By Chuck Palomino

Among the shuttered
businesses in downtown
Coquille there is a small
Oddity Shop where the bittersweet
air of the past
hangs with a thick but delicate
lightness. The small
front display window is
tastefully laid with curios of
forgotten memories that are
bookmarks in time. The
shop beckons to the curious,
the bored or the dreamers
with a nostalgic nature. The
bored and unimaginative
that pass through the door
do not linger. They lose
interest and exit quickly.
For those who can be
moved by matters of the
heart the narrow aisles and
shelves are populated with
more than just discarded
pieces of the past. Their true
value lies in what they represent,
pieces of a time gone
by. A visitor might saunter
through the narrow aisles
and see a vase, ceramic item
or picture print like one that
occupied a place in the
house of an aunt, mother or
grandparent long ago. A silver
table service that witnessed
holidays when family
get-togethers were the
rule not the exception. A
paper valentine with a faded
expression of friendship or
love, empty perfume bottles
that once sat on the dresser
of a clear eyed young girl
and held sweet fragrances
that beckoned to loves long
lost or forgotten.
In the journey of life the
abandoned pieces for sale
now seek their worth in
money but there can be no
price tag on the bittersweet
essence of a memory.
It makes one wonder.
How many of the possessions
that each of us hold
dear will someday, through
a circuitous route, find a
place on a shelf in a small
shop? How many stops they
will make as they go on
ahead of us? Who will stand
to gaze and wonder for a
moment before moving on?