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?Norm glanced at his younger friend, who was tall and wiry. “Thanks, Cliff.”
?Cliff gave a nod and looked at me.
?“Hey, you’re that writer guy,” he reported.
?“Guilty as charged,” I chuckled.
?“You’d know who he is if you’d read his badge,” Norm stated, and gave a hearty laugh. “He’s also going to give a lecture on Sherlock Holmes tonight.”
?I pointed at the expertly crafted cameos, which bore price tags starting at about a hundred dollars.
?“These are amazing. You can really see the difference between these and the cheaper ones.”
?“I hope so,” Norm bragged. “Those are the ones I crafted.”
?“Yeah,” Cliff added. “He even does it here at the booth. Which means, I have to be the salesman.”
?“Really?”
?“It’s more of a hobby, I guess,” Norm expounded. “But doing it here at the booth, people come by just to watch.”
?“Yeah, he’s really good,” Cliff praised.
?Norm shrugged. “I just really like making ‘em.”
?“Your workmanship is outstanding,” I complimented, and bent forward to take a closer look at the display.
?“Thanks. Please let other people know.” He gave a knowing smile. “You know, the paying customers.”
?He again gave his hearty laugh, and Cliff smiled as well. Then Cliff reached into the back pocket of his jeans, pulled out a business card, and offered it to me.
?I smiled and took it.
?Then I peered down at an open bin by his feet. To my surprise, on the top of several display cases lay a Calabash pipe, very similar to the one in my pocket.
?“What’s that?” I asked, pointing to it.
?“What?” Norm said and looked to the bin, adjusting his glasses as he did.
?I picked up the Calabash, at the same time I pulled my recent acquisition from my pocket.
?“That doesn’t look like the sort of thing you’d carry,” I said, as I held a pipe in each hand and turned them over. They appeared identical.
?“My idea,” Cliff said. “I keep telling him you gotta expand.”
?“I figured why not try it?” Norm shrugged.
?“How much does it run?”
?“About two hundred,” Cliff said.
?A lot cheaper than John Stewart, I thought to myself.
?“Good to know,” I said, and replaced the pipe, making sure I took the one with the red “X” on the bottom, which I slipped back into my jacket pocket.
?“Well, we only have a few,” Cliff stressed.
?“He’s right. Let me know if you’re interested in owning a second one—I mean, since you already got that one.”
