Drug Scales, Scandalous Pictures, Autographs, and Chainsaws

I have a soft spot in my heart for people who have reformed their lives. Not only do I believe they deserve a certain degree of respect for having the willpower to change their attitudes, alter their habits, and conquer their addictions, but there is something in me that makes me melt when a friendly person tells me about their former self without any inhibition whatsoever. For example, a woman came up to the pawn counter today and wanted to take a loan out on a digital camera she had. I took a look at the camera, offered her a price, and then she said she was also curious to see how much she could get for a small digital scale which she pulled from her purse and handed to me.

Without any shame, she happily told me that she had found the scale in her storage unit and that she had originally gotten it in the 1980s to use for selling cocaine. Even though there was no white residue on the scale itself, I had a strong desire to pull my hand back. Instead, I smiled and said "Oh, wow." She nodded and then told me how she had also found a picture of her smoking marijuana from a large bong, but that she didn't remember ever doing any other drugs than cocaine--but that she must have because that's what she was doing in the picture she'd found. Somehow my uncomfortable laugh urged her onward to tell me how she had also discovered an autographed picture of the actress Rita Hayworth in her storage unit along with other personal belongings that were "very interesting" (more drug paraphernalia, perhaps). At this point, she pulled an envelope of some sort from her purse and clutched it to her chest. She asked me if I thought such a picture would be worth much. I offered a distracted shrug and tried to continue finishing her transaction.

After completing her loan, the woman kindly thanked me and said she was going to look around the store for a little bit. That was fine with me. But when she said she was interested in putting a John Deere chainsaw on lay-a-way, I almost laughed aloud. Drug scales, scandalous pictures, autographs, and chainsaws . . . what an encounter. But through it all, there was a part of me that thought she was a cute woman. It's a little strange to find the awkwardness of her unrestricted disbursement of her former drug habits to be endearing, but I do.