Just Grace Goes Green (12 page)

I set my alarm for extra early—that way there would be enough time to get ready before everyone came to the sale. Most people like to go to sales early. That way they can find all the extra-good stuff before anyone else gets
there. I was glad that Mimi and Gwen were waiting outside for me, because the big folding tables were way too big for me to set up all by myself. I guess Mom must have heard the garage door open because both she and Dad were suddenly standing in the driveway in their pajamas. Now Mom was curious and full of questions.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"What are you doing out here?"

"What's going on?"

"Mimi, does your mother know you are here?"

"What are all these boxes?"

Just then Sammy and Max showed up. Sammy said, "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart. Are you helping with the sale? I've got some great stuff here. Maybe even something you'd like to buy?"

I think Sammy was kind of showing off
because Gwen was there. He's not usually that talky around parents.

"Grace, I need to see you in the kitchen," said Mom. While we were walking away, I heard Dad say, "I'll give you a hand setting up the tables," so that was good news.

Mom had lots to say. Mostly she was just saying the same thing over and over again but in different ways, and that was pretty much, "You can't have a yard sale without asking first. You can't have a yard sale without asking first." When I said, "But I thought you'd be happy about me cleaning my room and getting rid of stuff," she just held up her hand. That's Mom's way of saying I don't want to hear any more about it.

She started to make her coffee, so I just stood there watching her until finally she said, "Oh, go and help your friends. I'm up now."

VICTORY!

WHAT IS NOT SO EASY ABOUT A YARD SALE

Knowing how much to charge for your stuff is not easy. If the price is too high, then no one will buy it. If the price is too low, then you will lose money because you could have maybe charged a higher price and made even more money. It's all very tricky.

When I got back outside, Mimi and Gwen were already finished setting up Mimi's stuff. She was only selling five things. I couldn't believe that was it. I know for certain that Mimi has loads of stuff she doesn't
use anymore. Mimi said it was hard to give things up. Every time she put something in the "to sell" box she thought,
What if I need that one day?
And then she'd take it out and keep it. She said it took all night just to find the five things on the table. Gwen was shaking her head while Mimi was talking. She said, "It was unbelievable."

SAMMY'S STUFF

As soon as I saw Sammy's things I said, "Sammy, you weren't supposed to sell junk. No one is going to buy all this."

"It's not junk!" said Sammy. "It's all good stuff. See this glass jar?" Sammy was holding up an old mayonnaise jar. It didn't have the label on it anymore, but I could tell it was a mayonnaise jar because Mom buys the same kind and I recognized the shape
and the green lid. "It's an excellent jar for catching fireflies. Once I had twenty-five fireflies in this jar all at the same time. It's a lucky firefly jar."

I couldn't believe Sammy, so I said, "Well, no one is going to buy your lucky jar, because they don't even know it's a lucky jar. It just looks like an old mayonnaise jar that should be thrown into the recycling bin!"

"Then I'll make a sign or something," said Sammy. I could have stood there all day and argued with him about his junk, but I was more excited to set up all my good, amazing, and not-junk things on my table. Sammy would understand everything when my cash box was full of money and his was still empty.

SETTING UP THE YARD SALE

I set up all the big things in the back and all the small things in the front, and that way Gwen would not be able to miss the most important thing of all. That way Gwen would see it for sure. She was helping Mimi set up her five things on the little card table next to me.

MIMI'S TABLE

Mimi kept rearranging everything to make it look like more stuff, but five things look like only five things no matter how you set them up.

MY TABLE

I was pretty excited about my table. It was like the excellent sandwich filling in between Sammy's junk table and Mimi's tiny table. For sure customers were going to walk straight over to me and buy up all my stuff.

Just as soon as I had finished putting on the last price tag, Mom walked over with her coffee. She spent a lot more time looking at Sammy's table than I would have thought, but that was mostly because she was reading all the notes he was writing to put on his junk. Finally I just had to get her attention away by asking her what she thought of my table.

Instead of saying something like, "Oh, Grace, what a great table," or "What a wonderful and thoughtful display," Mom said, "I can't believe you are selling Wee Tiny Mee Mee! Don't you remember how you used to carry her around with you everywhere you went? We weren't even allowed to leave the house without her. She went everywhere with us.

"Do you remember that one time you left her at the pumpkin patch? You were so upset, just crying and crying. So we just had to drive all the way back to the pumpkin farm to get her. By the time we got there it was dark, but the farmer was very nice and gave us flashlights so we could look for her. Do you remember how excited you were when Daddy found Wee Tiny Mee Mee sitting up on a little pumpkin? It was a beautiful, warm, starry night. I'll never forget it."

"Wee Tiny Mee Mee?" said Sammy, and I could tell he was making fun of me. Mom has absolutely no clue how embarrassing she can be. I grabbed Wee Tiny Mee Mee from Mom and shoved her under my table. "Okay, I won't sell her. Happy?" Now I could tell that she knew I was feeling bad because she said, "I'm sorry, honey. Seeing Wee Tiny Mee Mee reminded me of that story. I haven't thought of that night in ages. It reminded me of when you were little. It's a sweet story."

I had to stop Mom before she 100 percent embarrassed me with gushiness, so I said, "It's okay, Mom. I'll keep Wee Tiny Mee Mee. Can we not talk about it anymore?"

I was glad when Gwen interrupted us by saying, "Oh my gosh, it's so cute!" And I knew right away, without even looking, that she was pointing at Owly.

MY BIG PLAN

Gwen sees Owly.
Gwen buys Owly.
Gwen forgets about Willoughby.
Mimi gets Willoughby back.
Everybody is happy.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BIG PLAN

"How come you're selling this?" said Gwen. She was holding Owly, and I could see that Mimi was smiling. I hadn't told Mimi my big
plan, but I could tell that she had figured it out and was 100 percent understanding it.

"I have too many stuffed animals," I said. Owly really wasn't even one of my favorites. I think Dad won him at a carnival or something. He wasn't that special to me, but I didn't say that because I wanted Gwen to think he was super special. "He's only two dollars," I said.

"I don't have any money," said Gwen. "I left all my money at my real house."

"Are you sure?" I asked. I couldn't believe my big plan was going to fail all because of two dollars.

"I'll buy it for you," said Mimi. "You could pay me back when you get home." I could tell she was desperate.

"No, it's okay," said Gwen. "I'm not really allowed to borrow money." Mimi looked like
she was about to cry. It was a good thing that a bunch of strangers were walking up to us, because that made us concentrate on other things, at least for a few minutes.

WHAT I COULD NOT BELIEVE

I could not believe that all the new people were looking at Sammy's table, and what was even more surprising was that they were buying his junk. In only a couple of minutes he sold four things, and I didn't even sell one single thing. His junk was selling faster than all of my good stuff. And it was all because of his notes. Everyone loved his notes.