Maybe two months ago I was walking past the PS 321 flea market at dusk and saw two lecterns on the sidewalk lined up to be loaded onto a van.

I’ve actually been in the market for a lectern for a long time. And these were special. They had a vaguely "arts and crafts" feeling to them. Clearly hand-made, I could imagine them in a church somewhere, a preacher’s foot perched on one of the cross bars. It had character, and lots of it.

Those lecterns had history and spirit all over them and I wanted one or both.

I needed a lectern for Brooklyn Reading Works (and I wanted to give it to The Old Stone house for their other activities, too).

Because we didn’t have a lectern, we usually set up a table and a chair and offer writers the option of reading while sitting down, with their papers or books on the table. But it it’s a little awkward. Most of the writers choose to stand and read.

I also want a dictionary stand to keep at home or in the office. Since I am constantly checking the dictionary I thought it would be helpful to have it out and open all the time.

While I was pondering my need for a lectern, a man lifted one of the lecterns and started loading it into the van. I asked him how much he wanted for the lecterns and he said $75 dollars each. I immediately knew it was a good price so I checked my wallet. Unfortunately I only had $25 dollars in there.

"Can I write a check?" I asked.
"Don’t take checks," he said.

Sunny is the man’s name. He’s the guy who sells metal file cabinets, desks, and cabinets, who usually sets up to the left of the PS 321 entrance.

I asked him if it would be alright to give him $25 dollars now and to pay him later in the week or next weekend. He thought for a moment and after a little hesitation said that would be fine. We exchanged phone numbers.

He never called and I lost his number, which I had written with a bad pen on a faded receipt, which I probably threw out by mistake.

EVERY SATURDAY since then I have gone by the flea market to find Sunny and he hasn’t been there. Sometimes I ask other vendors, "Have you seen Sunny?" Yesterday I asked Fred, who runs the flea market what happened to Sunny and he said he was working his day job on Saturdays for the last few months and probably wouldn’t be back until April or May. I asked Fred to tell Sunny that I’ve been looking for him…

"Tell him the woman who bought the lectern wants to give him his $50 dollars." I said.

"Sunny is a trusting guy and I guess he knew you were trustworthy. Take off your sunglasses, let me look in your eyes." Fred said.

I took off my sunglasses.
"Aaaaah. You have very honest eyes," he said.

"Yes, I am ridiculously honest," I said not sure what I meant.

"You can’t be too honest," Fred said. "It’s the most important thing in the world. "Obviously Sunny knew you could be trusted."

"Well tell Sunny that I want to pay him AND I want to buy the other lectern."

"Okay," Fred said. "I’ll tell  him the honest woman with the honest eyes has been looking for him."

At the last reading, the lectern really transformed the event as far as I was concerned. It made my introductions feel more solid, more….I don’t know what.

David Berreby, author of Us and Them, seemed very comfortable up there in a quasi academic way as he discussed his wonderful book, "US AND THEM."

The transformative powers of a lectern. Honest eyes. If I could only find Sunny and pay him.