The Dulcimer Man

A class assignment...use a list of objects to describe a character.

My grandparents took me to a baseball field.
I sat beside my Oma and read the game rules printed in wavery cursive. I read them out loud:
Only gentlemanly behavior. No spitting around ladies. Now swearing. No picking noses or scratching.
We giggled at the women warming up in their striped shirts and knee high white socks. The men wore high waisted tight pants that ballooned around their knees as they walked.
The game started- my interest in the aged men hobbling delicately around the bases quickly waned; I wandered off and found a tree to play with.
I was completely absorbed in constructing barricades around an ant hill when I heard the tinny twang of an instrument.
A man sat on a canvas stool- idly plucking as he watched the baseball sputter between the bases.
He was picking at a dulcimer- it had a heart shaped cutout at the top and red whorls scattered over the wood.
His denim overalls were dark blue, and still had stiff new creases along the legs.
He wore a baggy nurse's shirt underneath his overall straps- colorful solar systems against a blue black starry sky.
He had a chess board box at his feet. It held the little pieces inside, and opened on tiny hinges.
His sneakers were big and sturdy- grey white with velcro straps to keep them closed.
A worn baseball cap hung over his twinkly eyes.
His thick white beard flowed over his chin and onto his starchy shirt.
I stared at him until Oma came and led me away from the tree.
"The game is taking a break, they have caramel apples..."
I looked at his shirt again as we passed him, and he gave me a crinkly smile and nodded.