The Manifest

Chapter 26

     Mrs. Johnson had been online all day and while she had a seemingly unlimited budget to work with, she was the kind of person who refused to spend just for the sake of spending. She was careful because she always knew who was really paying the tab, and the idea of mooching off the people sometimes upset her to no end. She had already ordered her groceries online and was going to have them delivered later that day, and decided to do a little browsing for Christmas because you could never start too early. She was going through the usual chain sites but most stuff was expensive and not really that nice looking to begin with. The stuff she wanted to have was too expensive and sometimes no longer available as her favorite retailer went out of business over ten years ago. This would be the reason why she logged into the auction sites, to see if there was something cheap and rare she could find. She missed a lot of stuff from home and if she only knew she was never going to head back, she would have packed differently, that's for sure.

     Most of the stuff that was in her luggage was really for her sister, not herself. This made it harder sometimes to get through some days without the keepsakes that normally helped her get through the tougher times. Normally when scanning these auction sites, it was like looking through a haystack for a needle, but it was always worth the effort because she rarely had anything else better to do. She was too old to work and pretty much lived the life of a retired person, which was the cover story she feed to the neighbors as instructed by Mr. Carlson and his people. She turned to the window and peeked through the partially open drape. She didn't see anything but knew that his men were out there watching her to make sure what happened at the vigil doesn't happen again. They replaced the entire detail that was watching her, so instead of having nice people who cared for her there were men who said nothing and did nothing to help her. They did their job like mindless zombies and never said anything to her or interacted with her at all. It was apparent that was their job, to make sure she wasn't able to twist any arms this time and convince someone to help her make a field trip.

     It was going to be a lonely next few weeks, but she had the internet to help her out to an extent. They watched whatever she did, and direct chatting was not allowed. Mostly only surfing to read only pages and all incoming and outgoing email was screened. They let her use their credit cards to make purchases so they could keep track of everything she bought and likely screened everything before it was delivered to her door.

     She was doing her usual searches for items that never seemed to be online when suddenly she got a hit. She suddenly realized she had found a real gem, and then clicked on the link to see the item with her own eyes. When she looked at the picture of the item, it was just like she remembered it. She almost teared up when she saw it because it looked just like the necklace her mother gave her over thirty years ago. She wasn't prepared to see what came next, when she opened the auction page. At the bottom of the auction there was a picture of a young woman wearing the necklace at what seemed like her graduation. It was a nice picture to show the piece off and draw in a lot more bids for the auction. It took a few seconds for her to finally realize who she was looking at.

     It had been years and she had never attended her graduation, but when she realized who it was standing before her that is when the tears started to flow. It was Jessica at her high school graduation, which likely occurred several years ago. She couldn't believe what she was seeing and then another horrible thought came to her: someone was selling the necklace her mother gave her! Was Jessica that desperate? She was selling off her jewelry to find her? She thought about it for a moment and then the truth came crashing down around her. Jessica didn't inherit the necklace because she didn't have a living will, which meant her husband was the legal owner of the necklace and every other piece of her collection.

     Just the thought of that bastard auctioning off her private stuff for his own personal gain was enough to make her blood boil. This was something he was supposed to pass onto their daughter like her mother did for her, not to be sold off to the highest bidder for a damn profit! The thought of her husband using her personal belongs to line his greedy pockets was so like him too, and she was so disgusted that she went back to the computer and placed a higher than normal bid, eager to reclaim what was rightfully hers. She then bookmarked the page to make sure she could come back and check in many times to make sure she was never outbid. She wanted her stuff back, and then if she ever got to see Jessica again, she would be able to give it back to her like it was supposed to be had she not been there. The price she bid was a little higher than what she would have normally spent online, but she didn't care anymore. She wanted that necklace back at all costs, and if that meant bankrupting the treasury to accomplish that, then so be it.

     After she placed the bid, she looked at the photos again and had mixed feelings. She was still disgusted that she had to bid on her own stuff to reclaim it yet at the same time happy to see the picture. It was her important time in her daughter's life that she was unable to attend. The idea of missing all these things upset her even more but she saved the photo to her computer and would later print it out. She would get someone to print it for her so she could hang it in the house somewhere and be proud of what she accomplished that day. After saving it, she looked back to the auction. She was still the high bidder. She left the room to do some dishes and would check again in a few hours to make sure she still was.

     That was one auction she wasn't going to lose.