A woman came in and told me she had been shipwrecked off the coast of Maine eight years ago. She was sailing with her four-year-old son and a friend when it turned stormy and they hit rocks. The boat sank, and they were stranded on an island overnight. They were eventually recovered and rescued by some lobstermen.

Today I did mop head research to replace the mops in the trap door. Every janitorial supply place I called asked me, “What is the application for your mops, ma’am?” I had no idea what that meant. But now I know. Sometimes your application is a rough surface. Sometimes it is a large, moist surface. Sometimes it is a dry but dusty surface. My application is heads and shoulders. But I did not say that. I did learn that there are many types of mop heads. To wit:

1. The Floor Finish or Fantail mop head. For finishing up the job. Leaves no streaks.

2. The Super Loop mop head. Absorbs up to seven times its own weight.

3. The Pro Loop Web/Tailband with Looped End mop head. For less lint, fraying, and unraveling, and fewer tangles.

5. The Cut End, Lie-Flat, Economical mop head. Lies flat.

6. The Shrinkless (TM) Web Foot (TM) mop head. With Microban (TM) to inhibit bacteria. Launderable.

7. The Gloss Pro mop head. Finishes 30 percent more floor area per hour. Nonlinting, continuous filament.

8. The Rough Pro Looped mop head. Withstands tough abrasions. Twice the absorbency and release.

9. The Compact Web Foot (TM) mop head. Reduces mop storage problems.

10. The Enviroclean (TM) mop head. Made with DuPont (TM) material.

11. The Premium Saddleback Cut End mop head. Great for scrubbing.

Overheard in the store:
“Didn't David get scurvy once?”
(Apparently David subsisted solely on meth and steak for one month.)

An older man picked up a one-shilling coin and remarked, “Oh, here is Elizabeth back when she was pretty.”

Two men stood in front of the store window, talking for about twenty minutes. One wore a black fedora hat and the other wore a black beret and gesticulated widely. The man wearing the fedora came into the store after his companion had left and I asked him what had drawn him into the store. “It seemed less lonely than out there,” he replied.

A boy came in with a stone decorated with two googly eyes. It was named Roxy.

So the construction worker who bought the kids doubloons and also filled a hole outside 826 Valencia last week was back when I arrived, working outside Paxton Gate in the pouring rain. Around 1 pm I glanced outside, and right in the middle of the sidewalk, directly in front of the black asphalt patch, a black, shoelaceless, men's leather shoe sat. I didn't recall seeing it when I first arrived, and the street was fairly empty now, considering that the construction workers had finished their business and the weather was cold. A couple walked by and the girl just stepped over the shoe. A half-hour later, the shoe had moved, so it now rested alongside the black patch, with the tip directly pointing at the street. I realized that it was a left shoe. Moments later, a man rode up on a silver bicycle, lay the bike on the ground, looked at the shoe, picked it up, examined it, then dropped it back onto the sidewalk, picked up his bike, and as he rode away I noticed that he had a pair of gray New Balance sneakers in a plastic Safeway bag tied to his backpack. The shoe remained on the sidewalk for the rest of the afternoon. I debated whether or not I should add it to our box of boots, but it certainly was not a boot, so I let it be.

I turned my back on the store to fix the curtain, and when I turned back a young seafarer had both hands plunged into the lard. Her mother was encouraging.
A customer asked what our official position is in the “ pirates vs. global warming” debate.