There was a pin drop of sound that came into his ears the minute he twisted a small knob on a hand-held device. He twisted three times before he could place it on a table among the other items, which had no relation with this object. On the other side stood a stand that displayed accessories. An array of products shelved in this movable stand, from arm bracelets to necklaces and gloves. All which had to be sold. This object he placed on the table in front of him was a time-piece, the shape and form were likened to something a dried-up antique rusted by age. But still showing strong symmetric shapes, buttons, and knobs.
The market was still empty as he looked to pay more attention to his surroundings. In the early hours, around 6 pm, the merchant observed the close neighboring merchants placing items and sorting the arrangement of different products into different places. He thought about getting started as well. He moved the antique more to the front, ahead from the other items on the table, resulting in receiving some attention from the rising sun.
From his bag in the corner of the tent, he took out some statues, well-polished gold items. He bundled them in his hands carefully while walking towards the selling table. There, stood a man, observing the various items on the table. This man did not concern himself to look elsewhere inside the tent. The man’s hands moved to point towards items after items, then gave a thought. Then continued again, until the merchant arrived at the table, arranging the golden statues in an orderly fashion.
The merchants pointed out every item until he stopped by the time-piece. “All these are for 1Kar, except for these statues and that old thing.”
The man kept his eyes on the table, muttering in silence as his hands wandered on the items. At some point, he picked one item, showed it to the sun, and placed it gently on the table. The merchant waited, he wanted to say something but decided to attend to the things on the other stand next to him instead. The man accidentally knocked the time-piece which screamed as an empty barrel. The merchant was quickly alerted and looked to the table.
“Do you need that Mr?” the merchant asked. The man kept his silence, he stopped looking down on the table and looked at the man.
“What is this thing?”
“A time-piece, a bit old but comes with a complex mechanism to baffle the people of today,” the merchant began to advertise the object, then attempted to pick it up, the merchant rushed to take hold of it.
“An old thing like that, how can you sell it?” The man asked.
“It's not old, this is better than the sun itself. We do not need to look for time in the sun, this piece does wonders.”
“What kind of wonders does it do?” the man asked.
“I wished I could show you, but I don’t have the skill to define it.”
“You can take it to the workshops around the city, I am sure they can do something about it.”
The merchant objected. The man himself stood surprised, he didn’t expect. “No, no, I don’t think so.”
“This, you see this?” the merchant pointed to the statues.
“These are a thousand years old, but they look like they were made fifty years ago. But this time-piece is a hundred thousand years old, but looks like a five thousand years old thing.”
The man stood perplexed, looked further into the item,
“How do you know it is that old? even these statues, anyone could make things look old, with enough skill.”
The merchant grew irritated, shook his head in disagreement, but a thought came to his head. From his bag in the corner, He took out a similar time-piece which is well polished. He then showed it with its brass surface against the light. He confidently placed it in front of the man next to the old one. Then looked at the man, with the eyes of a salesman.
“350Kar, take it or leave it. Once you figure out what it does, you will be surprised what it can do for you and the world around,”
The man took a deep breath, he appeared to give it some thought, then glazed his hand over the polished piece.
the merchant suggested. “Take the old thing for thirty Kar.”
“Why the old thing, not this one?” The man replied.
“It's my advice, once you get to your house, shut the door behind you, and turn this knob seven times until you feel a short vibration inside, then you will see.”
The man took another deep breath, still didn’t believe the merchant. He didn’t trust this whole idea of antique being sold with its functions.
“I don’t think I can buy it, maybe another time.” The man quickly trotted away as the merchant looked on.
“20Kar, 10Kar?” The merchant insisted a little more, but the man kept going before mixing into the crowd full of sellers, discussing prices and values of items before buying.
On the table, he grabbed the old object, fetched a loose cloth, and wrapped the item. And gently placed it inside the bag along with the cleaned antique clock. At a moment he breathes, to feel relaxed. A chair lay too far from him, which he threw his arm to grab, then made himself comfortable facing the selling table. He waited for customers, as long as he could while looking for signs of time in the movements of the sun. As it was a bright day, reading the hours was common among the people of this time. Once the sun stood above one's head, it signaled midday. For him, it was still early morning before mid-morning. He anticipated the large sum of people that would come and made calculations of how much he would probably make on the day. To his amazement, the hours of the early morning had passed, people filled the marketplace, as he expected. And they would have been enough to fill his pocket.
But he noticed that no one took a chance to have a look at his stand, at the things he sold. He became worried, scratching his beards in frustration. At this time, the heat will keep increasing, fortunately the tent will keep him slightly cool. For precautions, he wrapped a turban around his head.
