Dear Readers,

This morning, I had the opportunity to wear my business suit again. A pen collector was making a stop over in Okinawa, so Ron-san and I went to the Okinawa Airport to meet him. This setting is a little less formal than the resort hotels, and I felt a little more comfortable than the last time. However, this is the beginning of the Japanese Golden week season and the airport was very crowded.

It took a little while to find the customer. Fortunately Ron is a tall blonde man, he stands out and is easy to locate in a crowded place full of Japanese people. We made the formal Japanese introductions, and the customer was very polite to me. This was a little surprising. Often Japanese men are not polite to Japanese women in a business setting.

I have attended pen selling trips with Ron-san a few times already, but I was still very nervous today. I am not a shy person, but I often become nervous when I need to take tests or attend interviews.

We have been selling a collection of Dunhill Namiki and other maki-e pens under consignement. I am not a good sales person. It always breaks my heart when Ron-san sells one of these, and I was a little happy that he had sold much of the collection in my abscence. I would have cried if I had to watch Ron-san sell all of these lovely pens.

The customer was clearly excited to see the remaining pens and sets. I have seen this look numerous times. The Customer's eyes became very large and he seemed very far away. He could only see the pens before him.

I think I said this before, but I am always surprised by how expensive fountain pens can be. The customer bought a Dunhill Namiki pen and pencil set, which was in good condition with the original box. The pen was a ring-top with the Namiki lever box. I tried not to act surprised when the quoted price was several times more than what I paid for my car. The customer cringed a little, but made a quick trip to the cash machine and happily made the purchase.

We talked about pens and collecting for awhile over drinks. I was proud to take a few notes with my Parker Sonnet. Many collectors seem to turn up their noses at my Parker, but this customer was kind and said that he too liked Parker pens.

Sincerely,

Meg.