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An Ode to the Losers
by Paula Lonergan
Vol 1 Issue 5

Last night, I came across two fouled submittals to writing contests. Or I'm assuming I lost the contests. It's been about a year and no one has contacted me yet. So, that means I lost, right?

One contest was to write about your favorite car. The other was to explain why you are a yard sale queen, which I am.

Even though these weren't the winning entries, I thought I would share them anyways.

My Favorite Car

My favorite car was my beloved 1975 Jeep. It wasn't fancy. It was a tan painted postal jeep. It was MY first car. People would blow as they recognized me driving on the streets of Pasadena. It was my signature. The steering wheel was on the right side of the car. No power steering. It had two-35 to 55 air conditioning depending on how fast I was driving. On the freeway, I could feel every bump in the rode. The best thing was it had a working cassette player. The wind in my hair, the music playing loud in my jeep. Aaahhhh the life!

Why I am a Yard Sale Queen.

There’s the black London Fog trench coat for $10 I found.

Two leather jackets for $5 each, one’s white, the other brown.

In the kitchen, there’s a set of $5 dishes with green on white

And the $15 bread maker makes bread that’s out of sight.

Working well is the fax/copier $35, it’s a Brother, you see

The $.25 hardbound book on budgeting helps my husband and me.

A $5 big Renoir painting is on the wall of my place.

Beside lots of frames holding pictures with my face.

There’s so much more but can’t go on

A story with 250 words isn’t very long.

But keep on reading, though, the rest won’t rhyme

The most valuable thing found at a yard sale in this husband of mine.

It was at a yard sale that my husband first to let me know he was interested in me. I had seen him only a few times before then.

It was my garage sale this time. He came and stayed with me as I sold my wares. I didn’t know the real reason he was there until after a few hours he said the reason I’m here is because I’d like to get to know you better. I was surprised and finally asked his name.

I didn’t sell him the crock-pot. I gave it to him and got it back six months later when we married. He still treats me like the queen of garage sales that I am.

These two entries were winners in my book. Of course, it's the book I haven't written yet. This is an ode to neither first, nor second place, but to no place at all. Yeah!

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June 24, 2003
Copyright 2003 Paula Lonergan.
All rights reserved.