Proof

I bribed myself last Friday. If I finished the “financials.xls” worksheets for my small business course, I could head down to the Stitches & Craft Show at the Caufield Racetrack. At the March show, I saw some lovely Japanese bag handles and I was hoping to find them again. (Advance planning for Back-Tack II.) This show however was a shadow of the March one, and there were no handles to be found. But on the top level, right at the back, was the Button Lady. She had one card left of the Boilproof Plastic Buttons I remembered from the March show, and a stash of war-time era Barbour linen thread, the ne plus ultra of Irish linen bookbinding thread. I didn’t have any cash on me, a necessary preventative measure for these kinds of outings. No, they didn’t take cards, informed one of her reluctant male helpers. Meekly, I approached the Button Lady to ask if she’d be at the Camberwell Market this coming weekend, and whether there was any chance she could put the thread and buttons aside until then. “No,” she said. “Take them.” I demurred, she insisted. “I know you’ll come back, so don’t fret. We need to trust people.”