Packing for the Gypsies

Four years ago at a farmer's market I bought a photograph entitled "Young Roma Couple." The photo sat on my dresser a long while. I was attracted to the Bohemian clothes and young "Greek" faces. They stood in the aisle of a train. He wore a cowboyish beltbuckle, half-buttoned shirt and Stetson hat. She a slight smile, hand holding out her full skirt in a curtsy. Her head was covered in a bright scarf. The man looked beyond the camera, she right to it.

I wish I had talked more with the photographer. Once I had my young Roma couple home, I considered them often. Where were they going? Were they married? Are they still together? How did they sound? How did they smell? Did they pose often for photos?

Eventually I "decluttered" the photo for new art and did not consider them again until recently. Reading through books on Italy, I learned the history of the Roma people. The gypsies.

Every guide book emphasises the need for caution and safety. Fast and aggressive, groups of Gypsies will overtake your purses, wallets and cameras- without violence, but without mercy. St. Peters, Florence, Venice are all haunted.

I have to say they are all I can imagine as I pack. These wandering theives are centuries in the making. Their people are said to come from varied sources- the Moors, Africans, the Far East- the non-natives still in the margins after hundreds of years. I have prepared a "fake" wallet as I did in Chicago. Throw one direction and run the other. But this time I am awed by the ancestorial tradition. This is no down-on-his-luck Chicago mugger. No! These are the professionals of a long line of family pilfers. So predictable that victims are almost guaranteed a clean pick without distress.

I wonder if they will move in for my camera bag, my children, my messenger bag. Shall I grab their child as one friend did to ransom the return of her goods?

I'm tempted to include a little note in the wallet, camera bag, etc.- "Call me, I'd love to know more." Where do you live? What do you know?

Magic Gypsy you've already captured my imagination. What else will you steal?