While doing some research for a book I am writing, I ‘met’ a very interesting person in the reference section of my local library.
Although this stranger looked like a seasoned globetrotter, there was something about him that looked out of place. He was in his mid thirties, tall and lanky. He had short dark blonde hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He was dressed in a white cotton long-sleeved shirt, brown leather waistcoat, brown cargo style pants and leather hiking boots.
So what’s wrong with that you may ask?
But that’s not what made me notice him. It was his leather back pack and wrist watch that caught my attention.
His back pack which looked like it must have been at least 100 years old was lying on the ground leaning against the bookshelf.
How did I know it was that old?
I work a lot with leather and it does not get a weathered and worn look like that from just one lifetime of travelling and handling. It was obviously an heirloom handed down through a few generations or a good find in an antique store. It also had some kind of insignia embossed on the front, but I was too far away to see any detail.
‘If that bag could talk and tell of the places it visited…’ I though by myself.
Then there was the wrist watch, nothing like I have ever seen. Actually there were two watches, one bigger than the other; they were attached to a wide leather strap on his left wrist. Two watches? I’ve seen two faced watches before in some high end watchmaker ads, but this looked almost antique.
By this time I was intrigued enough to want to walk over and introduce myself.
But what will I say?
He was paging through an Encyclopaedia. That could be a good icebreaker.
As I was walking towards him I saw that the Encyclopaedia was open at a section with the title ‘Paris’.
I walked up to him and was about to say: “Doing some research about France I see” when he looked up and straight at me with steel blue eyes, smiled and said:
“Nice to see you again.”