Yard Sale Chapter 3

 

Chapter 3

As our neighbours gave double kisses to Ellen, handing her their baked goods, I could see she visibly began to panic. With a basket of muffins in one hand, and a platter of cookies in the other, I rushed towards her with an empty table to put them on. Neither of us thought we would receive baked goods. Yes, it meant we were a table down, but honestly, that worked to our advantage. The ones we had were overflowing with all things nana, but it meant we had the option to top them up with whatever goods we had left over.

As more and more people began to show up, Mike ran around the lawn collecting empty boxes. Then he doubled back and combined the ones with some items left in them. Having three full boxes to top up our full tables, we could all breathe a sigh of relief. There were so many on our lawn already, that without those three boxes, the yard sale could have been very short.

I looked around to see if I could find my daughter, someone who was working behind the scenes through the chaos. When I eventually found her she was handing out fanny packs to the family. Each of the fanny packs contained a float, so we could give change if it was needed. Hell, she even put one on cute little Katie. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to pull off one, what with my belly hanging over my chinos, but when I saw how she was putting them over the boys heads, one arm into the strap, I nodded at her brilliance. She was making them into small satchels.

I had never thought to have a float, or a place to put the money we were going to receive for that matter. After she handed one to Mike and Ellen, she left the best for last…me!

‘There you go dad, you didn’t think I was forgetting about you now did you?’

‘Thanks, my angel!’ I gave her a kiss on her left cheek to show my gratitude. She put her hand on mine, gently tapped it twice and smiled.

‘I’ll grab you boys a well-deserved cold drink!’ She had obviously saw the sweat exude from every pore of my being. I just nodded and winked at her. She was, and always will be, my princess.

As I watched her go into the house again, a stranger caught my attention. ‘How much is this?’ I looked the ceramic ornament up and down, until, finally, I remembered all the prices were on stickers on the underside of all the goods.

‘That one there is two dollars and fifty cents, my good sir.’ I was excited. I was about to make my first sale. Butterflies tickled my insides which made me grin like a Cheshire cat.

‘You have some nice stuff here man!’ the stranger smiled back. ‘Would I be cheeky in asking you to do me a deal after I take a look round and see what else I’d fancy?’

‘We can definitely do that for you my good sir, and thank you for your patronage!’

‘Great, thanks man!’ he said and walked over to the next stand, manned by Jeffrey. With what we were selling, and how much we were selling it for, if he was to resell it, he would probably make himself a good profit.

I scanned the lawn. It was full of people who were going from table to table and actually buying things. That in my eyes was worth all the preparation and planning that we had done the past few weeks. I wiped my brow with the back of my hand and saw Mike cringing at his son who was selling a trinket that I knew he knew he could get more than five dollars for. I walked towards him and heard the lady say, ‘this is real gold!’ and Mike started to bite his thumb. He had to look away.

I felt a cold hand on my sweaty polo shirt and turned around. My Patricia had come through with her promise. I was handed a nice pint glass of iced tea. As I felt the coldness on the back of my throat, I couldn’t stop drinking it. I ended up downing the glass in one, then closed my eyes and let out an ‘ah!’ Patricia looked at me dumbfounded. ‘That was beautiful my angel!’ I said to her and handed her back the glass.

After about an hour of busy bartering with the strangers, I knew I needed to eat something. I made my way towards the baked goods counter. It was heaving with deliciousness. And there, on to the right-hand side of the table, were four pitchers of iced tea, and copious amounts of plastic cups. There was even a black sac for the empty ones. I noticed that the friends were on the outskirts gossiping, whilst the strangers were the ones nabbing the bargains.

‘Ah Ed, how are you doing?’ I beamed at one of my favourite neighbours of all time. He never made trouble and you could always count on him, and his wife Amy.

He looked at me and smiled, a half-eaten cookie masticating in his mouth. I picked up a pitcher and poured two glasses, offering him one. It was delicious! I then picked a cookie myself and took a bite. They must have been Mrs Oakly’s. She always made the best cookies. She brought some around whenever she saw the kids had come.

‘They must be…’ I think Ed was about say what I had thought, but instead his eyes opened as wide as saucers as she patted her hand against his shoulder.

‘I know you love my cookies Ed!’ Mrs Oakly said. Ed just smiled and began to giggle.

‘How’d you know I was gonna say that?’ he asked mirroring her smile.

Then, she turned her attention towards me. ‘I know you’re a private guy and all Patrick, but a little birdy tells me that Patricia and the family are moving onto the block!’

I nodded, beaming at the fact that the word was out. ‘Now how did you hear of a rumour like that?’ I asked taking another bite.

‘Oh, I have my sources!’ she grinned. ‘If I told you, I’d have to kill you!’

Ed nearly chocked on a chocolate chip. He took a sip of his tea. ‘Is that true?’ he asked still coughing.

I swallowed and looked at them both. ‘Yea, it is!’ They were shocked, yet delighted by the news. ‘Nana left it to them in her will!’ I embellished.

As I felt the soft touch on my back, I knew it was Ellen. I tilted my head and saw my beautiful wife standing beside me. I have loved that woman since the day she transferred to my school at the tender age of fifteen.

I was always a big man, Ellen a stunner. She could have picked anyone she wanted, but somehow, after only knowing her for three months, she accepted my invitation to go bowling and have a slice of pepperoni pizza. I knew when she wiped the grease from the side of my mouth with a tissue that I was going to marry that girl. I haven’t look back since. To me, she has gotten even more beautiful, if possible, throughout the years.

We always did everything together, raised a family, retired comfortably, and helped with the community whenever we could. She was such a dear woman!

She went to the children’s hospital every Tuesday afternoon. She just sat there with the really sick kids so their parents could have a bite to eat, or a shower, or whatever it was they needed. If the kids were alert, she snuggled up with them on the bed and read to them. She loved that she played a part in their recovery, and knew she made a difference if they passed. It gave her a sense of purpose, one which she knew was rewarding, whichever way things went.

Some weeks, she returned and saw the very child she read to the week before, had gotten somewhat better. She liked to think that she played a role in that. The parents greeted her with a hug and thanked her for reading to their babies.

There was this one kid, Sunny, that Ellen got very attached to. When she first met him, he was on life support. I remember she came home that evening, tears in her eyes as it wasn’t certain he would make it through the night. She just read to him, poor mite, and prayed that he knew he wasn’t alone in the world. His parents simply got something proper to eat, having not left his side in days. Ellen said they were only gone for thirty minutes, but she could see them somewhat rejuvenated when they returned.

The following Tuesday, there was Sunny, still on life support, but at least he was alive. Every Tuesday when she returned for six months she read to the little guy, and every Tuesday he got better and better until finally he was ready to go home. That day, the day he was wheeled out of the building, Ellen threw him a big party. I was there, and it made me so grateful to have had raised two wonderful children to adulthood. Ellen had gotten the whole paediatric ward involved in some shape or form. For the kids that weren’t allowed eat cake, she had purchased a small stuffed animal. I was the one giving out the cake, and sneaked a teddy into each and every one of their beds regardless. I saw then how rewarding the few hours every Tuesday were. I cried seeing Sunny get formally discharged, his father pushing his tiny wheelchair down the corridor, him smiling away to himself as he went.

I looked into my Ellens eyes and only saw love. ‘I just told the guys here that Patricia and Mike are moving into nana’s old place!’

‘Yea,’ Ellen smiled. ‘Nana wanted the house to stay in the family!’

Kate had just zoomed by with her barbie, the one she had washed a few hours before in her bowl of cereal. A boy and his action figure flew right behind her. ‘She’s one you have to look out for!’ Mrs Oakly giggled as the boy caught up to Katie and began to tickle her. ‘They grow up so quick!’

‘That they do!’ Ellen smiled at me, the sun catching a twinkle in her eye.

In the background, I heard Robert ‘negotiate’ with a customer over a piece of ornamental glass. We all turned to watch him. He said, ‘the sticker on the bottom says eight dollars,’ and I’m giving it to you for seven, which is a steal!’

‘Six and you have a deal!’ the man countered.

Robert rubbed his bare chin. ‘Split the difference?’ he raised his eyebrows, after thinking hard about it.

The customer hung his head before nodding, ‘OK six fifty then!’ and they shook hands, another deal done.

‘I stand corrected,’ Mrs Oakly stared at Robert for a second. ‘Maybe he’s the one you should be on the lookout for! He’s got a good business head on him! Remind me to come here the next time my taxes are due!’ We all laughed.

My darling Patricia came out with a fresh pitcher of fluids, her baby bump now unmistakeable. No one on the street knew about her pregnancy. She was forty-three years old, making it a high-risk baby, and with all the times she nearly lost little Kate, she was very weary of tempting fate.

Ed just pointed, Amy joining her husband pushing his hand down. ‘It’s unpolite to point!’ she whispered loudly in his ear before turning towards Patricia and asked, ‘how long have you left?’

‘Ten weeks!’ Patricia blushed as she answered.

Amy looked to Ed, ‘can I tell them?’ she asked as if she had a secret to divulge. Ed just nodded smiling. ‘Were into our second trimester!’

In my head I just thought to myself, ‘that bitch! Why did she steal Patricia’s thunder like that?’ the whole idea of Trish being a part of the yard sale was to officially announce her pregnancy. Amy grabbed Ed by the arm and dragged him over to other neighbours on the block. I looked at my precious princess and shook my head in her direction, raising my brow. I was trying to ask ‘are you ok?’ she had obviously gotten the message, because she simply nodded her head.

In the space of thirty minutes, everyone, and I mean everyone, knew about Patricia being pregnant and about the Cooper’s joining the cul de sac. And people wondered why we were quiet and kept to ourselves!

As we all made sale after sale, I took the initiative to refill some of the tables. I noticed a dark sedan pull up to the house. Everyone else had the cop on to park where there were actual spaces, but this car looked suspicious to me!

A very official man and woman got out of the car, the woman carrying a brown folder. I began to panic. I wasn’t sure if you needed a permit for a yard sale or not! It was something I had never thought to look into. They asked Ed, who was still munching on Mrs Oakly’s cookies, a question. I saw him crane his head over the crowd and point in Ellen’s direction.

I was in the middle of a sale at the time, it was a kid too. I wanted to hurry her up, but when she told me she wanted to get her nana something special for her ninetieth birthday the following week, I took in some very deep breaths as she counted out dimes and quarters from what looked like a piggy bank of some form. ‘I’ve been saving Mr!’ she smiled up at me. She wasn’t that much older than Katie, her top gums devoid of teeth in the front.

I kept looking at Ellen, trying to gauge what they wanted by her reaction. With her brow furrowed, she caught my eye and called me over. I simply said to the little one, ‘you keep your money, ok. You can have this for free and can save up more for something you would like!’ all the while I forced a smile, one which I must have pulled off.

‘Thanks Mr!’ she said bright eyed, skipping off.

I began to make my way towards Ellen. Questions were fired left and right, me answering, ‘someone will help you in a minute!’ politely to each one. I just wanted to get to my angel! I felt bad doing it, but my darling was looking at the very formal people as though she was in shock.

Finally, I reached her, ‘is everything alright here?’ I asked with trepidation in my tone.

‘Are you Mr Patrick Malone?’ the female asked in a tone I couldn’t quite put my finger on as being good or bad.

‘Yes.’ I answered timidly, wrapping my sweaty arm around my dear wife.

‘We need to talk to you both about your son, James!’ she said with compassion.

‘I’m sorry, but who are you?’ I asked with as much respect as I could muster. James wasn’t a name I had heard in a very long time!

‘We’re the police Mr Malone,’ she answered, the both of them taking out their badges to prove they really were who they said they were. ‘I think it might be better if we go inside!’

I felt a bolt of cold lightning go through my body, and showed the cops into the house.