a door to door salesman knocks Christmas morning

a door to door salesman knocks Christmas morning

fiction
edward w pritchard

It was Christmas morning and the presents had been opened and the house cleaned and my wife and teenage daughter had gone to mall to shop for half price items at a super sale at one of the women's clothing stores. I had eaten a large meal last night and was dozing late Christmas morning sleeping it off. We would have another large meal later this afternoon.

There was a light knock at the side door of my house near where I was sleeping in my reclining chair. The knock was faint but persistent. Having nothing else to do I answered.

At my door was a small looking shabbily dressed man maybe from somewhere in Central America. His English was bad but he was selling a broken down pair of high top brown boots. The boots had a tear where the toe and sole joined. The boots were of a small size obviously much to small for me. The man repeated the price in English several times. Six fifty. He also said the word dollars with the price, I was able to decipher. The man spoke in a heavy Spanish accent but the price in English, $ 6.50,  was easy enough to understand. I said no to the sale and sent the salesman on his way.

A few minutes later very curious I went outside in a light snow to find the man. I didn't see the man selling the boots but I followed his footprints as he went from one of my neighbors houses to the next.  Across the sidewalk up the walk to the back door at each of the houses in our neighborhood the Spanish speaking salesman had walked trying to sell the boots.

Eventually I lost the trail of the man trying to sell the boots. I had walked a long way from my house following the foot steps. I never did find the small Hispanic man selling the boots or find out if the salesman  was walking door to door barefoot and carrying the ripped boots.
end