I was browsing the back room at the auction house, looking for nothing in particular. I scanned the titles on the spines of some books packed haphazardly into boxes. I glanced at some reproduction prints lying against the wall on a high rack. I ignored an old vacuum cleaner still upright but dirty (does anybody ever clean those things?).
Then I came upon this old white refrigerator. Not the two-door models we see so often today at our local Home Depot or Lowes. This one practically dated itself with its single door. As I approached it, I noticed a handwritten note on white paper taped to the door just above the handle:
“Aunt Myrtle, Don’t Take Anything Out of Freezer We Have Enough in Freezer Upstairs. Thanx Love Shell”
Shell had drawn a cute smiley face on the sheet.
I realized that this was an upright freezer rather than a refrigerator, and it was not an anachronism. I’m sure there are plenty of people who still keep a freezer in the basement or some other place near the kitchen for their overflow meats and frozen foods.
What had been in this freezer that Aunt Myrtle would’ve taken upstairs? I opened the door and it, obviously, was empty – and very clean. Someone had taken the time to wipe it down before handing it off to the auction house to sell.
The freezer, though, was not as interesting to me as the story of Shell and Aunt Myrtle. Who were they? What was their story? Was Aunt Myrtle always bringing food up from the freezer when there was always plenty upstairs? Did her actions precipitate the need to put a note on the freezer to remind her?
I’d love to know.
My refrigerator (the two-door model) is cluttered with magnets from the trips and vacations I have taken over the years. From the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to Monet’s Paris to Shakespeare’s London to the Stax Museum in Memphis to Gettysbury’s battlefields – with some Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence art exhibits.
What do they say about who I am? What does your refrigerator mementoes say about you?
At the auction, I was just as intrigued that the note had been left on the freezer at all. I have never quite understood why people would leave such personal items on things they want sold at auction. I would’ve torn it off and thrown it in the trash – I hope my relatives would at least give my magnets to someone worthy.
It seems the auction house folks don’t just summarily throw your stuff away. I was at an auction recently when one of the assistants placed a box of trash – literally trash – on the table for bids. I asked incredulously why they didn’t just toss it. He indicated that they couldn’t; it was given to them as part of an estate. Nobody bid on it, and they likely threw the trash into the garbage anyway.
I’m always filled with questions about the items I find at auction because they are stand-ins for their owners. Sometimes, they can take on a life of their own, and the mystery surrounding them compels me to dig up their stories.
At one auction, I found a hankie and a card with a note from a soldier to his sister. Another time I found a soldier’s letter to his family buried under a camera lens in a leather pouch. I’m sure it had been there so long that they had forgotten about it.
I’m not sure how much the freezer sold for. Probably no more than $25, and I’m sure not over $100. I wonder what the buyer did with that note from Shell. My guess? Tossed it in the trash.
