Is this the final stop? (Toni Shalifoe)

Chapter 19

Toni pushes the idea of hunting with Dave and Shelby as far back into her mind as it can go. Shelby doesn't seem as concerned about it. She's too tunnel-visioned on the garage sales.

"Let's go!" Shelby immediately runs off, leaving Toni in the dust. She dashes to the first house and snakes her way through the rows of items. Toni stands exactly as she was, just watching the scene. Living in Shelby's world. Seeing the joy on that girl's face. She could stay there forever.

A bike bell startles her out of her thoughts and she's jumping out of the way as a neighborhood kid races through on his bmx. Toni decides to go to the other side of the street to find her gifts for Shelby. To hide them and make sure they stay surprises.

Her hands trace over the items on the table. Sure, a lot of it is random, baseball cards, different mugs from vacation trips, even some old Bowflex workout machine. But what it reminds Toni is that all of these mean something to someone. While they are letting go of the item, they hold onto the memory.

Toni could never hold a garage sale for herself. She doesn't have enough to even give away. She barely has enough to get by.

She takes a deep sigh, trying not to focus on all the things she doesn't have. But, with seeing all of these rich families' throwaways, it's hard. You can't even call them that. Some of the clothes on the racks still have tags on them. $79.99. Now it's got a sticker for three dollars. While that's definitely the deal of the century, she recognizes how disposable things can be to some people.

She's surely seen it with the Goodkind family. With that breakfast bowl. If something's broken, buy a new one. Change it. Never fix it. Just throw it away. She wonders if they'll do that to her.

Toni wanders to the next house, it's more vintage. The owner sits in the back by the garage door that leads inside the house. He's old, but is pleasantly fanning himself. This is a much better stock of items. Not the baby clothes or used phone cases or even expensive clothing.

No, this has 1950s glass Coke bottles. An original polaroid camera. Crystal and mineral energy stones. She picks up the polaroid camera. Case and all, it also includes the original photocards that the pictures go onto. Listed for $6, Toni doesn't even hesitate. It's perfect.

To capture the memories. To hide them from Dave. He can't hack physical copies. He can't find it on their phones.

Onto the next house, it's way more religious. Crosses galore, different bible coverings, even some faith board games. But something sparkling catches her eye. $4. She grabs it.

She's been walking around for what feels like 20 minutes, but still hasn't found a proper corny gift. Something to make fun of Shelby—which shouldn't be as hard as it is.

Toni also looks in the free boxes at some of the houses, the kind of things people just toss into and forget about. But then she thinks of something. She doesn't need an extra gift. Plus, she knows Shelby wouldn't let her hear the end of it if she didn't follow the rules to the letter. $10 only.

Toni runs back to Shelby's house with only seconds to spare. She rounds the corner and sees Shelby perched on the steps, her items in gift bags. With tissue paper.

Toni stops in her tracks, "I—uh, I didn't..." She trails off as she clumsily holds the items in her arms. Luckily, the biggest item is in its own carrier, so it's not just out in the open.

"No, I just went a little above and beyond, that's all. I had some extra time," Shelby smiles.

"Oh, so you just bought the first thing you saw then?" Toni teases.

Shelby's eyes widen, "No! That's not it at all! Well... I actually found them real quick, and since I spent my money so fast, I thought I'd run back and put it in the bag. You know, dress it up. For the big reveal." Her eyes shift to the bag, then flick back to Toni, her eyes wanting to reveal everything. Share every secret that bag holds.