Whispers of Doom

I stopped at a flea market in Mississippi this afternoon, a 10 acre plot of land used for the last two decades to sell nick-knacks, knives, t-shirts, left-over garage sale items, tools, and pretty much anything some old fogey decided to dig out of the closet and sell. Earlier I had passed up the Gulfport outlet mall and the parking lot seemed to be 50% less than usual on a Sunday afternoon. The flea market seemed a little more crowded, and that felt ironic to me. Vendor wise, a good 30% of the tables were available and left unused. Taking in some sunshine and the unseasonably fine temperatures I browsed one table after another, admiring mantle pieces, antiques, resin dragons, crystal glassware, baseball caps, junk Chinese swords, jewelry, and a hoard of useless baubles. I didn't see many people with purchases, and the vendors looked bored or despondent, but the few that were actively buying were Latino women trying to clothe their six kids, or the local red-neck trying to buy up the camo fatigues. Deer season, after all, is just a few months away.

Personally, I was looking for useful survivalist tools like military ware, knives, ammo packs, etc. There were a good many vendors for these items too. While weighing the price of a battle pack and digging through the stack of utility suspender belts I overheard the vendor talking to one of the locals about the shortage of ammo. "Yeah, it's getting really bad. Everyone getting ready for Armageddon and martial law." The guy was trying to buy up all the guns, ammo, MRE's he could find. They discussed local layoff's, feeling overwhelmed with debt, and of course politics. While listening to the doom talk I found a canteen for $4, a military pack, and a razor sharp skinning knife for $5 bucks.

When it was my turn to purchase said items I asked him if more people had come in buying military items/hardware/clothes in the last few months. He said his business had triple from this time last year. I guess he didn't need a cash for canteen program to get sales stimulated. (Here's what I bought, all for $15 bucks!)