Keyman

I was looking for some kind of old steel knocker or rusted steel ring that I could put on a big outside door I was making. Driving back from a retreat in West Virginia, heading north on Route 522 through rural Pennsylvania, I stopped at antique shops along the way. In McConnellsburg a red, white, and blue Antiques Open flag on the main road pointed me down an alley to a little shed behind the house.

A little dog was at the door yapping and looking as ferocious as the little rug rat could but I braved it and went inside sending him hustling to the back room looking over his shoulder pissed at the intrusion. The shed was two small rooms, maybe 12 x 18 together, packed with the usual fare of old tools and bottles, knickknacks and collectables. I looked about briefly and went to the back room where the proprietor was planted in a big stuffed chair with the little bug eyed yapper in his lap and NASCAR on a small TV.

I told him what I sought and he didn't think he had anything like that. In this room one couldn't help but notice - there were hundreds of keys hanging everywhere. Hanging on the wall and rafters, on key chains in bunches or singles on a nail. I started thinking a big ole key might look cool on the door but nope the keys are not for sale. He bragged a bit on his large accumulation, "paid big money for some of 'em", as I admired some of the big ones.
Anyway, just another example of how you just don't know what you might stumble upon along the way.