Jewelled Harness

Chapter 85
"What do you see?" Simmy asked Sam.
"A big jewel on a napkin," Sam said.
Simmy blew her lips out in frustration. "A doorknob, don't make me put a space in between that word."
Sam laughed. "Oh, yes, a glass door, knob."
"Hey, find your own humour, mirror."
"Where did I buy this? It's been so long, I can't even remember anymore. Oh, Sam, I think my parents had these in their house on Queen Street."

"Didn't you get it at an auction sale or did you buy it at 'This Old House' in the exchange district?"
"Well, I purchased my real silver spoons at the auction!"
"You bid on a box of stuff that we hadn't seen what was in it and when somebody started bidding against you, you bid higher, in the excitement."
"It was fun to give them all a bit of entertainment. I got it for $2 less than my maximum bid. It wasn't like I went over budget."
"Everybody thought you were crazy," Sam recalled.
"Oh yes, everybody laughed at me!" Simmy grinned at the memory.
Remember that woman who came up to me with that determined look on her face... the Mom of the young couple from Sterling?"
"Woah, I'm having a hard time remembering back that far," Sam admitted.
"She wanted the harness bells for her horses. She and her husband had a ranch in the area and they would dress up the horses and take the old folks out on sleigh rides during Christmastime."
"Did you sell them to her?" Sam asked.
"Yes, that was so romantic... a sleigh ride with real sleigh bells... and bringing others joy? I didn't have a ranch," Simmy sighed.
"They weren't in the bucket you got for $2 though," Sam remarked.
"No, emboldened by that buy and getting some of my money back from the sale of those harness bells, I bid on a bucket that nobody wanted."
"The crowd really laughed then," Sam remembered. "Because you didn't go get that old bucket right away, the auctioneers' helper started adding a lot of stuff in there which just made everyone laugh harder."
"Actually," Simmy recalled, "the crowd was urging him to keep filling the the bucket. They were really into it."
"Why did you bid on that old fireplace ash bucket?"
"Are you kidding? They only wanted $2. Almost everything in that bucket was steel something. A few years ago you told me that you had found a use for almost everything in there except some rusty old steel pipe elbows. Everything was either practical or decorative... form and function... design bible rules."
"Are you sorry you sold those harness bells?" Sam asked.
"No, I purchased a completed, beautiful 'circle of bells' that Christmas. Hey, I just found a website with a bit of history about 'harness bells.'"
http://elsweddings.blogspot.com/