The Wheels Market

It was the 16th of June, so, like every year, the town of Linsk celebrated its annual festival. And, also like every year, there was the Wheels Market at an openspace downtown. It had five floors, up and down which hundreds of visitors fluttered by means of ferris-wheels, even though there were two staircases at each edge of the long corridors. These more traditional –and practical– options were mostly used by the stand owners and other workers of the market. Another particularity of the most visited market of the region of Lightland, were the sun never set, was the huge pile of useless artefacts at the rear of the building. Every time an object was broken or found unfit in any of the market stands, someone just let it fall on the ever-growing pile in the street surrounded by an orange safety line.

The Wheels Market had a front and a back entrance and was surrounded by a metal fence that was almost as high as the first floor. That was how she got in, jumping over it on the back side and precisely landing on the right spot between the staircase and the pile of junk when the coast was clear. Then, she naturally walked up the few stairs and went into the first floor corridor. There were stands at both sides and they offered the most varied collection of products. From latest technology cooking pots and pans to the classic –and creepy– garden gnomes, and from –ugly– notebooks and postcards made with recycled paper to old –stinky–smoking pipes. She walked among the other curious visitors, trying to make a decision and waiting for the right moment to take action. She saw couples with their children, some lonely old men, tourist groups taking pictures of everything… she even spotted one photographing dusty cobwebs on once-golden picture frames. And then, she suddenly saw it. That was her chance! A boy and a girl in their twenties were asking the new salesman to show them a specific pair of grass hockey shoes they had seen on that stand the day before. It looked like it would take him ages to find it, since he obviously had no idea what they were talking about or even if it was still for sale, but he was going to look for it in the storage room, if they just gave him a minute... When he turned, she quickly grabbed something near her, hid it in her jacket, casually walked to the opposite stairs and, from there, jumped on the old matress that was lying on top of the chaotic pile of broken jars, scratched CDs, stained pants and an endless list of other unconnected –and maybe not so useless after all– items. She sat there in the darkness for a while and explored her prize. She was satisfied.

They came down the stairs. Without rush. “Your hair is almost as long as it used to be! So good to see you again!” the boy said to her. “You too. Oh, wow! Are you never gonna stop wearing that track jacket? I think you were wearing it last time I saw you.” She said in return. “Well, it’s comfortable, and not everyone’s as rich as you are!” Was his answer. “Here, happy birthday.” He laughed. “What am I gonna do with a knee pad?” The other girl also laughed –although she was actually laughing at him and not the present–, but she replied with her most serious voice, as though she actually believed in the life lesson she had prepared to give her friend, after they hadn’t seen each other for almost a year. “Well, life is a bitch like that sometimes and gives you things you don't need. But we gotta stand up for ourselves and take what we’re given. We may get surprises we don’t like, but, if you are creative enough” and, while she said this, she looked at the other girl, as if she was the perfect example of creativity “you’ll learn from everything you experience and you’ll find a use for that” she said, pointing at the colourful knee pad. “Even if it’s not a good use, you’ll make some use of it.” They were sitting on the pavement outside the back entrance to the Wheel Market by then, and there they stayed for a bit longer, laughing and picking on each other just like they used to do when they were kids, before all the madness, bitter goodbyes and bad things they just wanted to forget about. Some minutes later, they saw that the security guard that had chased the boy the day before was coming back and they ran into a dark alley and scattered in different directions.