Tacky Thingies

I was in a shop in Chinatown a couple of weeks ago. The shop sells Chinese trinkets and souvenirs. This time of year, the shop also sells decorations for Chinese New Year, coming up January 29. It's the year of the dog.

The woman in the shop said,

"You are Chinese, you must hang these decorations in your house to bring good luck. You want bad luck or something?"

Of course not. So just like that she sold me a new year mobile thingy.



It is a tacky foam thing with pictures sticking all over it. When The Boy and a Friend saw it, they both pressed down on some of the raised pictures, thinking that would make the mobile respond and do something. But no, it's just a mobile thingy with raised pictures.

I went into another Chinese shop today. As I walked in, a young woman in the shop said,

"What decoration are you going to buy for Chinese New Year?"

"I already have one."

"One? You have only one? You are Chinese and you only have one?"

"Errr... yeh. One is enough."

"No. You choose one more."

The shop was red all over with decorations I have never seen before, including a small cluster of red apples that were kind of cute and could pass for a Christmas decoration. So I selected that one.

"No, not that one," said the young woman, "The apples only bring you safety. You need red peppers. They bring you safety, good health, happiness, great wealth and luck. You must have this one." She handed me several clusters of red pepper thingies to choose from.

Maybe it was the urgency of how she said, You must have this one. Subtext: Before it's too late. So I bought a round cluster of red pepper thingy too.



I wonder if that's the new sales pitch in Chinatown these days, telling Chinese patrons they must have something. Or is my hunch right - that the shopkeepers look at me and say, There's a sorry looking bugger who could use some luck. Whatever. I'll take as much good luck as I can get.