Note from Slickman: Been to a good yard sale lately? Have you found things that were very private that the people didn't know were out there? All rights reserved.
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"HUGE FAMILY YARD SALE, Saturday, October 1, 2005. Multi-family. Lots of stuff. 102 Belmar Drive. No early birds. 8:00AM to Noon."
Annie Flanagan read the ad one more time before sending it to the local newspaper. They only had one week to get everything out of storage and priced. She picked up the phone and called her brother Bill's house. Her niece Barbie answered.
"Barbie, this is Aunt Annie, is your family ready for the yard sale next weekend?
"Jake and I have our stuff ready but Mom and Dad are not even close," the young 18 year old high school senior replied. Jake is her identical twin.
"I'm sending in the ad right now so tell them to get their stuff ready," Annie said. She hung up the phone and yelled down at her husband Tim. "Do you have everything priced yet?"
"No, but we have all week," Tim yelled back. His wife was getting on his nerves.
"I don't want to wait until the last minute," she yelled back. "How about your parents? Do they have their stuff ready?"
"I doubt it," Tim said. He knew his parents always waited until the last minute.
"Well I'm finished with ours so I'm going to offer them some help."
"Good," Tim said smiling. Now maybe she would get out of his hair.
Annie called and her mother-in-law Betty answered. "Hi Betty I was wondering if you need my help with your yard sale stuff?"
"Sure, come on over, Jack just brought a bunch of boxes down from the attic. I can use your help."
*****
"Have you checked all of those boxes?" Betty asked her husband as he walked from the garage. "I don't want anybody to see any of our pre-kids stuff."
"I threw that stuff away," Jack said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
It was an hour later when Annie pulled up in her new SUV. The garage door was open and she saw her mother-in-law looking in some boxes. "Wow, you've got a lot of old stuff."
"I just want to make sure there's nothing valuable in here," Betty said looking in the last box. "I don't see anything."
"Good, so why don't you take a break and let me sort all of this stuff out on the floor. You can come back later and take out the stuff you don't want to sell."
"Thank you," Betty said, dirty and sweating. "I need a break."
Ann put on her gloves and opened the first box. It contained a lot of old books that some things collectors might want. She piled them up in the corner and tossed the empty box aside. The next two boxes had some old clothing that looked worthless so she put them in another pile. What is worthless to one person might be someone else's treasure. She looked at the ten other boxes and shook her head.
After two more boxes with old picture frames and dishes she found a box that had been pushed under one of the shelves in the garage. It didn't look as if Betty had looked inside. She blew off the dust on top and used her razor knife to cut the thick packaging tape. She sat on a box nearby and pulled it open.
"Oh my God," Betty whispered when she saw some silky clothing. She picked up a sheer nightgown and saw two holes where a woman's breasts would stick outward. Beneath the top was a pair of crotchless panties. She put them down and pulled open a small box. Her mouth opened wide from shock as her eyes looked at a huge black dildo. "Can this stuff be my conservative in-laws?" She asked herself.
Betty touched the dildo and was amazed that it felt like a real penis except it was cold. It had a slot for batteries and a small on and off switch. She glanced at the door to the house to make sure no one was coming out as she lifted the small box and saw a large manila envelope. She opened it and stopped when she saw photographs inside.
*****
An hour later Betty walked back out and saw everything on the floor and all the empty boxes in the corner.
"I've........uh...got them....opened," Annie said nervously. She was having trouble looking at the woman she had admired for so long.
"Thank you so much Annie," Betty said. "You do more for us than our own kids."
"No problem. Why don't I leave you alone with this stuff and then you can take your time going through it. I'll come back tomorrow and help you price whatever you want." Before Betty could answer Annie grabbed her purse and almost ran to her car. On the way home she glanced at the small cardboard box sitting on the floor in front of the passenger seat.
*****
Jake was listening to his headphones when his bedroom door flew open. He saw his twin sister glaring at him. He pulled off his headphones. "Shit, Barbie, when are you going to start knocking?" He pulled the sheet over his boxers.
"Get real, you have nothing I haven't already seen," she laughed. Although it had been about twelve years ago. "Are you going to help me with the yard sale stuff? Mom said we get to keep the money we make."
"How would you like it if I barged into your room at any time?"
"I wouldn't care. I am your sister," she giggled. "Well are you going to help?"
"Yes," he grinned as he pushed off the sheet and stood proudly showing the large tent in his boxers. Suddenly Barbie's eyes got big and she turned and ran from the room.
Twenty minutes later he moved into the tight attic space and saw her sitting on the flooring reading a small book. She heard his footsteps and quickly pushed the book down behind her leg. "JAKE!"
"What where you reading?" he asked as he moved over next to her.
"Nothing," she said as she pushed the book under her ass and sat on it.
"If it's nothing then you won't mind me doing this," he said as he grabbed her arm and jerked her upward. Before she could respond he had the book in his hand. "A diary?"
"Yes, it was Mom's," Annie said. "I know I shouldn't have read some of it but I did. You better not read it."
"Shit, I have to read it now," Jake laughed as he held her an arms length away. He read the second page twice:
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"November 14th.
"He stopped by again today but I wouldn't let him in. I told him it was a mistake and that we couldn't do it again. I wanted so much for him to come inside but I knew if he did I could never face my husband again. If Annie or Bill found out our families would be destroyed."
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Jake lifted his eyes from the book. "Who is she talking about?"