My phone rings at 6:30 AM on a Saturday morning. It’s my dear friend Bertrand asking if I want to go to a yard sale in Tiverton — 40 minutes from my house.
“They’ve got fishing gear,” he says.
Now, I don’t even fish. I’m feeling pooky, like I’ve got fake COVID. But I haven’t seen Bertrand in in months, so I say, “What time should I pick you up?”
On the ride over, we talked about his recent trip to China. He tells me about his Chinese colleague, Jeff— the only person he knows who loves work as much as he does. At 75-plus, Bertrand is still cranking.
“I love it,” he says.
I asked him about reflective out of the blue text he sent as work-adventure was winding down.
“Riding the ferry to HK, mainland China is fading away and with it so is our month-long adventure in this strange land of scant electronics and verbal communications! I’ve got mixed emotions — some sadness, frustration, emptiness… like coming back from a great vacation. It's suddenly over. HiHo!”
“It’ll never be the same,” he says. “I might not be back.”
We pull into the driveway of this quintessential New England property — a classic shingle-style home, a barn, and another outbuilding. Wow. There must be over 50 fishing poles neatly lined in the barn up for sale, and another 20 behind caution tape marked “Not for sale.” On the other side of the barn is the wife’s set up — trays and trinkets. Nothing of interest to us.
“Are you in the business?” I ask the man, who looks to be in his mid-70s. He’s got a nice motorboat parked under a shelter in the yard.
“Nope,” he says. “I retired and needed something to do, so I started making poles.” He starts gathering a few I’m going to buy — to use with the kids on our fishing outings.
Now Bertrand has his ear, and I strike up a conversation with the Mrs. I ask her, “Does it worry you that your husband has all these poles?”
She smiles and points to the other outbuilding, clearly packed with who-knows-what.
“That’s all mine,” she says with a twinkle in her eye. Then she asks me, “What do you collect?”
“Ideas,” I say.
I left with five poles and $110 lighter.