The Minutia Maven

"Oh, my. That's a penny isn't it? May I see that penny? I do so like to see a nice shiny penny on the sidewalk. It means I'll have a happy day."

The Minutia Maven has a fascination for topics that are so trivial that no sensible person would care about them. She might scrutinize pennies to identify if they were minted, politely ask about the ISBN codes on the book you're reading, or crawl around on her hands and knees in a grassy field while identifying as many species of insects as possible. She is generally harmless and always exceedingly polite. Her eccentricity may mark her as imaginative, but the vastly limited scope of her interests is a sign of her preference for a limited world.

Habitat: Like some species of Autumn People, the Maven is often fond of lengthy bus rides, long hot nights at donut shops, and benches in the park. She will also politely introduce herself to passers-by, assuming that they will be as fascinated by her topic of interest as she is.

Identification: Mavens often have a vast collection of sensible objects to assist them in their task. They commonly prefer to have many pockets and are known to favor magnifying glasses, port around reference books, and take pictures of unusually dull specimens.

I distinctly remember a notable encounter with a Maven on a long bus ride in Seattle. She had mistaken a shiny piece of round metal on the floor of the bus for a ten cent piece. After scrutinizing it through both lenses of her bifocals, examining it with a large magnifying glass, and tasting it briefly, she presented to five different riders on the bus asking whether the object was a dime or a piece of scrap metal. She then proceeded to extol the virtues of dimes minted in Denver over dimes minted in Washington, explain how to make tiny pieces of metal especially shiny, and complain that nothing really valuable could be purchased for a dime anymore.

- Autumn, dreaming