Alarmed and Dangerous

Okay, so I'm not exactly dangerous, but I do find myself suddenly victim to the world of alarms or time in general. And it's a feeling that will take some getting used to.

I am still in Gettysburg much to my surprise. But the community that I've found here has been so generous as to let me stay as long as I would like. And as of three days ago, I am locked into this town for longer than I thought. And here comes the alarms.

I turned in an application, more by fluke than anything, to a little ice cream parlor in a very tourist oriented area of town. Three days later, the owner called to request an interview. Even after I explained the fact that I was only to be in Gettysburg for a month at the most, he still offered me a position but not at the ice cream parlor.

He also owns several tourist shops in the same area including a book store centered on Civil War History, a Civil War gun and sword replica shop, and I currently work at the Battlefield Souvenirs. Like any souvenir shop, it has all of the necessary cheap and poorly made anything with Gettysburg on the front. With the express purpose of giving tourists a cheap thoughtless gift to make their friends back home believe that they were thinking of them. In a desire not to be partial these Chinese imports support both the blue and the gray.

I tossed the idea around for a night but finally realized the rarity of a vagrant getting a job at all, so I took the position. And now I find myself utterly paranoid about time. I have no watch or cell phone and the batteries are dead on my sun dial, so I am constantly searching for a clock to make sure that I will be on time and it's such a strange sensation. I have been free and untethered by those ticking hands, and now they've come and slapped me upside the head. They don't like to be ignored.

It's an incredibly simple job that leaves me begging to read books all day but that would be against store policy. In the first day of training, I was left alone for a couple hours to work the register and explore the store. All was going well and I'm pretty sure that I could run the place through an REM cycle, but in one moment, I was nearly brought to tears.

I picked up a shot glass, a staple at any tourist trap, that described in detail how 'yellow bellied yanks' couldn't hold their liquor. As I looked up from that two dollar joke, I realized how everything in this store represents a war. Every figurine was someone real, someone's son, brother, and most likely someone's murderer. These toys meant for kids 'ages three and up' wouldn't exist if not for the deaths of thousands of people.

For the rest of the day, and even still now, it is hard to look at the dolls, toy guns, even American flags without seeing a bloodstained field. No matter how innocent they look. I am suddenly amazed at how cold and calloused we must be to capitalize on such tragedy.

And I am working there all the same.

However, I have some time off this weekend for a trip to the fabulous destination of Philadelphia, PA. That's right! I get a sneak peak of what's to come.

The group I'm staying with has invited me along on their three day trip to work with Circle of Hope Ministries in Philly. I am really very excited to see the city for the first time and make some connections But yes, I will be coming back to finish out my tour in the cruel war memorial store and spend some more time with the folks here.

I really do enjoy this town. I'm not sure if I could live here, but that is not a decision I have to make quite yet.

I will certainly be here through the end of August and hopefully I will still have some interesting things to write about. If not, I may have to make up some authentic Gettysburg Ghost Storied (another interesting industry here) to post so you don't think my life is bland.

Thanks all for reading! I'll post again after Sunday to let you know my first response to Philadelphia.

Love you all!

P.S. Jeremy, if you're following all of this, there are several Irish brigade flags hanging up in the store and I never go a day without thinking of you!


Christopher Andrew