Day 231 - The Fan

Image of Bridgetown Careenage by Loozrboy,
via Flickr.com

A few months before we arrived in Barbados (or maybe it was a few years before; it was so hard to tell how long ago something happened in the Caribbean), there had been a fire in one of the buildings near the Bridgetown Careenage. A number of shops catering to tourists had been located in the building. Many were wiped out. The few that weren't had to relocate.

Alex stumbled upon one of them during his wanderings looking for props or set materials. It was a Bajan version of Pier One Imports, with items from all over the world. It was also just a bit like the Doha souq in that there were no prices on the items. Making a purchase involved bargaining and Alex loved to bargain.

The fan

The item that caught Alex's eye was a very large Chinese-style fan, at least six feet across. When Alex asked how much it was, the woman working in the shop said it wasn't for sale. Alex pointed to another fan the same size but completely different colors and patterns. Where the first fan had a dark background, dark wood, and a beautiful design with a slightly silver tinge overall, the second had a light beige background, light wood, and bright, almost gaudy colors in the design. The first looked rich; the second looked cheap.

Alex asked how much the second one was. She gave a price which Alex then offered for the first fan. The clerk explained again that the first was not for sale because it was the owner's. Alex asked her to find out from the owner how much he wanted for it. The clerk seemed reluctant even to raise the subject because only the owner could make the decision to sell it, and he had made it clear he didn't want to.

Carol of the Canadian High Commission 

at Vernal Bear Day Brunch with the fan 

in the background

Whenever Alex was downtown, he would drop in and ask the clerk if the owner had decided to sell it yet. The answer each time was that the fan was not for sale. Some might have given up or decided it wasn't worth the time talking with the clerk again and again. But Alex is an extrovert who loves to talk with anyone, stranger or friend. And since he didn't have an office to go to for his daily conversations, a friendly clerk in a tourist store was a good match for him.

On a Saturday morning, Alex took me to shop to show me the fan. As we entered, Alex greeted the clerk and asked if the owner had decided to sell the fan yet. The clerk told us that the owner was in the shop that day, so Alex could ask him himself. And he did.

The owner explained that he did not want to sell the fan because it was very special to him. It was the only item in his shop at the Careenage that wasn't destroyed in the fire. The fan was a symbol of his survival after the fire. But Alex would not be dissuaded. He pointed out that at the right price, the owner would be able to buy something really nice to replace the fan. Still, the owner hesitated. Alex didn't bother comparing the price of the other fan, but he continued to encourage the owner to name a price.

Kimonos in the background of a Vernal Bear Day Brunch

in Barbados  with Valerie and her husband Tom, the 

Consul General, Ross, the Management Officer and his 

wife Carol

In the course of the conversation, we mentioned that we had three Japanese kimonos that we bought as curtain replacements to cover the French doors leading to the balcony from the living room, but we eventually just put them on our walls as decorative touches. We explained that the kimonos came from Ragstock, a recycled clothing store in Minneapolis, so they didn't cost as much as curtains and they are much more interesting than plain old curtains.  But Alex kept bringing the conversation back to the fan and his desire that the owner name his price.

Finally, he did - 200 Barbados dollars. Alex didn't give him time to reconsider. He pulled out the cash and handed it to the owner. Slightly chagrined, the owner took the fan off the wall, turned it around to show us the smoke damage on the back of the fan, closed it up and reluctantly handed it over to Alex. We agreed to provide him with a kimono if we ended back in Minneapolis before the end of my tour.