Curmudgeon

Grandpa seemed to have the richest vocabulary in all the world. His love of words added a richness to his conversations and he created the world's best puns. He talked about places with sylvan glades and fruits called kumquats and referred to himself as an old curmudgeon. I believe the word 'curmudgeon' is in need of saving and it was brought to mind when I was at market. There was an old man with a green apron selling potatoes. His body reminded me of a big bean. Two teens walking lightly in white sneakers filed by his stand holding cans of coke. He yelled, "Coca Cola is not good! Coca Cola is not good!" I had some pieces of candied ginger in my pocket and I offered him one after he talked a long while to me about his 500 acres of land and his asparagus/potato farm. He'd never tried ginger before and he asked me what it was and I told him it was a root. Someone corrected me: no, it's a rhizome. (I still think its a root.) Somehow the conversation turned to Nepal and the old man didn't know where that country was and he complained about his plastic bags being too chintzy for the price he paid. When he opened the sliding door of his white van there was a tumble down pile of small waxy potatoes, dusty red potatoes, and buttery oblong potatoes in blue mesh bags. He told me that happily potatoes store up for one year. I watched him break the steady stream of customers to waddle over to the pastry shop and come back with a huge profiterole with chocolate icing in his mouth. The people just kept lining up to buy his potatoes. Was it because he'd been selling potatoes (and asparagus in spring) for thirty years? Or was it that twinkle in his eye? He brought to mind the word curmudgeon, a word on it's way out and which officially means: a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person.