but torn beyond mending. sometimes she’d let crystal touch the few old pins and necklaces nestled on cotton wool. her mother said they were pieces she found or her grandmother owned. she told crystal the box would be hers one day, but after she died, the box disappeared.
he turned on the lamp beside her. “here’s your second present.” he handed her a newspaper clipping.
“i go to the house before the estate sale is announced and ask whoever is there if i can buy some of the dead person’s stuff, or help them fix up the place if they’re going to sell. i can do it off hours and cheap. they 