On Saturday mornings, my favorite thing to do is go to garage sales! As soon as I wake up, I get excited. Today I get to go with Momma, Granny, and Pappy. I love garage sales!

I look out my window and notice that the sky is streaked with gray, gold, and pink. Then I notice something else. Granny and Pappy are already parked in front of our house on Peachtree Lane, waiting for me and Momma. I bet Pa’s rooster hasn’t even crowed yet.

I better hurry up! If I take too long, Pappy will honk the horn and wake up Miss Clarabelle, my neighbor.

I hurry to get dressed. Momma calls, “Kylie Jean, are you ready to go yet?”

“Almost,” I yell. “Don’t leave without me. Okay?”

I just need my pink purse. It’s not anywhere in my room. When I go downstairs, Ugly Brother is waiting by the front door.

I ask, “Did you see my purse?”

He barks, “Ruff.”

One bark means no.

If I have to go to the sales without any money, it won’t be much fun.

“Come on, Kylie Jean,” Momma calls from the kitchen. “Granny and Pappy are waiting.”

“Ugly Brother, please, please help me look for it!” I beg.

Then I see something pink poking out from under his tail, so I run over and pull out my purse. It has a sparkly cupcake on the front.

“Ugly Brother!” I yell. “Were you lying to me?”

He whines and lies down on the floor. He looks sad. Then I realize why he hid my purse.

“You don’t want me to leave, do you, boy,” I say, giving him a pat.

Ugly Brother agrees. “Ruff, ruff!”

I grab my purse. When I shake it, I can tell there’s money inside, so I don’t need to go back to my room and get money from my piggy bank. A girl has to have money to go shopping, right?

“Ready, Momma!” I say. She walks into the living room and we head outside.

Momma slides across the giant back seat of Pappy’s old-timey car. I scoot in beside her.

Momma announces, “Sorry, everybody. We’re running late because Kylie Jean lost her purse again.”

Pappy laughs. “It always takes that pretty little girl a while to get ready,” he says. “I was getting ready to honk, but then you came on out.”

Granny asks, “Who’s hungry for pancakes?”

“I’m so hungry for pancakes I could eat a full stack all by myself!” I say.

Pappy smiles. “Okay, first pancakes, then garage sales,” he says.

Before I know it, we’re pulling in to the Pancake Palace. It’s a funny building that looks like a castle. Outside, it is covered with stone. It has heavy wood doors and a tower with a tiny window. Inside, the floor is red and white like a checkerboard, and the tables are red, too.

We sit down. Our waitress comes to take our order right away. “How are y’all?” she asks. “What are you having today? Coffee, right?”

I say, “We’re peachy keen, and today I’m a garage sale queen. I would like a short stack and juice, please, ma’am.”

Momma, Pappy, and Granny all order their breakfasts. Our waitress scratches it all down on a notepad with her pencil, and then disappears into the kitchen. Faster than you can say “flapjacks,” she comes back with a tray loaded down with our food.

My plate is piled high with pancakes. I pour syrup all over the top of my pancakes, and it runs down over the edge of the plate and onto the table.

“Oops!” I exclaim.

Momma dips her napkin in her water glass and hands it to me. She says, “Wipe up that mess right away, Kylie Jean, or you’ll be too sticky to go to garage sales.”

It’s quiet while we eat. We are all too busy chewing to do much talking!

Once Pappy and I are done eating, he leans over and whispers, “If you’re going to garage sales, you gotta have a plan.” Then he shows me the sale ads in the paper.

Using a pink marker, we circle the ones that say “huge” or “big sale.” Sometimes more than one family or even a group like a church will have a sale. You have to know the best neighborhoods for sales, too. Some places only have junk, and you want to find the really good stuff.

We map out our route and load into the car. We are ready to shop, shop, shop!

At the first sale, Momma gets a fancy new dress with the tags still on it for five dollars.

While she pays, I notice that there’s a boy selling ice-cold water in bottles for one dollar each. It is already hot out, so lots of people are buying water while they wait to pay.

In the car, Momma says, “Wasn’t that little boy selling water cute?”

“He was a born salesman,” Granny says. “He asked everyone who walked up to buy water.”

The next sale is on River Road.

Granny digs through a box of junky jewelry and buys an old necklace for fifty cents. After she pays, Granny puts the necklace in the palm of my hand. I like the sparkly fake diamonds on it. They twinkle like stars in a night sky.

As we leave, I see that at this sale, there’s a boy sitting behind a card table. He’s selling some watery pink Kool-Aid for fifty cents a cup. His pitcher has flies buzzing around it. Ick! Flies remind me of Pa’s cow pasture.

On Dogwood Street, Pappy buys an old camera for two dollars. A little bitty girl and her big sister are out front selling lemonade for twenty-five cents.

Granny tells the girls, “You sure do have a good price on your lemonade. I’ll take a cup.”

The sister helps the tiny girl pour Granny a cup. We head to the car.

Granny takes a sip and makes a terrible scrunched-up face. She cries, “They forgot to put the sugar in this! It’s so sour, it will curl your hair.”

The last sale we go to is at my friend Cara’s house. I find the cutest orange stuffed kitten for a dollar.

I show the little kitty to Momma. “Isn’t this little cat adorable?” I ask.

Momma doesn’t say anything because she does not want me to have any more stuffed animals. I count out all of my change and Cara helps me count, too. I only have sixty-eight cents.

“Please, Momma, can I borrow some money?” I ask sweetly. “I just need a little bit more. I can pay you back when we get home.”

Momma shakes her head. “No way, little lady,” she says. “You have too many stuffed toys already!”

Pappy says, “I’ll lend you the money. If you’ll make me a promise.”

“Okay,” I say. “I’ll do anything for this cute little kitten!”

Pappy looks me in the eye and asks, “Do you promise to give away one of your stuffed animals to your cousin Lucy?”

Right away, I agree. “Yup! I promise.” Then he grins and gives me a loan.

Borrowing money is not easy. I think I better get my very own job. Then I can buy any ol’ thing I want!

As we are leaving, I see sodas in a cooler full of ice. There’s a sign that says, “Cokes for $1.50 each.”

Cara asks, “Do you want to buy some Cokes?”

“They sure do look icy cold, sweet, and delicious!” I say, glancing at Pappy.

“We’ll take four of those drinks,” Pappy says, handing Cara six dollars. “Here you go!”

Cara is getting RICH! And she’s not the only one. At almost every sale there has been a kid out front selling something! I need to get a business, too!