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Schwartz's Pawn Shop
by
Ofavon
"So, what's this ... you wanna hock your watch. Let me tell you. watches I
don't need. Here, look at these! A dozen or more! Nobody goes to a pawnbroker
to buy a watch. Whenever it's hard times people come in here with watches --
nobody can afford to buy a watch in hard times. If you had maybe, a violin."
"Besides, who wants a pocket watch in hard times like this? You gotta have a
vest to wear a watch. Nobody wears a vest no more, everybody wears jeans. When
was the last time you saw somebody in a suit? You gotta have a watch chain
with a pocket watch - on one end the watch - on the other end a pin from some
goyem yeshiva in Masachusetts. You think you can carry a watch in your pants
with your keys? Not a watch like these you can't. A pocket watch is like a
kidney, a liver, engraved in gold with your name on ... you don't understand. do
you?"
"This your watch? It says, "To Algernon Finster In recognition of your 35
years in the Goldring Family of Commercial Loans," It's got a date. November
22, 1924. You Algernon Finster? Pardon me for asking, but you look in pretty
good shape for a man who retired in 1924."
"Your grandfather! ... and you would foul your own grandfather's memory by
hocking his watch at Schwartz's pawn shop? So what kinda grandson are you?
Think if your grandfather could see you in here."
"Take a look at these here watches I got. Maybe you could use another watch,
who knows?. Maybe when times get better you could use. Here's one tells you
what's the time in Vladivostock, another one here shows you what the moon is
doing. This one remembers birthdays. Put your ear down close to them -- like a
nest of crickets - all ticking out of time. You're not in the market? No, me
neither! Who wants to know what time it is anyway?"
"When I was a kid I would ask the Rabbi what time. Our Rabbi had a pocket
watch like these. He would put his cigar down in his ash tray and get up from
his
chair. He would open up his coat and reach in his vest pocket for his watch.
He would put on his glasses and snap open the cover. Not until then he would
tell me the time -- who cared then. It was too late already.
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