Searching for a bargain, a shopper unwittingly falls into some else’s love life.
The Yard Sale
By David Crerand
It was a cloudy overcast Friday. It had rained off and on during the morning and was supposed to rain more later in the afternoon. I had been scheduled to go play golf with an old friend but we had decided that due to the weather we would postpone until Monday. That left me with a little time to kill and a few unaccounted for dollars in my pocket. As I was driving past a side street that lead into one of the older neighborhoods on the outskirts of town I saw a ‘Yard Sale’ sign stuck in the ground. The rain had caused the magic marker ink to run and the address wasn’t all that clear but it had today’s date and an arrow pointing the way. I figured that the lousy weather might keep a lot of other bargain hunters away and I might find a genuine deal or two.
I took a left and drove slowly down the street, checking both sides for the house with card tables full of kids toys and kitchen utensils, benches lined with old coffee mugs and chipped dishes, old tires, beat-up furniture and all the other typical treasures of a yard sale, lining the driveway. I made it to the end of the first block and had found nothing. I proceeded down the second block and the result was the same. At the end of the third block the street ended and I hadn’t found the ‘Yard Sale’. I looked both ways for traffic on the cross street and noticed another side street about twenty yards up the road on my left. There was a sign stuck in the ground. It didn’t say anything, but there was the arrow in the same rain smeared magic marker. I followed the sign.
There were a lot fewer houses on this street than there had been on the last, and they were a lot more widely spaced. They were older too, much older, though most appeared to be well maintained. I had been driving for several minutes and it began to sprinkle a bit. I was about to abandon the search and turn around when a house up ahead caught my attention. It was much larger than all the others on the street and older. It was in fairly good shape but could definitely stand a fresh coat of paint. It had a three-car garage and all the doors were up. There was an older woman, I estimated her to be in her mid-to-late sixties, scurrying up and down the driveway moving things into the shelter of the garage. I parked my car along the curbside and without a word started helping her move the last remaining items under shelter.
))))))Oh wow! This short story was enchanting David and the ending was magic!
Wow that was good. Nice ending.
Welcome to Authspot, the spot for creative writing.
Read some stories and poems, and be sure to subscribe to our feed!
