Thrift Store Chronicles: Marleigh’s Heirloom

When I work in the warehouse of the small thrift store tagging clothes, sometimes it can get a bit boring. Not too boring, though. That’s because I daydream about my fantasy world, about fairies, talking animals, and mermaids. But I mostly daydream about the fairies, particularly black fairies, since I haven’t seen many black fairies in storybooks or TV.

But today, as I plucked through a pile of clothes in a tub or two, a light bulb flickered on. Why not make stories about the clothes I’m tagging? Or rather, why not make a story about the people who could have worn them? Each clothing must have some story behind it after all. So why not make up their stories?

So that’s what I did. I began making up stories of both the fantasy variety and those based more in real life. It wasn’t always easy. It still isn’t. But I did manage to forge one story, somewhat.

There was a pair of black pants that looked like something a business woman would wear. And so that’s who this story is about.

A business woman whom I shall name Marleigh Jackson. She had a beautiful afro, dark skin, and loved to wear black pants along with a pink shirt to work. Black and pink were her favorite colors. She was very determined and always got the job done. Whenever she needed to complete a project, she would have it done on time and in excellent condition. She rose in the ranks and became a great manager in her company, making lots of money, and lots of good connections in the business world. Everything was perfect. Until it wasn’t.

One day, she lost something very dear to her. A silver necklace with a fairy charm on it that was made years and years ago. It was a family heirloom. Some robber had broken into her house and stolen it along with a few other precious items, like her jewelry and her laptop. However, even though the family heirloom was old and a little rusted, it was still more precious than all of her silver and gold jewelry and her laptop.

It was the last thing her parents had given to her before they died.

She called the cops, who, when they arrived, said “Don’t worry, we’ll investigate this crime.”

For a time, they did exactly that. They looked at security footage of the neighborhood and posted a blurry image of the culprit, asking everyone to give them any leafs they may have. But after three days, there were no leads. “All we can do is wait,” they told Marleigh. “Hopefully, they’ll try to sell it online and we can make a move then.”

But days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months, and there was no sign of this family treasure Marleigh longed for so much.

The case went cold. The police had bigger fish to fry, families to go home to, and football games to watch. At some point, they forgot all about Marleigh and her old necklace, and her other stolen goods.

Heartbroken over the loss of this gift, which she knew she may never see again, Marleigh became restless and depressed. It felt like she had lost her parents all over again. As a result of her pain, her performance at work declined. Her projects were rarely done promptly, and when they were done on schedule, they became more sloppy. People at work noticed her disposition and wondered what was going on, but despite their curiosity, they were not in the mood to ask about her emotional state or her physical health. They had their own tasks to complete and their own dreams to fulfill, and nothing could stop them. Not even a woman in need of a hug and a good long break from work.

As her work performance declined, so did her employer’s patience. Soon, unexpectedly, she was given the pink slip.

You would think Marleigh would crushed by this new development. But though she was a little sad, to her surprise, she was mostly happy. The company she worked for had a stressful work environment. Maybe this was a sign she should take a breath and smell the roses? And maybe it was a sign that she should focus more efforts on getting her family heirloom back.

But did she ever find the heirloom and succeed in her quest? No one knows.

No. I can’t end the story like that. Not on a cliffhanger. Cliffhangers are the worst.

There must be some decent ending.

For a couple of weeks, Marleigh searched for her necklace online. She tried to type in the description of it, but she had no luck. Too many options came up, and none were related to what she wanted. But then it hit her. She had a picture of the necklace didn’t she? So she would use the Google Lens feature and see what came up. When she did, she struck gold. She saw a necklace that looked exactly like hers trying to be sold on eBay. It had been put up a couple of days ago.

She created a new email and contacted the seller through it. She acted like a kind lady who was interested in purchasing the necklace, but secretly planned to use the police to enact her revenge on the little thief.

She informed the officers of her discovery. With the policemen’s help, they were able to track down where the seller lived.

She lived…only a block away from Marleigh’s house!

Marleigh couldn’t believe it. Why would the thief be so close?

The officers, however, had seen crazier things and were not surprised in the least. Instead they were relieved, because it made their job so much easier.

The police went over to the seller’s house. When they knocked on the door, a woman with pink eyeshadow and long red hair answered. The officers explained why they were there, and asked her if she did indeed have Marleigh’s treasure.

“Yes,” she said. “I do have the necklace.”

Case closed, the officers thought.

“But I didn’t steal it. It was given to me by my boyfriend. We broke up months ago. I don’t know how he got his hands on it.”

She gave the officers the necklace, which they showed to Marleigh.

Holding back the urge to cry, she confirmed that this was indeed her necklace. She held the it close to her heart. She would never let this precious gift out of her sight again.

As for the woman who claimed she wasn’t the thief, the officers decided it was possible she was telling the truth. They looked at the image of the thief they’d managed to get from a nearby security camera, and from what they could see, the thief was a man. And with no real evidence that the woman was possibly her boyfriend’s accomplice in some way, she couldn’t be arrested.

The officers asked the woman where her ex-boyfriend could be, and what his name was, but after getting that information, they found out he had moved to a non-extradition country.

No one knew what happened to him after he moved there, bit given the fact that he is a thief, he no doubt lived a miserable life.

As for Marleigh, she was content with her necklace. She wore it every day to keep it close to her at all times. She also decided to move from her hometown in Georgia to go to Tennessee, where, with help from the connections she made during her job at her former company, she was able to get another job with higher pay.

As she prepared to move, she got rid of her old clothes, including a pair of black pants, which now hang in a little thrift store waiting to be purchased by someone else.

So that’s how my first tale shall end, with a young woman leaving behind her old tale of woe behind for the bright future ahead of her.

There’s no telling what stories you can come up with from everyday things.