The Rugs

We were selling the house I had grown up in. My grandmother had suffered a stroke and had to go to a nursing home. Since the house was also in her name and we had to liquefy all her assets, we had to sell the house. My parents had found another house, my sister and brother were in college, and I had found an apartment. Now it was just getting everything out of the old house so we could sell it, and we figured the best way was to have a yard sale.

I made signs for the sale saying that it was a moving sale and everything had to go and all prices were negotiable. People started showing up very early and by the end of the day, we had sold a large amount of our things. I hated to see some of the things go, but this was a new start for everybody and the perfect time to clear out the clutter.

We closed up late in the afternoon. We loaded what didn't sell into our van so we could take it to the Goodwill. The only things we didn't load were the rugs. They were area rugs we had covering the hardwood floors in every room. Some of the rugs had some wear and tear, and some had stains. We just put them at the bottom of the driveway for trash pickup.

Since there was very little left in the house, we went to the local convenience store and got hoagies. We brought them back to the old house to eat. Then we would finish cleaning and get ready to paint the following weekend.

The house sat on a bad, blind curve. At least once a week we had heard the screech of tires as someone came around the curve too fast. A few times, cars had gone so fast around the curve that they flipped over.

We had finished eating and started cleaning up when we heard it…a load screech. I braced myself, waiting for the crash. But it never came. I said a silent prayer that someone had avoided a crash. I went back to cleaning when I heard a vehicle pull up in the driveway. I peeked out the window and saw a pickup truck at the top of our driveway. A few seconds later, our doorbell rang.

I answered it and there was a man, smiling. He greeted me and said he had seen the rugs at the bottom of the driveway. I told him we were moving and our new house had wall to wall carpeting, so we didn't need the rugs.

His face lit up and he asked if I would mind if he took them. I told him that some of them had some stains on them. He said that was fine, since he was going to make cat scratching posts and sell them. He was going to cut up the rugs anyway.

I told him he could have them all. His eyes got huge and he got a big smile on his face. He asked if I wanted any money for them. I told him no, that we were going to throw them away, so he could just take them. He thanked me and shook my hand. He said he could make about 30 cat scratching posts with those rugs. He turned around towards the truck and gave the thumbs-up sign. From the truck I heard a woman yell "WOOHOO!" and he ran back to the truck, turned around and waved to me.

I called out to him and told him to please turn around in the stones we had by the side of the driveway since it wasn't safe back out onto the road. He asked was I sure, and I told him that was why the stones were there. People come around the curve way too fast and just can't stop in time. You have a better chance of making it by pulling out of the driveway.

He ran back to the truck, backed into the stones and pulled out to the bottom of the driveway. He and the woman got out of the truck and took all the rugs, putting them in the bed of the truck. They got in and pulled out of our driveway, honking the horn as they went up the road.

What a good feeling. I just kept several old rugs out of the landfill, and a nice couple would be able to make some money from my trash.