The woman carefully took the statue out of Skye’s reach. Again she
looked her up and down as if she was trying to see something deep and under her
skin. “Why are you interested?” She asked.
Skye looked at her blankly, “Because it’s beautiful…it stands out over
everything else.” Skye would only take her eyes off it for a split second, her
eyes and hands drawn to it. The woman only held it closer to her while she
turned Skye’s words over in her head.
Behind her Leigh and Anna stood silently. Shooting each other intense looks. They were
not going to get involved in this. When Skye wanted something she would do what
she had to in order get it. It's the
only time either of them saw a hard side to her. Leigh noticed that Skye’s
stance had changed, the way she shifted her
feet apart when she was getting agitated with a haggler appeared, her back was
straight as she stood to her full height but the old woman wasn’t saying
anything. She just stood protectively with the statue in her arms. Her gaze not
leaving Skye's.
Impatience started to surface and after the emotional train wreck she
had been all day Skye felt her fingers start to twitch. Her legs started to get
restless too. As she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. The old woman
only stared at her with hard foggy eyes. Skye could not handle the silence any
longer, she took a deep breath and broke the silence first. “So…how much?” she
repeated and didn't recognize the low protective tone. When the woman still didn’t
answer she said, “Obviously you wanted to sell it or it wouldn’t have been on
the table.”
The woman looked at the statue and spoke only to the black figure, caressing
the face of the woman with care. “You weren’t supposed to be on the table.”
Anna gave a confused look first to Skye and then to Leigh her hands rose up to
her temple and formed the crazy sign as her lips pursed on a low whistle. Skye
couldn’t take much more and put her hands down to lean against the table. She was
shaking and chose her words carefully so she wouldn’t spook the old woman.
“Well…then” She said matter-of-factly,
“I guess it was meant for me.”
The woman smiled then and gave the other girls a sideways glance. Her
voice sounded light and she straightened up. “Yes,” she said happily “it seems
that way.” She immediately turned and strode straight to the back of her car which
was parked on the other side of the willow tree. She rummaged around in the
trunk throwing things this way and that not caring where they went until she
had found what she was looking for.
When she returned the woman
was holding a white box and an envelope that looked older than dirt. She put
the white box on the table continuing to hold the statue in her arms, cradling
it like a baby. She extended her hand with the envelope in it to towards Skye
motioning for her to take it. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and
although her brain was flashing warning signs, reluctantly she took it.
“What’s this?” Skye asked turning the envelope over in her hands. The
woman hummed a tune under her breath as she carefully opened the box and pulled
aside layers of red velvet inside it. She looked up at Skye and replied “Call
it instructions for her future care.” Gently she lowered the statue into the
box and her eyes held sadness. Skye raised an eyebrow, “Her?” she asked. The
woman shook her head in mild frustration. “Yes…her. Her name is Raven.” Skye
turned to Leigh since she was the closest one to her at this point and
shrugged. After Raven was in the box the old woman pulled the velvet layers
back around it. Tucking it in and closing the lid securely in place, then with
an outstretched hand to Skye the woman said, “My name is Gertie and that will
be one dollar.”
Walking back to the truck Skye
replayed what happened back at the willow tree in her head and couldn't shake
the feeling that what had happened was nowhere near normal but on the fringes
of her mind felt familiar. She needed a drink, a big tall drink. This day was a shit show from the second she
woke up. The truck roared to life when Skye turned the key. And she relaxed at the
thought of leaving. She was done with this whole day and wanted to pack it in
and start fresh. Behind her in the back seat sat the statue in the white oak
box. The inside was lined with padding covered in dark red velvet from what she
had seen. Leigh was settling in the passenger seat and put on her seat belt following
Skye's gaze she glanced at the box. “So…what’s with the statue?” Skye looked rubbed
her eyes and looked in the rear view mirror to see if Anna was behind them yet.
“I don’t know?” she thought for a moment, “I just couldn’t stop staring
at it. It's so beautiful.” Leigh stifled a laugh “Oh did it call to you?” there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Skye squashed the
feeling of being the butt of her joke, “Ha…ha” she said “very funny. I don’t
know why she wouldn’t let me touch it though?” Although she didn't have the
urge to touch it now at all.
Skye thought about it again. “It was only one dollar?” She mumbled.
“After all of that mysterious crap and ignoring me, she only charged me one
dollar?” Leigh was fussing with the radio trying to find a song that she could
sing along to. “So, was it a bad deal?” she asked. “No!” Skye replied sharply,
“for a dollar I’ll make something off it for sure.” Anna had finally pulled up
behind them and wave through the window. “I’ll have to do some research though,
to see what it could be worth and see if I can find a collector that would be
interested in something like this.” Skye pondered the thought briefly but had a
feeling it was going to be kept by her seeing as it was so beautiful and
unique.
“Yay…” Leigh chimed “the boring stuff, just what I like to stay out of.”
Skye looked at her, cocked and eyebrow and they both laughed. She turned her
head to look out the back window, gave Anna a thumbs up and Anna waved in
return. She didn’t even check the stuff that Anna bought seeing as technically
the shop was paying for everything and they would turn a profit somehow plus
she trusted her judgement completely.
She tried to end that thought before it took hold but it was too late.
She remembered that she might not have a shop or a house if she couldn’t come
up with the mortgage payment in 30 days. Sadness began to take hold of her
again and her eyes shot to the rear-view mirror and the box in the backseat. She was going to have to sell it there was no way around it.
Skye had a feeling that what was in there might help them more than she
could imagine. She hoped with every fiber of her being that it would pull them
out of the deep hole she was falling into. If not there was only one other
person she could go to for help and she didn’t want to take any help from him
if she could help it. It wasn’t only her though it was the kids too, so there
was only him as a last resort. It would be a final last ditch effort that it
would kill her to use.
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