America, January 1, 2004
The Great New Year's Day Yard Sale
Sell it! Sell it all!
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All night, we prepared for it. We dug throughout the house to find what we needed, checking everywhere for supplies. Then, when the sun first rose, we started organizing it all. And by mid-morning we were ready. Ready for the Great New Year's Day Yard Sale. Out in the back yard was twenty years of detritus, twenty years of memories, twenty years of stuff, junk, and things that Mom and I no longer need. It was all out there. From my old cast net, to dive tanks, to too-many books, we dug it all out. Then there were all of Dad's tools. His whole workshop full of drills, saws, grinders, planers, power cords, drill bits, hand chisels, and even a door jam trim kit. Tools that gave him dreams that he'll now never see. All day memories went to new owners. My Luke Skywalker light saber went to a neighbor's kid. My old surfboard went to an aspiring grommet. Even my jersey from Little League football went to another neighbor, as the flag on the end of a ladder! My Dad's tools attracted swarms of middle-aged men, all of who were impressed by the display. Their wives were even more impressed with Dad's artwork. His huge concrete sculptures, ones that are about ten feet tall and stand in our front yard, garnered many compliments and a few purchase requests. Luckily, Mom was not in a mood to sell them cuz during the Great Yard Sale, she showed her true business acumen. She started to give away what people were willing to pay for. Hammocks that we were selling like hotcakes at $5 a pop, or 2 for $8, she would discount to three for $5 even before people started to bargain! And then there was Jin to correct the madness. My friend from DC, she was down to escape the cold and thought it she had a long weekend to relax. Little did she know what was in store for her! Barely off the plane, I had her shifting through and price-tagging all sorts of things all New Year's Eve. And here, the first day of 2004, she's in my back yard, up to her elbows in broken crock-pots and old TV's. She is also price-checking Mom, up-selling her rock-bottom prices and saving our sale. She even sold a broken lantern! That is until she sold my light saber at less than the $10 I priced it at. And her excuse: 'It was plastic!' Plastic or not, it's a real Luke Skywalker light saber! She still will not tell me how cheap she went. Oh well, its all part of the fun, the joy, and the arduous task known as the Great New Year's Day Yard Sale.
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