Page 70 of Bookworm
Ten minutes later, I’d found three more books—A Swiftly Tilting Planetby Madeleine L’Engle, the 1933 compilation of Poe’s works, titledTales of Mystery and Imagination, and the jackpot discovery, a first edition ofCharlie and the ChocolateFactorycomplete with dust jacket…. A copy of which had sold on eBay a couple years ago for a whopping $1800.
I had a strong suspicion that the entire box was filled with books that were at least worth 50-100 bucks each. “Excuse me,” I asked the man running the table. “Do you know anything about the books in this box?”
He leaned over examining the box briefly before nodding. “Oh yeah. Picked that up at an estate sale. The guy’s wife just wanted ‘em out of the house. She gave me that box and this one.” He bent down, pulling out a second box chock full of books from somewhere below the table.
“Could I give you $200 for both boxes?”
He eyed me warily like I knew something he didn’t… which to be fair, I did. But that was the point of a flea market. I had no doubt he paid all of $50 for these books plus probably a van full of other stuff at that estate sale.
“Three hundred,” he haggled with me.
I opened my wallet, counting the cash I had on me. “Two hundred-thirty five.” I pulled out a wad of bills and held them up. “It’s literally all I have on me.”
With a nod, he smiled. “Sold.”
Isat on the floor of my apartment with nine valuable books fanned out in front of me. They’re not exactly enough for a down payment on a house. But a few of them were worth a thousand dollars or more.
For getting the whole box for two hundred and thirty five?
I was in good shape. Especially for one day at a flea market.
Adam peeked over his shoulder at me from the stovetop, where he was cooking something that smelled salty and delicious. “Well?”
“It’s a good haul,” I admitted. The rest of the books weren’t really worth anything, but I could donate them to the public library.
Verne lifted his head from where he was laying on the couch, curiously examining if his dad was planning to toss a baby carrot his way. But when no food catapulted across the room, he curled back up to snooze again.
I eyed Jules across the room where she sat on the windowsill, tail swishing as she glanced at the books in front of me. “Don’t even think about it,” I muttered to her, then carefully stacked the valuable books together and placed them in the closet where she couldn’t get to them.
I’d still have to reach out to O’Macklin’s contact tomorrow. As good a haul as these books were, they didn’t buy me a whole lot more time. Especially since this apartment was being supplemented by Dartmouth. As soon as I was finished with their library, I’d have to find another place to stay which stressed me out more than I cared to admit. Although it was nice to know I could always go stay with Dad and Addy for a couple of weeks.
Chewing on my thumbnail, I plopped down on the couch beside Verne, still lost in thought.
“Hello? Earth to Harper.”
“Huh?”
Adam tilted his head at me, pausing to slide the casserole dish into the oven. Then, tossing the oven mitts aside, he came over and sat down beside me. “What’s going on? You’ve been so stressed lately. I thought you’d relax a little when I realized you’d struck gold at the flea market.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “I wouldn’t exactly call this gold, but yeah. It does help.” A little.
“But?”
“But… I need to start thinking about what’s next for me,” I admitted. I looked up to catch my reflection in the TV and could tell that my cheeks had gone beet red.
Admitting that, finally, aloud to Adam lifted the weight that’d been crushing me off my shoulders. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
“What are your options?” Adam asked after a brief pause.
“Well, I should finish up at Dartmouth in the next week or so. And after that, I’m sure they’ll let me use this place for a little bit between gigs, but it’s faculty housing. So I’ll need to move… quickly. I mean, I could go stay with my Dad between jobs, but?—”
“Or me.”
I froze. “What?”
“You could stay with me.”
I gulped. Was he asking what I thought he was asking? “Like… stay with you a few days while I find a place? Stay with you a couple weeks until my next job?”
