We
really haven’t had many auctions in the neighborhood lately…
So to find a big sale going on at Gene and Betty’s was a real treat.
I arrived at the farm late, nearly an hour after the first bid, and about
two hours after the early snoopers hit the tables. My dad and brother were
already there, and dad was parked in a lawn chair at the back of the crowd. Up
front the show in ring number one was in full swing. “What’ll ya gimme for
a…looks like about a…whadja say Harold…1950’s toaster? All right,
that’s gotta start at six-dollars, who’ll gimme six dollars …I got a
dollar, now two.” I watched for a while, but soon moved to the sideshow, which
looked a little more inviting. While household appliances, clocks, and furniture
were changing hands on the big block, another auctioneer was roaming the
barnyard selling off old farm equipment and garden tools. As he finished in one
area, he sidestepped to a new pile, and the crowd of onlookers swayed loosely
with him and then filled in tight again. After a run of some smaller farm fare,
we were at length moved in front of the motherload: a 1950’s vintage Oliver
utility tractor, and old sleigh, a surrey, some saddles, a manure spreader…the
good stuff. As we approached the tractor, the crowd swelled artificially as the
house wear buyers from ring one left their folding chairs and joined us. Most
stood back, allowing the serious bidders to emerge from the front of the pack.
There is always this type of respect shown for the folks who buy stuff with bids
ending in the word “thousand”. The auctioneer started at six thousand…but
retreated to one thousand, where the bidders began to appear, and within a few
minutes, the bids were back at six thousand…and at six thousand, three
hundred; the auctioneer finally hollered “sold”. In matters of big-ticket
items, it is always the crowd’s prerogative to applaud the highest bidder,
which we did, even though we all felt that he probably had paid too much.
I
didn’t buy anything myself Saturday. I suppose I was content watching the
neighbors. A guy can learn a lot about folks by watching them at auction: whose
got money and who doesn’t, whose wife rules the roost, which bidders collect
weird stuff, and which guy has no idea at all what rubbish looks like or what
it’s supposed to cost. More importantly, you get a pretty clear picture of
what a fella’s life is all about when somebody’s holding up everything he
owns one piece at a time. The Bible
says that heaven is going to start out a bit like an auction, though we will
arrive there on grace alone, there comes a time when we’ll get a chance to
look at everything we’ve ever “owned” to on earth. One piece at a time our
lives will be held up for all to see. I’m collecting for my auction today, are
you?