“One
man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Daddy said when they arrived at the
yard sale. He handed Mia her single one-dollar bill. She folded it in her hand
and shoved it in her pocket.
Mia hated the way the dollar smelled,
but she loved how excited she felt having it. Shopping for treasures on the
weekends was her special time with Daddy.
“Daddy, doesn’t all this stuff on the
ground remind you of the beach?” she said, pointing.
Spread across the lawn were sheets
covered with candy dishes and yellowed plastic bowls and worn-out shoes and old
cartoon movies. A breeze tickled at the frayed edges of torn blankets. A quick
gust of wind blew Mia’s hair and tangled her ponytail.
Looking over, she saw Daddy’s mouth
turn up at the corners. His crooked smile made her think of a question mark. He
didn’t understand, but that was okay. She tried again.
She grabbed his hand. “You know at the
beach . . . that raggedy line of stuff on the sand after the water goes away?
Like the seaweed that’s all mixed up with the bits of shells. Sometimes, if you
walk slow and look careful, you can find a whole sand dollar that’s not broken
to bits.”
“A sand dollar prize? Like finding a
great hammer. Sure.” He nodded down at her.
“Like mermaid treasure.”
“You’re a funny girl, Mia,” he said.
When grownups said things like that to
her, she felt itchy, not sure if it was a good thing to be a funny girl who saw
seaweed in the fluttery edge of sheets on the grass at a yard sale. Once in a
while, Daddy stared at her as if she were a sand dollar hidden under a pile of
shells and barnacles.
He held her hand as they wandered
around card tables draped with blouses, winter sweaters, and baseball hats. He
always wore his greasy work coveralls when they went treasure hunting together,
his name stitched in blue and black on his chest. He seemed tired and rumpled
but in a nice way.
He walked her to a table with books,
puzzles, and games.
“Here’s someplace where you might find
a surprise. Wish me luck. I’m going to check for treasure over in the tools.”
He left her and walked away. She watched him say good morning to the boss lady
of the yard sale and nod to another lady who pawed through a stack of baby
clothes.
If only he could find one of those
strange-sounding treasures he liked. He told her their fancy names: torque
wrenches and channel-lock pliers. They had exotic and mysterious names, but
they were only greasy old tools.
Mia picked up a book and was
disappointed to see that she’d already read it. The puzzles were too easy. She
was admiring a picture of a kitten on a pencil box when the sharp glint of sun
on glass caught her eye, distracting her. Something sparkled in the jumble. Was
it glass? Crystal? Or even diamonds? Her heart jumped.
Her eyes searched the stack of dusty jars, the
old dishes, and the banged-up pots and pans. Somewhere in the pile was a
mystery that turned sunlight into fireworks.
Mia walked to the edge of the blue
blanket. Light jumped out at her again. She squinted and found it, the source
of the sparkle. It was the curve of cut glass arching away into the promise of
a perfect circle: A crystal ball! A real one! Half hidden and tipped on its
edge against a chipped bowl.
Mia forgot to breathe.
The sign at the edge of the blanket
read Everything One Dollar. She
checked the other shoppers. Had anyone else seen it? A lady and a boy rummaged
through a box of belts and purses next to the puzzle table. Another little boy
dragged at his father’s hand, begging to have a plastic horse with a black mane
and tail.
Where was Daddy? Her heart
thumped-thumped faster. He stood by a stack of tires. She waved her hand to get
his attention, hoping that the others wouldn’t notice. She wanted to yell,
“Hurry, hurry!” Please hurry before someone else finds the magical thing hiding
next to a dented teakettle. They would scoop it up. She knew it. Instead of
shouting, she waved harder. He waved back and walked toward her.
“Daddy,” she said, grabbing at his
shirtsleeve when he was close enough. “Daddy, do you see it?”
She didn’t want to take the chance and
point, so she dipped her head toward the blanket and whispered, “Daddy, there!
Next to that broken bowl. There. Right there. Can you believe it? And it’s only
one dollar.”
He followed her pointing finger and
then shrugged. “Mia, what do you want me to see?”
“There, Daddy.” Desperate, she took two
steps onto the blanket. Mia bent down, pushed away a mixing bowl and wooden
spoon. She picked up the crystal ball and held it out in front of her like a
fragile egg.
He squinted at the dazzling
magic she cradled and then stared at her with a confused frown.
Pulling the globe out of
her hands, he studied it. “Mia? What do you think
it is?”
She peeked around him to
check on the other shoppers. They must not find out about her marvelous discovery.
“Shhh, Daddy. Someone will hear you.”
“Hear what? What are you
talking about?”
How could he not know?
How could he not see what a prize she’d found? She waved him down next to her,
so that she could whisper in his ear. In a rush, she said,
“Can’t you see? It’s a crystal ball. The kind fortunetellers use.”
He blinked hard,
surprised. “But, Honey.”
In his big, rough hands
the crystal ball looked delicate and mysterious. He turned it over and put his
fist into the opening in the bottom, and he rubbed the inside with his knuckles.
Did he know some wonderful way to use its magic? Was this how it worked?
He tipped the globe
upright and shook it. A shower of brittle, dead mosquitoes fell out of its
hollow center.
“Honey, we have one just
like it in our bathroom. It’s called a fixture, a light fixture.” He held up
the cheap glass dome used to cover up light bulbs.
“Oh . . . but I thought
it was . . . something else. ”
Mia covered her mouth
with her hand to hide the way she needed to bite her lip—hard. Her hand smelled sweaty and dirty like the
dollar bill.
Daddy tossed the glass
fixture back into the heap of junk, and patting her head, he said, “Next time,
Mia. Next time you’ll find treasure.”
