As I mentioned in my previous post, Percy picked me up in Richmond after I spent the morning sidewalk counseling. We went from Richmond to Lawrenceville, which is essentially in the middle of nowhere. One of Percy's friends from YouthWorks (a program for which Percy and I have both worked) is on a clogging team, and they were performing at a college there.
After a lovely ride to the soundtrack of bluegrass Disney (imagine "Circle of Life" meets "Let the Circle Be Unbroken," with a lot of banjo), we arrived in Lawrenceville a good hour before Percy's friend. So he and I explored the town. All of it, on foot, in one hour.
The first shop we walked into promised "Something for everyone." I spent most of my time in the store thinking how wrong that promise was. The entire store filled two large rooms -- and by filled, I mean that every inch of the two rooms was covered with stuff. It was all second-hand, and normally I am a fan of thrift shopping. But the chaos of the organization (again, just piles), combined with the obvious age of some products (metal tubes of toothpaste? TVs that are older than me!), added to the... eclectic taste in product (large plastic lobsters, a massage machine that looked like a space ship, furry car seat-covers...) made me hesitant to touch anything. Percy and I spent quite a while wandering, gawking, laughing...
And then I found what was for me. In the midst of the chaos, I pointed at a picture and cried: "I found Jesus!" And He was there... also, there was a picture of Him.
When we were leaving the store, something else happened to make me a fan of this store. The owner stepped out to talk to us. Addressing Percy, he handed him a flyer and said, "Next time you come back, your wife will say that you should go to..." And he looked at me to finish the sentence. So apparently Percy and I are married. Um. Yeah....
We wandered around into a second-hand boutique and an apple festival that was more of a yard sale. Then we met up with Percy's friend and his fiancee for lunch, where Percy and I were again told that we were a couple. After this incident, he started telling everyone about his male roommates.
We left the restaurant and Percy's friend pulled a ukulele from his trunk, and an Irish whistle. They proceeded to play the instruments on the street while singing and dancing, until a lady came out of a store to ask if this was a preview for the show tonight. Delighted, Percy's friend said yes.
We walked the town again with Percy's friend and his fiancee. Percy and I had seen a sign for an estate sale, but I had very strong feelings about not going to it. However, when the third person of the day told me that we should go to the estate sale, I decided that it was a sign from God and we wandered over. An old building was set up very nicely as a house. Except for the random stuffed (i.e. taxidermied) bird on a stick, it wasn't morbid, and we had a good time window shopping. Percy even found a kitchen table to bring home.
We decided to bring his car back to see if the table would fit. The woman working the sale gave four random strangers her home and cell phone numbers in case she wasn't there when we got back. She told Percy that he could even take it home and send her a check in the mail. I couldn't believe the amount of trust that still exists in some parts of the world.
Luckily, after much maneuvering, we managed to fit a kitchen table and four chairs into the back of Percy's car. We left the estate sale and finally got down to the business of watching clogging.
In case you (like me until very recently) have no idea what clogging is, think contra dancing (square dancing + ballroom) meets tap dancing, and you are very close. The Celtibillies (exactly what they sound like) played, and the Green Grass Cloggers and a group of Irish dancers danced, and good times were had by all. I was highly impressed and had a blast -- plus, we had been through the town so many times that day that townspeople greeted us like friends.
After the show, Percy and I hopped back into his car and his friend and the fiancee followed us back to the 'burg. Coming from the middle of nowhere, we took mostly back roads on the venture and ended up coming at town from a new direction. The road and stars were gorgeous and I was surprised by the fact that it worked and we made it back! Sometimes, I'm just a little too much of a skeptic.
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