Sorry, Mam - That Armchair's Nfs --- Meaning Not For Sale
I was darting around...tweaking some price tags on pieces I’d had for too long…
Focused on items in little demand...and a few I’d picked up for a song…
When a middle-aged lady entered my shop...a woman I’d worked with before...
Gave me a wave and then - rather than browsing – elected to stay by the door.
Stretching he neck - on her tiptoes...which short folk are sometimes required to do…
I would deduce her objective was checking out something obstructed from view.
After I’d finished with lowering prices, I sauntered to where she was standing,
Hoping to learn - with appropriate questions - what info the gal was demanding.
Knowing I’d sold her some things in the past, I venture a guess...”Don’t I know you?
Of course,” I replied, “I sold you a sofa! Is there something you’d like me to show you?”
“Matter of fact, there is,” she began, “there’s an armchair tucked back in the corner
That looks a bit rough, you know - run-of-the-mill - and unlike a Belter or Horner,
“Seems out of place in a really fine shop! I was wondering...how is it priced?”
If she’d only looked closer, she’d easily have spotted the tag that has always sufficed
For letting folks know that it - isn’t for sale. I never make customers guess…
And all of the items I don’t plan on selling are visibly marked --- N-F-S!
“Every antique - on display - is for sale...but that chair,” I said’s, “still being used.
Besides...it’s not anywhere close to ‘antique’, and - just as you said’s been abused!
“I’ve got some chairs on the floor that are gorgeous...refinished - reupholstered - reglued.”
“But that one goes great with the sofa you sold me,” she whined...in a way I felt rude...
“And to my way of thinking...everything sitting in anyone’s shop...is for sale…
But if that’s not the case, I’ll have to look elsewhere,” the woman continued to rail!
But what she didn’t know was that tired old chair - intentionally set out o’ sight
Happened to be what my father had sat in for forty-five years - every night!
And there...at his side...for all of those years...laid a series of wonderful dogs,
And if Dad couldn’t find ‘em a black-n’white movie, by nine they were both sawin’ logs!
And now...every day that I’m open for business...the last dog of all that he’d had
takes little naps by the side of that chair...and peacefully dreams of my dad.
No doubt about it...that chair’s Not For Sale. As long as I’m livin’, it’s stayin’ right there,
‘Cause when the time comes, I’ll be gettin’ a puppy, and he’ll take his naps by that chair!”
|