My Sister's Keeper: Book One

Antiquing

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!!😀

The next day, my mom called me and asked me to pick up an antique vase for a member of her church. A young woman at her church had just bought a new house with her husband, and my mom bought her a housewarming gift, but she had something come up, so she asked me to deliver it for her, and since we ended things on a good note yesterday I wanted to continue the normalcy between us. 

So I headed straight to the antique store to pick up a blue and green vase. I walked in, and it was packed with old and aged objects that had too high price tags on most of them. It looked very fancy though. The store was a good size, but it felt small with all the antiqued objects cluttered around. 

There were also a lot of paintings that had a huge sticker on them that read 'sold'.

I finally found my way to a counter where a tall man was talking on a phone. I stood there for a few seconds, waiting for him to acknowledge my presence, but then a short blonde-haired woman who looked to be in her early 50s came from the back and smiled at me. "Hey sweetheart, what can I help you with this fine morning?" she asked sweetly. I smiled as I told her what I came for. "Ah, yes the beautiful glass vase...I'll bring it out here for you, it's wrapped in plastic, so be very careful." she warned, before walking into the back to retrieve it for me.

She walked back in with a medium-sized blue and dark green vase. It was really pretty. "Yeah, this vase was made in 1898, it was originally placed in a Duke's mansion in Great Britain," she informed me, as she printed the receipt for me. "Wow, how much is it worth?" I asked, wondering how much my mother spent on it. "Oh, just 1,350 dollars," she said casually. I raised my eyebrows slightly as I heard the number. Of course, my mom probably just wanted to save face, to make everyone think she had plenty of money...which she probably does, but still. I thanked the nice woman and walked out of the store with the vase, placed it carefully in my rental car, and drove to the address she had given me. 

It was a nice house, it had a brick paved sidewalk by it and a cobblestone pathway led up to the front porch. I got out of the car, and I quickly noticed the garden of various beautiful flowers that surrounded the front of the two-story, navy-blue happy home. I grabbed the vase and headed towards the door. A young woman with dirty blonde hair and a black and white striped shirt with distressed blue jeans opened her door excitedly before I even knocked. "Hi, I was expecting you, your mother told me you would be coming instead of her, she is such a thoughtful and selfless woman." she bragged while holding a hand over her heart dramatically. I smiled briefly before handing her the vase, but instead, she pulled me inside her house.  

"Stay, sit, have some tea...I'll get you some, decaffeinated or caffeinated?" she asked me heading towards the archway that opened to her kitchen. "Decaffeinated," I replied, glancing around at the artwork covering her living room. There was no television propped on the wall over the white fireplace mantel like regular American homes. She had in its place an antiqued shelf of black and white artwork of three pictures, each showing different scenes of her and her husband dancing at their wedding. It was truly beautiful, they looked so in love and it struck a little jealousy in me if I was honest. Her décor overall was very free-spirited and true to regular Texas custom.

She then came strolling back in with our tea, even though I wasn't planning to stay long. She smiled at me as she noticed I was looking around. 

"We got this house renovated before we moved in a month ago...Chandler told me I could pick anything I wanted out, as long as he could orchestrate the design of the man cave upstairs."  she laughed. I smiled briefly as I sipped the hot tea she gave me. I wasn't much of a hot tea drinker. I set it down as she smiled at me, sipping from her cup. "So, where do you work down here?" she asked, crossing her legs.