Throwing Shadows by Konigsburg E. L

Author:Konigsburg, E. L. [Konigsburg, E. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Childrens, Young Adult, Contemporary
ISBN: 9780689307140
Amazon: 0689307144
Goodreads: 6481074
Publisher: Atheneum Books
Published: 1979-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

With Bert & Ray

by William

If I have to start at the beginning of things, I guess I would have to start with Pa. Or the end of Pa, I should say. I had long ago heard the expression of someone being dead drunk. Well, that was Pa. Or the end of Pa. He died dead drunk when I was six, and that was that many years ago. Half my life ago. For a long time before he died, he couldn’t get anyone to sell him any more insurance, and I can’t say that I blame them. Anyway, the little bit he did have, didn’t hardly pay for his funeral, and the little bit that Ma got from the Social Security didn’t hardly carry us from one month to the next.

So what Ma did, after Pa had been dead for three years and we had some powerful dentist bills mounted up, was to sell off all his stuff. Wasn’t any of it she wanted around the house anyways. He had hunting guns and duck decoys and all the issues of National Geographic back to when it was started. Pa could pitch a classic fit if anyone ever did touch his stacks of National Geographics. He never read the blame things, just stacked them up in a corner of the bedroom and made misery for anyone who got them the tiniest bit out of order.

Ma and I put GARAGE SALE signs up at the light poles on the street leading to our house, and people snuck around to our back door trying to get in and buy some of Pa’s things even before eight a.m., the time we said we was starting. They paid right good money for some of the stuff Pa collected, the guns in particular, and even them fancy Jack Bean bottles. We was sold out before noon, and we had brought in two months’ worth of dentist bills from that stuff of Pa’s.

Two of the people who came to the sale were Bert and Ray, this couple who have an antique store over in the section of town called Huntington. Bert and Ray were at our sale early, and they were kinda thrilled about the duck decoys and the prices Ma had put on them. We had made them odd numbers like the stores do. We put two ninety-five and like that on them, except for the biggest one that we made an even four dollars. They didn’t touch the National Geographics or the Jack Bean bottle collection or any of the old camping equipment, but they sure did tuck them decoys under their arms real quick and paid Ma exactly what she asked for them and gave her a card, saying that she should please to call them whenever she did another house sale. Ma took the card and said that she sure would call them if she ever did another. I was speculating about what else Ma could sell until I realized that Ma is just a timid soul who says “scuse me” to the chiffonier when she bumps into it.

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