We discovered our Treasure Road in 1971 and have been wandering it ever since.
The mapping began on a clear summer day in mid June. We were fairly new to being coupled, rather sparse in the wallet, and full of hope, dreams, and of course plans.
The road began that morning when we loaded our 51 Plymouth with a couple of bags of clothes, sandwiches, chips and a couple bottles of pop. In our pockets were about 120 dollars, (four months of savings). In the glove box we placed an envelop containing 32 dollars. That was the amount our change jar, after several months of accumulation, had been transformed into.
Now, I do not remember much about how the 120 dollars disappeared. Food, lodging, a fun park at Old Orchard all slurped it up a whole lot faster than we were able to save it. That was OK though, it was what we had put it aside for, and the fun was worth all of it. I do remember the 32 dollars demise though with great clarity. It too had a purpose, one we knew about and another we were unaware of till much later.
It was Saturday and we decided it was time to part with the 32 dollars with a purpose. We pointed the beast, that is what we called the 51 Plymouth, toward a rural Maine road away from the coast. In the back seat was a red plaid metal cylinder, our Skotch Kooler. It held a days supply of food and snacks.
We disembarked from the beast and walked over to get a closer look. The wood was solid, the finish frayed but we knew it was something we could work with. As we admired the piece an old fella limped over and asked, in his Maine country accent, "Can I help ya with something"?? After a few minutes of banter about the weather, the beauty of his homestead, and the great selection of his merchandise my Mister inquired about the table we were secretly pining for. He said it came from a "city house" back along the coast, Portland he thought, or perhaps Brewster, "can't remember for certain", is how he ended the memory of acquisition. In truth me and Mister care little about the back story of the piece. Such appreciation of history was something we acquired a taste for later in life. For now it was enough to want the piece for its function within a plan we had for our home.
How much are you asking, one of us said. Seventy five dollars was the response. My crest fell and I felt a squeeze on my hand. I thought to myself we will be saving change forever. All I said was Oh, that is more than we have. At that time in life I had yet to learn about horse trading, to me a price asked was the price. The Mister in our family was in much the same boat, but, he did speak up.
"Well Em, (by now we new the man's name), that is more than double what we can afford. Would you be willing to 32 dollars to hold it ? We will drive back up here in two months with the rest and pick it up ??"
The reply surprised me. Em said he would take the 32 and we could take the table, no need to drive all the way back to Maine just to make payment, just put it in the mail, postal money order for the balance. With that he yelled for his son to tie it to the beast's roof.
We took our table home, fixed its scars and over the years our family has made new ones on it that we call our own.
About six weeks later we mailed the money order and for over forty years we have enjoyed the table and continued to do business with first Em, and then his son Lucas.
Our Treasure Road has taken many twists and turns since that long ago day, but that is where it began, where we discovered it. Even though, in truth, at that moment in time, we still did not know it existed.
Our shop can be seen here - https://www.etsy.com/shop/hometowngeneralstore?ref=si_shop
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