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unpack, sort, price, and then put it out on the floor.” Because he was a good

trainer, Wynn then went over all the floors again for her. “The basement is

for salvage. All the bits and pieces and odds and ends. All the hardware,

windows, doors, ceiling tiles—all the things people can still use in their

homes.”

“Right. Yes. I love going down there. I do feel sorry for the guys that

have to haul those heavy claw foot bathtubs down there though.”

“We don’t haul them,” Wynn said with a grin. “There are a set of double

doors that open up from a ramp down into there. We just unload it and

wheel it in.”

“Oh. Yes, of course.”

“Don’t feel stupid. There aren’t any stupid questions ’round here. How

are you supposed to know if you don’t ask?”

“Right. And the other floors are all of our stuff and all of the other

vendors who sell here.”

“That’s right. All four amazing floors.”

Romi set the camel down on the shelf next to the toad, but on second

thought, pushed it a little further down the line to be joined by ornaments

that were slightly bigger. She didn’t want the camel overshadowing the

frog. “I would love to go on a pick,” she mused. “That sounds like so much

fun.”

“Yeah? If you can believe it, we don’t have that many people here willing

to do it. It’s hard, dusty, dirty, sometimes pretty gross work. You have to

crawl through old buildings, sometimes unsafe structures. Lots of times

there’s a whole heap of mouse shit and rat shit and other shit. It can be

pretty nasty. You need to be up to date on your tetanus shot for sure if

you’re going to be doing that.”

“Really?” Romi spun around again. Wynn looked genuinely delighted at

her enthusiasm. “That pretty much sounds like my dream come true. I have

all my shots. Just got a tetanus shot last year, actually. I think they’re good