“Yep. We’re staggering, only letting ten people in at a time. Otherwise it’s a madhouse.”
Liz’s phone rang. “Hey, Trav,” she said, putting it to her ear. “Awful, thanks for asking.”
The door opened and Clark backed in, carrying one end of the piano bench, Lana on the other. ASOLDPost-it fluttered from one leg. “I can’t believe you bought this,” he said.
“I had to get something!” One of the legs clanked against a counter stool. “And this was a steal. Five bucks!”
Clark squinted at the tag. “This says seventy-five.”
“I’m a good haggler.” She sat down on the bench. “Also, I know the sellers.”
I stepped around her, pushing the door open. Outside, my mom was to the left, patrolling the line of people snaking around the side of the building waiting to get into the sale. On the right, Kasey and Angela stood by a makeshift register in the doorway of the space where all the furniture had been hauled days earlier.PAY HEREsaid a sign above them. A balding man in a tracksuit was leaving with the bike I’d cataloged, wheeling it on one wobbly tire.
I walked down the line until I was able to get my mom’s attention. “Hey,” I called out, holding up the mug in my hand. “Coffee?”
“Yes,” she said, so emphatically, I wished I’d come out earlier. “Please.”
I went over, handing it to her. “You need anything else?”
“Can you find Liz? Someone had a question about the breakfront.”
Back inside I went, passing two women who’d just purchased a shoebox of teacups and saucers. Things were going fast.
“My mom’s looking for you,” I told Liz, who was pressing a glass of ice water to one temple. “Breakfront issue.”
She put it down on the counter, taking a steadying breath. “If it’s that woman with the fanny pack, the price is firm. I don’t care how many times she asks.”
With that, she went back out, still grumbling to herself. She had to stop momentarily to let a couple with a rusted bedframe hoisted between them get by.
“Come take a load off,” Lana said to me, patting the bench. “Feel the history.”
I sat. It was not exactly comfortable. “Where are you going to put this?”
“Not sure yet.” She drew her legs up, crisscross applesauce. “I think it will be my signature piece in my new place. Maybe I’ll build everything around it.”
“The next logical step would be a piano,” Ben pointed out.
“Ornot,” she said, pointing at him. “Make people think.”
A half hour later, once all the customers were gone, I finally had a chance to go into the space to check out the sale myself. The contents were split into sections:BOOKS, KITCHEN, FURNITURE, HOUSEHOLD, andVARIOUS. To one side was a folding table holding a few items markedSOLDwith a Post-it indicating the buyer. There had clearly been second thoughts aboutsome of the green stickers. I saw Liz’s name on a small wooden box with some kind of white stone inlay. A stack of gardening books and a set of mixing bowls were markedKASEY.
“Finley!” I looked up: Anne had just come in from outside, a heavily tanned woman in a chic linen dress beside her. “This is insane!”
I nodded. “It’s been like this the whole day.”
“This is my cousin Finley,” she said to the woman, who smiled. She had very straight teeth, white, and perfect lipstick. A diamond bracelet dangled from one wrist. “Finley, Kathy. My soon-to-be mother-in-law. Oh! That sounds so weird!”
“Nice to meet you,” I said.
Kathy’s hand was cool as we shook. “What a production! So all of this here belonged to your family, Anne?”
“There was a lot more before,” Anne told her. She pointed. “See that chest over there? It was made for my grandmother for her wedding linens. I actually thought about keeping it, maybe for a—”
“You’re getting linens from Nana,” Kathy said, cutting her off. “She’s got a trunk all ready for you and Jonathan.”
“Right,” Anne said. “But—”
“You don’t want doubles,” Kathy added as two guys who looked like they’d come straight from the lake, hair and shirts damp, carried past a love seat piled with boxes. “Your place has so little storage space as it is.”
