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{Straight From the Heart}   *The Yard Sale*  4/18/00
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The Yard Sale

By:  Terri Davis


Quite a few years back, when yard sales were just beginning to 
get popular, I felt compelled to stop at each one I came to. I had 
this notion that I'd miss out on something really special if I drove
on by. Having recently graduated high school, I was eagerly collecting 
"stuff" for when I got my own place.

One beautiful spring day I was traveling a back
road with a friend. We saw a "yard sale" sign up
ahead and I convinced him to stop. I assumed that
since we were on a country road, all the "good
stuff" hadn't been picked over yet.

We coasted into this yard sale and were the only
ones there. After a quick glance around, I could see
why. The items were mostly "junk". The sale was
being tended by an elderly lady who initiated
conversation before we were even through crawling
out of the car.

Even though there was nothing there either of us
wanted, we pretended to browse for a few minutes
to be polite. My friend was in conversation with the
woman in charge when I spotted it. "It" was a
mounted deer head sitting on the ground, propped
up against a table leg. This poor thing had seen
better days. There were little patches of hair missing
here and there. The eyes looked crusty. Cobwebs
were growing between the antlers. I couldn't help but
stare.

The old woman mistook my amazement as an
interest to buy. She walked up and lovingly patted
the deer on the head as she proceeded to tell us
the hunting tale, as had been related to her by her
now deceased husband.

All would have been well except for one thing.
When she patted the deer on the head, dust flew
out from both its nostrils. That is when I made a
grave mistake; I looked at my friend and he was
looking right back at me!

I felt a deep belly laugh about to erupt and quickly
took interest in something on another table. I got
as far away from the two of them as I could. I was
trying very hard to hold in the guffaws. I'm sure to
the two of them, I appeared to be having some
sort of spasm.

I gave up trying to get myself under control and
headed for the car. I sat down and was rocking
back and forth, slapping my leg when my friend
jumped in the car and drove us away from the
scene. I am very proud of the composure my
friend retained in the face of such a humorous
situation. He deserved a medal.

It wasn't until later that night, during a time of
quiet reflection, that I began thinking about that
little old lady. I finally realized that she was having
the yard sale to get some human contact. I
remembered her saying that she was a widow
and that her children lived rather far away. I began
to be overwhelmed with feelings of guilt.

The next day I returned to her yard sale under the
pretense of deciding I wanted a couple of items I
had seen the day before. We ended up sitting at
her picnic table and having quite a long chat.
Nothing was mentioned about my abrupt departure
of the day before.

Finally, it was time for me to go and I'd completely
managed to avoid the "deer table". As I got in the
car and started it up, I glanced back at the little old
lady with the intention of waving bye. She had
picked up the deer head and had it on the table
in front of her. We waved "bye" to each other and
I'll never forget what happened next. She patted
the deer on the head and gave me one of the
biggest grins I've ever seen!

© 2000 Terri Davis 
ludwig63@yahoo.com

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A little bit about Terri:

Terri is happily married and the mother of a six-year-old son.
The family enjoys camping and fishing, while Terri enjoys gardening 
and quilting.  Terri has a personal relationship with the Lord and 
encourages all others to do
the same.
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  _
/_/\/\    MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\  /    THUNDER27@aol.com   http://members.aol.com/Thunder27/index.html
/_/  \    "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
\_\/\ \   Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body I live for the Son
   \_\/   of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."  Galatians 2:20	



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