19

TUESDAY MORNING, WHEN THE BUS PASSES THE little playground Ashley and I used to meet at almost every day of summer vacation, I say, “Remember when we pretended the slide was our boat and we were floating in the Barry family’s pond just like Anne does?”

Ashley looks over at the slide. “I can’t believe all the embarrassing stuff we used to do.”

I didn’t think it was embarrassing. In fact, I’d do it again tomorrow. But instead I say, “Yeah.”

I make it through the morning, and at lunch while I’m in line Jasper stops by.

“Hey,” he says. He glances over at Ashley. “So, did you go by Frank’s yesterday?”

“Couldn’t. Mom was home.” I want to ask him to go with me today, but I can’t. Not in front of Ashley. Plus, he might say no. “I’m going to swing by there today and then go see Archie on the way home.”

He nods. “Cool. Well, see you later.” As he walks toward table 4, he waves.

“Are you sure he’s not your ‘good friend’?” Ashley asks, and then laughs.

“I’m sure.” I take my hamburger from Mrs. Brandon and make a point of saying thank you and returning her smile.

I eat while Ashley looks over her shoulder, waves at David, then giggles when he waves back. Honestly, I’m so disgusted that it’s difficult to eat.

All Ashley wants to talk about during lunch and on the entire bus ride home is David Verdon. Once I’m inside the apartment, I’m almost relieved not to have to listen to her for a while. I text Mom just to check in but also to be sure she’s working all afternoon. I ask if I can bike over to the Tuesday Thrift and cross my fingers until her response comes back. Sure, but be careful. It’s only a tiny lie. I am going to try to swing by Archie’s. But now I have plenty of time to bike to Grampa’s, load everything into one wagon, head to Frank’s, and hopefully say hi to Archie on the way home. Also, I need to see if any of the baby merchandise sold.

Frank owns Frank’s Pawn and Salvage and smokes an old corncob pipe, and the tobacco, while horrible for his health, smells sweet and woodsy. I walk in, take a deep breath, and pause by the wall of electric guitars. I browse for a minute, for the first time in a while listening to see if anything calls to my heart.

As soon as he sees me, Frank abandons his word search puzzle and stands up. We’re not the hugging type of friends, so he gives me a single nod and reaches out for a handshake. “Mabel, I was so sorry to hear about your grampa. I gave him a call last week and we chatted for a while.”

“He’s getting better every day,” I say.

“That’s exactly what he said.” Frank laughs and then looks around me to the wagon I have piled high and parked outside. “What do you have for me?” It’s just like Frank to get right to business.

He follows me outside and starts riffling through my finds. “I’m not gonna lie to you. I have a hard time moving preowned games. But the headsets and the game consoles look great.” Frank pulls out his phone and does some price checks. “Hmm. I’ll give you two twenty-five for everything.”

“Two hundred and twenty-five dollars?”

Frank nods. I almost go ahead and give him a hug, but instead I jump up and down.

“Sounds good, I guess?” Frank laughs again. “Follow me and we’ll get you settled.”

Once the bills are in my hand, it’s not the tall stack I imagined, but still more money than I’ve ever held. When I slide the money into the small pocket on my backpack, I see the spider pin and decide to whisper, “Thank you,” maybe to the spider, maybe to Frank, or maybe just to the universe.

“See you soon, Frank. And thanks for doing business with me,” I say.

“No problem, kid. You get another load like that, bring it by anytime.” He goes back to work on his word search puzzle.

I ride to Archie’s with an empty wagon, but a backpack stuffed with cash and high hopes.

As soon as I turn into the parking lot, I see a familiar bike parked in front of the Tuesday Thrift. Archie gets up from his usual spot behind the register, and after he surrounds me with one of his signature hugs, he whispers, “He’s in aisle ten. Been waiting there for almost an hour.” Then he slides me two twenty-dollar bills. “Three plush pigs, a few onesies, and the bouncer all sold today.”

“Thanks, Archie.” I hug him back and he manages to slip butterscotch candies into my hand.

For the first time I don’t go straight to glassware, but to the back, lined with bookshelves. Jasper has three stacks on the floor and sits cross-legged with a book open on his lap and a butterscotch bulging under one cheek.

“Careful or you’ll be buried in a book avalanche,” I say.

Jasper looks up and smiles. “Hey, I had to know what happened at Frank’s and I remembered you said you were stopping by here.”

“Two. Hundred. Twenty. Five. Dollars,” I whisper. “Plus, forty more from Archie.”

“What?” Jasper’s eyes are wide.

I unzip the small pocket of my bag. “I want you to have half.” I start counting out the money, but Jasper puts his hand on mine.

“I won’t take it,” he says.

“Will you at least let me buy you a milkshake and some fries?”

Jasper laughs. “It’s hard to say no to fries.”

“And this stack of books,” I say as I pick up his tallest tower. He starts to protest. I want to tell Jasper that I’ve missed him even though it’s only been a few days. Actually, I want to give him a huge hug too.

“It’s even harder for me to turn down books,” he says.

“I know. Come on.”

Jasper and I walk to the register. Archie rings us up and asks, “Any heart finds lately?”

“Not today,” I say, like always. Jasper shakes his head as he puts his new books in his backpack.

Archie frowns but then brightens. “You know, your mom gave me a story. Wrote it down just the other day.”

“My mom?” I’m shocked. “My mom doesn’t have a heart find.”

“She was dropping off some of your grampa’s stuff and told me the story of her pearl necklace. Sure sounded like a heart find to me,” he says.

“Wait. She was dropping off what of Grampa’s?” I ask.

Archie shrugs. “Haven’t gone through the boxes yet. She said he’s finally decided to let her go through some of his things. And it’s about time.”

Suddenly my throat tightens, and I’m not sure why. I thank Archie again and walk out with Jasper.

“You okay?” Jasper asks as we walk two doors over to the diner.

“It’s just unusual for Grampa to get rid of things. It’s unusual for Mom to stop by Archie’s. And it’s even more unusual that neither of them mentioned it. Grampa never keeps secrets from me.” We walk toward the same booth we sat in last time. “About keeping secrets, I’m really sorry about the mall.”

“I would’ve gone anyway, but if you’d told me the whole story, I could have made the choice to go. I think that’s what upset me.” Jasper sighs as we slide into opposite sides of a booth. “My parents didn’t tell me my dad had lost his job for almost a month. Things were strange for the longest time, and I didn’t know why. When they finally told me what was going on, I was relieved almost, just to know the truth.”

“Wow,” I say.

Jasper nods. “I mean, they talked me through everything, tried to make sure I understood, and told me what to expect with Grandma. Mom seems happier now that she can talk to me about it a little. And Dad’s even interviewed for a few jobs here. But still I wish they’d been honest with me from the start.”

I say the only thing I can think of. “Well, I’m glad you’re here.”

“Sometimes, I am too.” Jasper laughs. “You know what I like best about your and Archie’s heart-find idea? The story part. That things aren’t just things, but sometimes they’re a story, something that their owner believes in. Does that make sense?”

I nod again. We place our order, and after the waitress leaves, Jasper cocks his head and looks at me. “You have one, don’t you?”

“Have one what?”

“Come on, Mabel. Archie already said you have a notebook. It can’t just be full of other people’s finds.” Jasper waits before saying, “So, I have one. Well, a whole collection really. You know those Little Golden Books? Well, I have most of Mom’s from when she was a kid. The stories aren’t all that great, but each one has my mother’s name written in wobbly crayon from when she was little and then my name is under hers. I don’t know why, but sometimes I can flip to that ‘This book belongs to’ page, and I feel better.”

“That’s why Grampa and I love collecting so much. And there are some objects that are extra special.”

Jasper crosses his arms and waits again.

“Okay, okay. I have this little glass basket. It’s sort of red swirled with yellow. Grampa and I found it at Archie’s a few years ago. It’s really pretty, except for a little chip in the handle. Grampa talked me into buying it, not because it was perfect, but because it was one of a kind.” Like me, is what Grampa would say if he were here.

“Like you,” Jasper says, and gives me one of his mega smiles.

I wave him off and feel my cheeks burning.

“Speaking of one of a kinds, have you come up with your completely original costume idea yet?”

“So, about that… Ashley is probably going to meet up with us too. At the Fall Festival on Friday. And then maybe we could all go trick-or-treating together on Sunday?” Why not? If Ashley can be friends with me and Farrah, why can’t I be friends with her and Jasper and McKenna too?

Jasper stares at me for what feels like forever before he says, “Okay.”

Our order arrives and he immediately takes a long drink of his milkshake then shudders.

“We’ve been friends since we were babies.” I take a burning hot fry and grab the ketchup. “She’s nice.”

“Really?” Jasper asks.

“Well, she used to be nice when she was my best friend.” I try to joke, but it’s too close to the truth to laugh.

“Back in Chicago, I didn’t have many friends my own age. I love to read for lots of reasons, but one is if my head is in a book then kids are less likely to mess with me. Sort of like a shield, I guess.” Jasper stares out the window for a minute. “Anyways, I think friends should be like bowler hats. And make you feel bigger inside.”

I nod and think over what Jasper just said about friendship. When I picture myself in that Diana Barry costume, I sure don’t feel bigger inside.

Before we leave, I ask, “Are you sure you won’t let me give you half the money?”

“Nope.” He steps onto his bike. “Every Tuesday let’s meet here, and then I’ll let you buy me a shake and fries after. Eventually, you’ll pay me back.”

“Deal,” I say. This time Jasper smiles and waves before he turns onto Cedar Drive.

Once I swing by Grampa’s, drop off the wagon, and bike home, the sun is sinking and Mom’s car is already in the parking lot.

She’s unloading groceries in the kitchen. “Hey, you’re getting home kind of late,” she says.

“Jasper met me at the Tuesday Thrift.” I leave out Frank’s and the milkshakes and french fries.

Mom looks at all the groceries, then at me. “Hey, what do you say we have dinner with Grampa tonight. After work, grocery shopping, and putting everything away, I don’t really feel like cooking.”

“Sounds good to me,” I say.

Mom grabs her bag, and we swing by Sonic for takeout and then head to Whispering Pines. The front desk nurse tells us Grampa’s in the back garden.

“I didn’t even know there was a garden,” I say to Mom.

“I told you it was nice,” she says. I roll my eyes as hard as possible. She laughs and we walk through the first floor to a set of double doors and out into a garden with a few raised beds and outdoor furniture sprinkled in clusters on a paved patio. Grampa sits at a table with Mr. Curtis, Toni, and Mrs. Wingfield. He’s peering over a small fan of cards, plays his hand, and the whole table erupts with laughter, except for Mrs. Wingfield.

When Grampa sees us his face breaks into an even bigger smile. “There’s my girl. Winning at Penny Poker and having dinner with my two favorite people as the sun sets? I don’t know if this day can get any better.”

Toni bumps Mrs. Wingfield gently and says, “Oh, Helen, lighten up. Bobby won fair and square.”

But Mrs. Wingfield is stone faced; she points at Grampa. “I don’t know about fair, but he’s a square all right.”

Mom’s eyes go wide, she leans over and whispers, “Square is an old insult; it means boring.” The rest of the table is quiet for a second, before they all crack up again and Mrs. Wingfield manages a little grin.

We end up at a table in the cafeteria with Grampa. Mr. Curtis brings his tray over and sits with us and so does Toni. It’s a rowdy dinner full of loud laughter and bad jokes. Mom and I even stay and watch some show about Navy detectives. Seeing Grampa with all his new friends makes me feel hopeful that things might work out with mine.

By the time we get back to the Cascades it’s dark. Mom yawns and points to her purse on the floorboard beneath my legs. “Would you mind grabbing my bag?”

My phone buzzes. “I’ll be up in just a sec.” Mom nods and heads to the stairs. I look at my phone. It’s a text from Jasper saying Costume Clue #1 with a photo of a ballpoint pen. I shake my head, grab Mom’s bag, and open the door. Mom’s purse opens and a few things spill out onto my seat. Mixed with the lipsticks and a tiny package of tissues are three business cards, all for real estate agents.

Mom wasn’t just getting rid of a few of Grampa’s things. She’s selling his house.