And now, another installment of..."AS THE FLEA MARKET TURNS..."

It was an orphan bottom. Allow me to explain. It was the bottom half of a 1950's era 127 Brownie, still with a roll of film sitting in it, about halfway wound. Heeding some advice I got earlier in the week, I rolled up the film and approached the seller. "I found this in with your camera pile. Could I buy it?"

"You know," he said, "That could be very important."

"Hmm?"

"The last time somebody bought an old roll of film from me, it turned out to have Bettie Page pictures on it." He paused as he contemplated what price to charge me for this roll of potential treasures. What could it contain? Pictures of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby enjoying a game of cribbage? Spiro Agnew paying his taxes? Richard Nixon giving Jane Fonda a footrub?

"Five bucks," he tells me. Fortunately for him, that's just what I was willing to pay.

Well, I didn't get any images of historical import, or even of people, but there were four pictures of this lumber truck:


And here's the last viewable shot:


I think it's sort of fitting that the grave shot was the last one taken before fading into the light...