel wool.
“Good,” said C, and they walked over to where the oil drums were. They don’t want oil drums, thought C; this is just a preliminary, something to warm up on; he hopes to be able to get what he wants for almost nothing . . . maybe asking me to throw it in on a deal for something else he pretends to want.
The two out-of-state men turned the drums over several times by rolling them with the bottoms of their kangaroo shoes and pulling them up onto their tops by grabbing hold of the hand pumps. “Those are good pumps,” said C.
“The pumps don’t make no difference to us,” said the younger man. “All we want them for is to make a barbecue grill.”
That was good thinking, thought C, shrewd; these are real traders. “They’d be good for that,” he said.
“Probably be better to make it out of something else. These would be hard to cut.”
“True.”
“What do you think you might take for them anyway?”
“Probably something that was at least as big and weighed at least as much. Probably nothing that you could have brought with you—or I’d see it sticking out of your car from here.”
“That’s a rough deal,” said the younger man. “Very few things are that big and weigh that little.”
“Metal things, at least. Maybe a couple of kitchen tables.”
“Measured how?”
“Occupied space.”
“Then a table would be too small.”
“No, I meant two for one barrel.”
“That’s a rough deal.”
“Maybe a lot of small things, then,” said C.
“Is that the way you always trade?” asked the older man.
“Generally,” said C. “Sometimes for food. Sometimes for tobacco. Other things that I need.”
“Oh. Well, what’ll you trade that tool box for?”
They don’t want that either, thought C, but they’re getting ready. The three walked over to the tool box, an oak rectangular-shaped carry-all with a smooth, round dowel across the top, fastened to bell-shaped ends. Several of the horseshoe players went home and a couple more took their places. These replacements were not such good pitchers and Rabbit from clear inside the house could hear the occasional sproinginging of the shoes, on end, striking the stake and springing off.
“I don’t know,” said C. “Probably I wouldn’t take anything for it. They’re pretty hard to come by, and if I ever get together some tools, then I’ll need it.”
“I see,” said the old man, pulling out his pocket watch, holding it up to his ear and winding it. “Then there’s some of these things here that you won’t trade. Like that birdbath top, for instance.”
“Do you mean that sundial?”
“That thing over there”—he pointed—“that you put on top of birdbaths in the lawn. . . . Maybe it’s a manhole cover.”
“That’s a sundial,” said C, thinking, They don’t want that either, but they’re getting ready. Probably the next one. If I guess right, I can end up with everything they brought to trade. “It just doesn’t have the pointer.”
“Oh. Then you probably wouldn’t think of trading that either. In case you got a pointer.”
“I’d practically give that away; for something that weighed about as much.”
“Oh. But you probably wouldn’t want to trade the cider press.”
That’s it, thought C. “I might. I’d have a hard time getting another one, though, around here. They’re scarce and people hold on to ’em.”
They walked over to it, a devious distance of about twenty-five yards.
“But you might—for, say, three lawnmowers.”
“Well, most likely not. It depends, though.”
They began walking again, over toward the car, past many more pieces of things that these out-of-state men might have wanted. By the horseshoe pits they stopped and watched the game for a while, neither party speaking. That game was finished and another one begun with two other men. C watched as the challengers—obviously better—roared into a lead of six to zero and then threw a double ringer on top of a single one and won nine to zero . . . a skunk game. “Must be depressing,” said C.
“It’s only a game,” said the old man, and they walked over to their automobile.
“Missouri,” said C, indicating the license plates on the back bumper.
“That’s where the car’s from, at least,” said the younger of the two out-of-state men. The other lifted two partially broken lawnmowers out of the back seat and down onto the grass.
“Do they work?”
“No, they’re broken. But they could be fixed.”
“Maybe.”
“Well, what do you think?”
“No good,” said C. “That press is worth more than that. Twice as much. I thought you said you had three.”
“That’s a rough deal,” said the younger out-of-state man.
“True.”
“How about some water pipe?”
“Galvanized?”
“Sure.”
And the two began pulling pieces of pipe from the back-seat floor, ranging in size from several inches to five feet. After they had drained their car of this, making a pile in the grass as big as a man, on top they put two collapsible lawn chairs. They shut the door and looked at C.
“That’s good,” said C. “That makes up the difference. Almost.” I’ve got them, he thought; all this for a cider press.
“It should,” said the older man, took out his pocket watch, and handed it to him. A nice one with a train on the back.
“Good. I’ll even let you have that sundial too—if you want it.”
“Sure. I guess we’ll take that too.”
The three went over to the sundial, past the horseshoe players, and through a large group of town men sitting and talking in what little was left of the sunset, then back again toward the car, the dial between the two out-of-state men, carrying it like a stretcher, followed by three or four of the town men. They set it down and leaned it against the car.
“That’s almost as heavy as a manhole cover,” said C.
“Seems to be,” said the young man, and opened the trunk. Inside was a solid foot and a half of prize junk—old bottles, metal screws, scaffolding nails, doorknobs, pieces of chain, and children’s baseball equipment, tools and gears, pulleys and brazing rods. They placed the sundial on top of this and the back of the car sank another half-inch onto the overload springs. The two men looked at this trunkful of prize junk that C didn’t get, and looked at C, and then away.
“It should be,” said the old man. “It’s solid silver.” And he scraped away a tiny line of the tarnished metal with a penknife blade, revealing a thread of silver. “I’d heard that you had this; that Turner had got a hold of it and brought it up here to trade for some tractor part, not knowing that it came from the Stafford estate in Knocksville.”
The