The Nazi at the Flea Market…
--
The rain was pouring and Samuel Spring was not a happy camper. His Mother Ruth insisted on him taking her to the West Denlinha Flea Market. Sam didn’t like going to the place. It was located in a rough area and the people who were vendors and those who were shoppers were not people you would want to invite home for dinner.
There were booths all over the parking lot of the West Denlinha Mall with a few shops open inside. The Mall’s tenants were once the respected names in retail but they had all moved out and on. The remaining tenants were mostly pop up type shops that were there for a week and gone.
Sam pleaded with his Mom to shop at conventional stores but she liked to find bargains and there was a man who sold fine china and antiques that she enjoyed visiting. She had bought some beautiful art and crystal vases.
The rain was steady and Sam wouldn’t let his Mom get out till he retrieved an umbrella from the trunk. In the ten seconds it took to get the umbrella, he got soaked from head to toe. He held the door open for his Mother and escorted her from booth to booth. The fine china and antique guy had been given a store in the mall to use, so they worked their way to the front entrance and entered. The place looked deserted.
The air conditioning unit was blasting frigid cold air, which mixed with his very wet shoes, pants and shirt made Sam feel very uncomfortable. He hoped that he wouldn’t leave with pneumonia.
Sam and his Mom made their way to antique guy and when he saw her he was all smiles. ‘’Ruth, I have some new items. I mean they’re new because I just bought them but they have age on them. Come and sit, your son can leave us for a few minutes, and we can do business.’’ Sam told his Mom it sounded like a solid plan and after watching her sit down on a folding chair, he took a stroll down the mostly empty mall.
There was one store that caught his attention ‘’Army Surplus and Collectibles.’’ He wondered what kind of collectibles you would buy at a store selling army surplus so he went in to check it out.
There were some guys standing around who looked like they had just walked off the set of a seventies motorcycle club movie. They were telling jokes and laughing with a guy behind the counter. When Sam walked in they…