Treasure: Treasure: Abandoned Moment
Amateur archaeologist Mark Brown presents his latest discoveries.
Dig site: The Kansas State Fair, an annual event in Hutchinson, Kansas, just North of the Love Meter, about fifteen feet East of a strength-testing game where players punch a mechanical sensor with all they’ve got, trying to beat their buddies’ high scores.
Retail value: Three dollars.
Appeal: Why didn’t this couple wait for their portraits to develop, I wonder. Two and half minutes, the machine’s advertised processing time, is hardly a wait for a record of a day of Tilt-A-Whirl, livestock exhibitions, and funnel cakes under a shady tree with your sweetheart. Did they go at it in the photo booth, only to be whisked away by security? It seems impossible that two people might simply forget why they’re staring at a small chute, waiting for something to happen. Did he propose to her while she tapped impatiently on the aluminum wall of the booth? Were they in the pick-up truck, bee-lined for Vegas, by the time I found their captured visages?
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Holy Hell! That¹s my Pa! And that gal in the swimmun suit was lyin on her back bleedin¹ from her head after Ma done tore that curtain off th¹ booth. Ma was madder than a wet goat, I¹ll tell ya. She took the sharp stick out my candied apple and hollered, ³Dead bitch! Ya better git on back to Geary where your kind blongs, whorin¹ and cheatin¹.² The po-lice come and took Ma after she used that apple stick on that Ho¹s head. Pa just cried and cried…and he¹s still drinkin….