The Longest Yard Sale Read Free Page A

There’s a series of small fires smoldering all around the area.”
    Shock and relief swept through me. The thought of an arsonist on the loose was awful, but at least the fires had nothing to do with my event. “Where?”
    â€œOne’s near the start of the Rails to Trails path.”
    The path was only a few miles from the town common. It runs from Ellington to Cambridge and is heavily utilized by bikers, runners, and Rollerbladers. A biking magazine recently named it one of the best paths in America because of the ancient trees shading it and the easy access it provided to historical sites.
    â€œHow bad is it? Is there any damage?”
    â€œI don’t know. I’m waiting for a report.”
    â€œWhere are the other fires?”
    â€œOne near the old missile silos on that land Harvard owns. A bigger fire at the old chicken coops on the VA property in Bedford. And one near the high school football field. The brand-new millions -of-dollars Astro Turf field.” Nancy emphasized the word millions as if I didn’t know. It had been years in the making and a hotly debated topic around town.
    â€œHow could one person start that many fires so far apart from one another? Especially on a day like today when the roads are clogged.” As the crow flies, the sites weren’t that far apart, but on the narrow, crowded roads they were.
    â€œI have no idea.” Nancy’s face was creased with worry. “If the fire damages the high school’s Astro Turf field, I’m holding you accountable, Sarah.”
    I looked at her, thinking she must have lost her mind. “How could I be responsible? This is the work of a very sick person.”
    Nancy glared at me for a moment, then her faced relaxed. She patted my arm. “I’m sorry. It’s just so terrible. The police department is overwhelmed with traffic direction, crowd control near the fires, and actually helping put fires out. The chief isn’t happy,” Nancy said as if I somehow had the key to the chief’s happiness. On reflection, that might be true, but this was not the time to think about that.
    â€œIt’s too bad CJ’s unhappy. But this has nothing to do with our event, and there’s no reason to shut us down.” Even as I said it, I wondered about the timing of the fires and what, if anything, they might have to do with the yard sale.
    One of the vendors called to me, so I left Nancy. I worked the event, putting out fires—bad choice of words—and solving problems all across the common. Two hours later, Nancy instructed me to meet her at the side of the church again.
    â€œThe fires are all out. The creepy old chicken coops were slated to be torn down for low-income housing, anyway. The few officers left at the police station ran over to help put out the fire at the football field.”
    That made sense. The police station and the football field were separated by just a small park and some basketball and tennis courts. Many of the department’s employees had kids that attended Ellington High School. They’d be highly motivated to make sure the fire was out and next Friday’s football game was on.
    â€œThe other fires were minor and quickly extinguished.”
    â€œThat is good news indeed,” I said.
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    The official end of the yard sale was five PM . By six only a few stragglers roamed the common. All the canopy tents and booths had been taken down. The last of the sun’s rays lightened the sky to the west. The church cast long shadows across the common. The event had been a huge success. Euphoria circled through me, and I wanted to celebrate.
    Vendors had asked me if we were going to do this next year and could we add a day. They had little to load back into their vehicles. Most of the tourists didn’t realize anything had gone awry. I heard reports that local businesses had boomed today, that the individual yard sales had good crowds, and that