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• Classic-Fiction

‘Yeah, go right ahead,’ Olen said when I asked if we could film him. ‘Where are you folks from?’

‘I’m from Scotland.’

‘Really? Well, welcome to the United States.’

‘Oh, I live in New York, but I’m from Scotland.’

‘You’ll find a variety of interesting stuff along old Route 66 and quite a bit of history here.’

While I perused the items on his stall, Olen chatted away, recommending a visit to Baxter Springs, back across the state border in Kansas.

‘What’s a boot hunter knife?’ I asked, holding up a knife in a box.

‘It’s styled after the old riverboat gambler knives. It’s still mint in the box. The gamblers carried that style of knife as they played cards on the riverboats along the Mississippi.’

‘What’s that?’ I pointed at a black dagger with a Gothic inscription.

‘That is an old German piece. I acquired a small collection of German military memorabilia from an elderly gentleman in Joplin, who brought them back from Germany during the war. This is a type of fraternal piece. We haven’t identified it exactly yet.’

‘Can I see?’

‘Absolutely.’

Picking up the dagger, I shuddered as I noticed a Nazi flag draped over the front of the man’s stall.

‘And this old banner was from the same gentleman.’ Olen held up an eighteen-inch pendant. It looked like some kind of fraternal medallion on a ribbon. About the size of the palm of a hand, it had enamel inserts with various signs and insignia. The stallholder turned it over and there was a swastika on the back.

‘Oh my God.’

‘He liberated this banner from a building in Germany during World War Two. I’ve had some difficulty translating it, but loosely translated it was something that was presented to the government by this particular guard corps that protected a castle in Germany, and it celebrates the hundredth anniversary of that military unit.’

‘Yeah.’ I was starting to recoil from the items on Olen’s stall.

‘I don’t … I don’t really keep this kind of stuff,’ he said. ‘I do buy and sell and trade it when I find it, but I’m not really a big fan of it.’

‘No, I’m not a fan of it myself.’

‘Due to the history behind it. But I’ve always picked up anything unusual or unique. Of course, you may not wanna film that particular bumper sticker.’

I looked at the sticker and read it out loud: ‘Obama Sucks’. Then I looked at Olen.

‘It does kind of express the sentiments of a good deal of the people in this country at this time,’ he said.

There was another bumper sticker on the stall: ‘Speak To Me In English’, it said. Now I knew exactly where he was coming from, but I didn’t react to it.

‘I like Obama,’ I said. ‘I think he’s great.’

‘Well, I know a lot of people from other countries think he’s absolutely wonderful.’

‘What about the killing of Osama bin Laden?’

‘He’s taking full credit for that, but one thing that a lot of folks don’t realise is that the interrogation techniques that they started using under the previous President were responsible for gaining the intelligence that led to his ultimate capture. And Obama wanted to abolish those techniques, calling them harsh and cruel.’

‘What? Torture? You think torture’s okay?’

‘Well, no, I don’t agree that torture’s okay, but if someone’s gonna kill a large group of people, I think you get the information out of ’em however you have to in order to prevent the death of many.’

I wasn’t convinced.

‘He’s not greatly liked at this point, but his popularity did take a bump for Osama. We’ll see.’

‘I think you’re jealous. I think if the Republicans had done it, you’d be dancing in the street.’

‘Absolutely not. I’m an independent. I don’t follow the Republican agenda.’

‘Were you a George W kinda guy?’

‘No, no.’

‘Are you a libertarian?’

‘Yes. I would say you’d have to lock me into the libertarian category.’

‘Small government and no taxes?’

‘Or low taxes, at least. I don’t think we can get by without taxes, because we definitely need the services, but we’re taxed too much.’

‘Yeah. Everybody’s taxed too much.’

‘I would have to agree.’

‘Well, thanks for your time. Thanks for allowing me to rumble through your stuff.’

‘I don