The Garage Sale

Garage sales are popular every season, but this January, the bargain and the discovery was extraordinary. When the snowbirds fly, anything is possible, but when garage sale signs start popping up in island neighborhoods, long-lost treasures and scary mysteries might be waiting alongside junk and bugs hiding in boxes.

During a sale a few years prior, it was a vintage Fender acoustic guitar. The blue six-string was resting under a thick covering of dust. It was missing a tuning key and all of the strings, but the 1970s guitar that sold for $25 was truly a treasure.

At the same island garage sale, a remarkable weather forecasting gadget was waiting. This was a hydrometer made in West Germany during the 1960s. The price for this handsome wall hanging device of hardwood, glass, and brass, which still perfectly measures humidity today, sold for $5.00.

After doing research on the weather and musical instruments, a Marco Beach Boy and Girl found that both of the now cherished items sold for hundreds of dollars when new.

The aforementioned adventure was during the cautious aftermath of Covid-19, but the most recent episode of garage sale adventures began on a blustery and cloudy afternoon.

When the chilling northwest wind howls from the direction of Louisiana and the land of New Orleans, the big breakers on the beach drive almost everyone from the shore and the golf courses, but life in the Ten Thousand Islands can offer much more excitement than outdoor escapades.

This was the windy setting for a garage sale safari when the big house at the end of the cul-de-sac began swarming with snowbirds, islanders, and dogs on leashes. Cars were parked up and down the street, and when the Marco Beach Boy and Girl found the entire driveway and some of the sidewalks lined with counters of bric-a-brac, toasters, and blenders, the gusting wind had already begun knocking small objects off the tables and onto the pavement.

It soon became obvious the items with greater interest were waiting in the garage or perhaps where the front door of the house was open for browsing guests. At the entrance to the garage, a showstopper was waiting with several onlookers gathered and gawking. Hanging from a hook on the ceiling was a moldy fishing net holding a captive mermaid who was ancient, shriveled, and mummified. The effect of the creature on display was disturbing. It was obviously a fake, but nonetheless haunting. There were a few gallows humor jokes and a few hesitant giggles. Suddenly, one of the visitors made the remark. “I’ve seen one of these at Ripley’s Believe it or Not. It’s a taxidermy of sorts. A fishtail sewn to a fake painted monkey with fangs and fingernails.”

The price for the take-home nightmare was $100. After a shiver from more than the chilling wind, the Marco Beach Boy and Girl began to search deeper into the huge garage. After a few minutes of browsing, it became clear that this garage sale was offering more than the usual household items. There was a military section. Several old bayonets were waiting on a table alongside two authentic-looking samurai swords. There were relic gas masks and large brass shelling casings, and Soviet-era medals with Cyrillic writing.

Almost everything in the military section was priced at only a few dollars, but both of the ornate samurai swords were $500 each. At the back of the garage was a table holding a strange-looking film projector. Alongside the projector was a single film box. The old film container was a square case of khaki fiberboard with protective corners on all sides. There were dark green straps with buckles holding the case closed and a frame with a label that had a scrawl of unintelligible writing.

The strange film projector and the Indiana Jones-looking khaki film container next to the bizarre artifacts on the military table were more than compelling. Especially as the price for the projector and the film was $25. With only a single glance at each other, the Marco Beach Boy and Girl were ready for a mystery. After finding the proprietor of the garage sale and forking over the money, the harried woman with the windblown hair could only offer. “I have no idea about any of this stuff. I am just running the sale. The man that owns the house now lives somewhere overseas.”

The Marco Beach Boy and Girl smiled. An unknown and hopefully intriguing entertainment for less than a meal at a restaurant - absolutely! 

When the projector was set up at home, the projection lamp came on and a smell of old warm wires or perhaps burning dust began creeping up from the machine. When the film container was unbuckled and open, another musty scent of timeworn mystery began to escape.

After the brittle film became a ribbon winding through the machine, and a blank wall became a makeshift movie screen, the turn of a switch on the strange projector started the film.

The old movie was a black-and-white travel log of a trip around the world. The film was showing an old four-engine propeller airplane, then London Bridge, then Paris and the Eiffel Tower. Next was the pyramids and Golden Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, followed by travel on a ship and an arrival in Asia. The bustling streets of 1940s Hong Kong were next, with more shipboard travel leading to Japan before World War 2.

When the film finished running through the heated projector, the smell of the film, the burning dust from the projector, and the images of a time gone by were indeed worth every penny in the latest adventure of The Beach Boy Chronicles.