The Ramblings of a Rambler Rug Merchant
You meet people of a different breed here in Missoula. I was at a house party a few weeks ago and met a guy who appeared to be a rather typical member of society--not that he wasn't--but after talking to him for a while, I discovered that he was, well, taking a sort of non-traditional course in the navigation of life. I introduced myself and our conversation went something like this:
"Hi, I'm Wyatt. Nice to meet you."
"James. Good to meet you, Wyatt."
"So what's happening?"
"Nothing, man, I'm just glad to be inside."
"Yeah, it's artic out there."
"It's not as bad as it was last week."
"Was it bad last week? I can't even remember."
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"Oh, it was frigid. You notice more when you don't have heat."
"You don't have heat?"
"Not where I'm staying now."
"So what do you do, burn wood?"
"Sometimes I have a fire."
"A fire? Where do you live?"
"Up Mount Sentinel."
"Oh, are you renting one of those places up Maurice Avenue?"
"No . . . "
"There really aren't any other places on Mount Sentinel besides those couple of houses up Maurice Avenue . . . by that A-frame."
"Well I'm not renting a place. I'm just set up with my tent sort of over the other side of the ridge."
"You mean you're camping?"
"Sort of."
"How can you be camping? It gets down to below zero some nights."
"Well, I spend a lot of time at the library. And usually I just crash at people's houses if I know it's going to be cold."
"Wow, I've known people who do that in the summer, but not this time of year."
"It's not too bad, actually. I've got a nice Persian rug laid out and my sleeping bag is really good."
"You've got a Persian rug in your tent?"
"Yeah, well, I sell Persian rugs. I'm just waiting out the winter before hitting the Silk Road again."
"Right, the Silk Road, like in Asia?"
"Yeah, you know, like Marco Polo. I'm going to get rugs--I'm making the trip to bring back a bunch."
"So you sell rugs? Okay."
"It's actually really lucrative."
"That's why you live in a tent?"
"I just don't want to be tied down by a lease or anything. Plus, in the past when I've rented houses or apartments, I've just wanted to go out and buy furniture and stuff to put in them. Then when it comes time to leave you have get rid of all that shit. It just ties you down."
"So how long have you been here?"
"Just over four months."
"So you know a lot of people?"
"I've met a few."
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"Who do you know at this party?"
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"Actually I just saw a bunch of people walking in the door and I followed them in. I don't really know anyone."
"Okay, well it was really interesting talking to you, James. You'll have to cut me a deal on one of those rugs when you get back."
"I'm not coming back here. I'm heading to Nevada."
"The other end of the temperature spectrum?"
"Right."
"Okay, well stay warm."
"You too."
