Chapter Seven – Consignment Stores and Apologies

"Hell, Mr. Moseby," London said, three weeks later, coming home from school.

"Hello, London," Mr. Moseby replied.

"When will I be ungrounded?"

"Tomorrow."

"Oh. Yay!" London replied happily. She then walked over to the candy counter.

"Hi London," Maddie said, cheerfully.

"Hi Maddie," London replied. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"I'm ungrounded tomorrow!"

"That's awesome!"

"So, when do you get off work tomorrow?"

"8:30. Why?"

"I was trying to figure out when we could take those clothes to that store you mentioned. But 8:30 is a bit too late..."

"I agree. The store closes at 8:00, anyways. I get off work at 6:00 on Wednesday. Do you want to go to then?"

"Yeah. Just come up to my suite when you're done with work!"

"Ok. I was wondering if you had told Mr. Moseby that you were moving?"

"Uh. Not yet. I'll do that soon."

"Ok."

"Bye," London said walking to the elevator. London then went to her suite. She finished her homework and fed Ivana. She watched TV until 9:30 when she went to bed.

The next day, London came back to the hotel at 3:30. She got Ivana's leash out of the closet next to the door.

"Ivana, time to take a walk!" London said, happily. Upon hearing this, Ivana ran from London's bedroom into the living room. London attached the leash to her collar and walked out the door. She left the hotel and walked over to Liberty Park. She walked around the park for fifteen minutes, then returned back to the hotel. She then did her homework and took a nap. At 5:15, she woke up and ordered room service. It arrived ten minutes later. She ate it, and then fed Ivana. At 6:05, London heard someone knock at the door. It must be Maddie! thought London.

"Hey London," Maddie greeted, as London opened the door.

"Hey," London replied. "So... Do you mind helping me carry the boxes of clothing that I am taking down to the store to your car?"

"Uh. No... I guess I can help you," Maddie replied.

"With that, London and Maddie went into London's room and each picked up a box. They then carried them downstairs and out the front door to Maddie's car. They came back to the hotel to get the remaining boxes. London carried two boxes and Maddie carried one. Then Maddie drove to Resail Retale. They carried one box each and walked over to the trade counter.

"Hello, my name is Jessyn. How may I help you?" asked a petite, blond woman at the trade counter.

"Hello," London said, looking off in every direction, taking in the new environment she was in.

"London, here, has a large amount of clothing she would like to trade in for cash," Maddie said, trying to get London to zone back in on what was going on.

"Uh yeah," London said, clueing in. Jessyn took the boxes and went through the clothing, checking resale values with her computer and then typing in the information on a spreadsheet, which she used for large trades. Fifteen minutes later, Jessyn had finished going through the clothing.

"And your total money back is $108.75," Jessyn said, handing London a check and moving the boxes to the space behind her. "Anything else?"

"Uh. Yes, actually," London replied. "I have three more boxes of clothing in the car that I want to trade."

"Ok, then. Bring them in and I'll assess them," Jessyn said, smiling. London started to walk towards the door.

"She doesn't clean out her closets very often, does she?" Jessyn quietly whispered to Maddie.

"No," Maddie whispered back.. "She also buys a lot of clothes... Sometimes she buys them just so someone else doesn't. I actually was allowed to take two boxes of clothing."

"Ah... She isn't addicted to shopping, is she?"

"I think she is," Maddie whispered, walking quickly towards the door, so as to catch up with London. Her and London got to the car. London carried two boxes and Maddie carried one box back into the store.

"Hello, Ms. Tipton. You're back," Jessyn said, as London and Maddie put the boxes on the counter. Jessyn went through the boxes just as she had done fifteen minutes earlier.

"Your total money back from these three boxes comes to $148.50," Jessyn said, handing another check to London, and putting these boxes with the other two from earlier. "Anything else?"

"Uh... no. Thank you!" London replied, starting to walk off.

"Don't spend that money all in one place!" Jessyn said, as London and Maddie left the store.

Maddie dropped London off at the hotel and drove home.

"Hello, Mr. Moseby," London said, walking over to the front desk.

"Hello, London," Mr. Moseby replied

"You wouldn't know how to cash a check, would you?"

"Uh. Yes, you have to have a checking account at a bank –"

"Oh. I don't have one."

"And take the check to one of the bank tellers... They will either put it in your bank account or give you the money directly, which will cost you extra."

"I don't have a bank account," London repeated.

"You can have Brandi cash it in for you, then."

"Oh. Ok."

"Speaking of Brandi, you do know that her birthday is on Saturday, right?"

"Oh. No, I didn't. Thank you for telling me..."

"You're welcome," Mr. Moseby said as London walked away. Guess I should call Brandi about the checks, London thought.

"When she got to her suite, London called Brandi.

"Hello, London," Brandi said, answering her phone. "How are you?"

"I'm good," London replied. "Today I took some boxes of clothes that I don't wear to a store that buys and sells used clothing..."

"A consignment store?"

"Uh. Yeah, I think that's what Maddie called it. But, anyways they gave me a check (actually two) in the amount of how much the clothing was worth. I was wondering if you could cash it in for me..."

"Uh. Yeah, sure. That'd be fine. I'll come by tomorrow to get the checks."

"Ok."

"Do you want your credit cards, as well?"

"Yeah, but why don't you just give me back one of them?"

"Why?"

"I don't really need more than one. Plus, I'm going to cut back on shopping a bit."

"Really?"

"Uh yeah."

"Well that's a change."

"I'm sorry for not going to dad's memorial service. I shouldn't have skipped it. And when I said that I didn't care, that wasn't true."

"Why'd you say that, then?"

"I thought I didn't care, because I wasn't very close to him, and I never saw him and he canceled stuff on me and he married women without telling me and then divorced them. I didn't meet any of his wives, besides you and my mother, and I barely see her at all, once or twice a year at most... Truth is, despite all that, he was still my father, so he still mattered to me. I'm sorry for saying that I didn't care, and I hope that you can forgive me. I know I hurt you by saying that."

"It's alright. I forgive you. When are you moving in?"

"Soon. A couple of weeks, probably."

"Ok. There's no hurry. I was just wondering."

"Alright."

"Well, I have to get back to work. Thank you for calling, though. It's nice talking to you. You can call anytime you need to and hopefully I'll be there. If not, leave me a message, and I call you back."

"Ok. Bye..."

"Bye, London, "Brandi said, hanging up.