July 15, 2009
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“…trying so hard to keep a straight face, my ears folded double.”
Greyfox said that to me on his cell a few minutes ago. When he said it, I cracked up so badly that he had to wait until I caught my breath before he could finish telling the story. He is at the historical museum in downtown Wasilla today, selling his wares at the weekly farmer’s market. He’s not a farmer and his wares are forged, not farmed, but this market isn’t discriminatory. They have crafters and an espresso booth, too.
The source of today’s merriment was Penny, known to many as pain-in-the-ass Penny. The woman has NPD (narcissistic personality disorder), and hers is a mixed form, including traits from the overt and aggressive NPD practiced generally by males, as well as traits of covert or hypersensitive NPD, which is generally the province of females. She whines, pouts, kicks, screams, pounds things with her fists, ingratiates, insults, insists and wheedles: whatever she thinks might get her what she wants.
Booth spaces at the market are first-come-first-served except for the vendors who arrived early at the first market of the season, picked their spaces, and paid in advance for the entire season to reserve those spaces. Penny pays week by week, but expects to get “her” regular space every week. Today, one of the Dinkels got there before her and took the space she prefers.
Dinkels are a big family in the Matanuska Valley, many of them farmers, descendants of Harold and Frances who came to Alaska in 1937 as part of a Federal program to replace some of the original agricultural colonists who had given up and gone south. Any given Wednesday at the market you can probably find at least one Dinkel selling vegies.
When Penny arrived and found a Dinkel in the space she calls hers, she came predictably unglued. Mr. Dinkel referred her to Leroi, who runs the Historical Society and the Farmer’s Market (as a volunteer). As Greyfox related to me the exchange between Leroi and Penny, I was already laughing at the characteristic character voices of Penny’s high-pitched, “rrr… wrgh… rmph,” and Leroi’s deep, calm, authoritative declarations of reason and order.
Greyfox, with his own case of NPD and a history of clashes with Penny behind him, enjoys seeing her put in her place, but he habitually tries to maintain civil decorum in public. It was no surprise that he would be trying to keep a straight face as he listened to Penny rant and Leroi lay down the law. What got me was the, “ears folded double,” bit.
Comments (6)
Oh man, if only his phone had a video camera built-in!
@lupa - He’s got a camera and other features — a top of the line phone that came with his calling plan. After he got it, he had the provider turn off all the extra features. All he wants is a phone that makes calls. He reluctantly turns it on to receive calls occasionally, by appointment. Luddite.
LOL!! Too funny… I admit, I’m mostly incompetent with that kind of technology, but it would’ve been fabulous to be able to take a video of the woman having her fit and email it to you!
I’ve worked with at least one person who I suspect of having NPD. He was a treat.
Knowing him, I can imagine the show that was put on by Leroi and Penny.
That IS a funny turn of phrase. You tell a good story!
X-gram–I just drafted the blog about the cutter and the church lady.
I intend to check out zoklet now and edit and post it publicly in a few minutes.