the Dragon Earrings

I approached the most colorful stall. The marketplace was full of them, at least fifty tented tables side by side. They all sold the same things; fake diamond earrings, bracelets with evil eyes, gold painted necklace charms with Arabic prayer writings, coins and keys colored and artificially decayed to give an antique impression, cheap rubber wristwatches, paper daisy crowns, wind up toys Made in China. The sly sellers shouted in unison "Everything only 10 liras! Will never find better quality for so cheap anywhere else!" with their thick Turkish accents. The sentence most probably memorized, I doubted they knew only a handful of English words anyway. As I went past each, getting caught in their radar, one by one I became the subject of their shouts "Madam! You pay 7. We have a deal?" when I didn't even pay as much as a glance their way, they immediately decreased the price "5 for you, very special lady. Where are you from?" as if they really cared. As I walked to that one stall that actually caught my attention, once or twice I stopped to adore -from afar- the cats under and over the tables. Even though few attempted to brush against my legs, I shooed them away, their fur matted with dirt and dust.
The owner of the stall was an elderly woman, unlike the young men luring the dumbfounded and dazzled tourists with their liveliness. She sat in silence, sweeping the nonexistent
dust off her merchandise. The bracelets she sold were hand knit, the antique coins and keys were authentic, the watches she sold were pocket watches instead of ugly rubber. I was especially interested in her earring racks. One for silver earrings, the other copper. I personally adored eccentric earrings rather than mundane, jeweled earrings. These were the shapes of fairies and goblins, silverware and keys, sparrows and eagles, axes and anchors. I was attracted by a single pair of dragon earrings in particular. Not the sort of dragons with talons and bat like wings I saw in books and movies. They were snakelike and long (and I did for a second consider their likeliness to get tangled in my hair) with rough scales running on their backs like spines, their faces almost doglike and their whiskers tingling in the 'wind'. No feet. I big nose with big nostrils. I felt though if this type of dragon could really exist, they'd have wet noses, like a cats.
"Very pretty creatures aren't they?" the old woman spoke perfect English "So elegant and mystical.". I nodded and smiled "Though I doubt we'd want them to actually exist." I speculated. She tut-tutted, her tongue hitting her palate violently. "Who said! Oh how I hate those movies, portraying them as beasts, as antagonists." I gave her another smile "Right. It is a pity really." I liked old people really, their pointless and funny rantings. For all I knew, the only problem she had in this world was if dragons were good or evil. I anticipated the day of when I'd be old, wishing I could just skip middle age and become old right after being young, with no transition era. After this small talk we made, I knew that buying the earrings had become inevitable. "How much for them?" I held one up to my ear, estimating how they would look if I wore them, on the stained little mirror with the plastic frame on the corner of the table. "My gift." I was about to object when she shooed me away. I knew to turn her gift down would be only disrespectful. "Thank you." I bent my head in respect, only to remember later that it wasn't a Turkish custom to do so.

***

At sundown, the old lady packed her merchandise in the worn cloth satchel. It was heavy, but she was not the withered old woman as in her appearance, she was strong. The young man next stall told her not to worry with the table, he would fold it away. She went to the bus stop, and five minutes later was picked up by one. After a short ride, she was finally in her own neighborhood, where she got off. She stopped by the butcher to get raw meat. The butcher knew her well and gave her the excess meat of the day for free. She thanked him and secretly slipped an evil eye from her satchel in his pocket, wished him a good evening and left. Next was the two flight journey to her apartment floor. She climbed each step with a great swiftness for an old lady her age. When she came to the front door, she had trouble finding the door keys, buried deep in her bag. On the other side of the door was an apprehensive yelping and a pounding (thump-thump!) against the door, like a dog excited for it's owners arrival. As she opened the door, she blocked any exit that the creature might flee, with her body. "Be calm Ejder!" she patted the dragons head "Mommy's home and she brought you food. Now be a good boy and stay still."