Free In Love and In Danger (Loving) by Susan Leigh Carlton Page A

counter had inherited from her grandmother.  She was writing the quote details for the customer when the regular UPS driver walked in.  He had five boxes on the hand truck he was pushing in front of him.  “Just put them in back in the usual place, Jim,” she said.
    “You got it, Becky,” he said and rolled the hand truck to the back wall where he stacked the package. 
    She gave the quote to the customer and said, “Thank you for coming in.  Let me know if you want to put it on consignment.  The customer nodded and left.
    The UPS driver came back to the counter and handed Rebecca the portable pad to sign the package receipt.  “Be the way, there’s a customer in the back.”
    “That must be the lady that came in while I was writing the quote, ” she said to herself.
    She had seen the attractive woman when she walked in.  She noticed her flaming red hair, but mostly noticed the large tote bag she was carrying.  It was the most hideous thing she had seen in a long time.  It was ugly enough to keep you awake at night if you had it in the same room. 
    She hurried toward the rear and met the red-haired woman, who was carrying a porcelain Tiffany wedding clock.  She paid $350 cash for the clock without making any attempt to haggle, which was very unusual.  She then left the store.  Rebecca had lived in Rossville all of her life except when she had been away at college.  She did not recall having ever seen the attractive redhead.  Rebecca walked on toward the back; nothing was missing that she could tell other than the Tiffany clock, just sold.  
    “Wonder what she was doing in the back ?” she thought aloud.  “Oh well, at least I sold that clock, and made a nice profit on it too.”  Thinking longingly of the bed awaiting her at home, she thought to herself, “I’d better get at the packages UPS delivered.”
    T he six packages were stacked next to the door.  “I would have sworn I saw five packages on Jim’s cart.  I’m too tired to think straight.  I must have imagined it.”  She began unpacking the boxes sent her by Herschel, the buyer in Chicago with whom she did most of her business.
    Herschel seemed to always find a few real goodies for her.  This time, she found a beautiful Wedgewood pitcher, adorned with delicate flowers.  She also found an antique silver snuff box and was delighted when she came across the candlesticks, that looked to date back to the 18 th or 19 th century. She came to the sixth box.  Its wrapping was filthy, the corners of the box were banged up as if it had been tossed around and dropped more than once.  With all of the exterior damage, she didn’t see how anything could remain undamaged inside.  “If whatever is in here is damaged, I am going to sit down and have a talk with Jim.”
      When she cut away the tape and opened the battered carton, she squealed in sheer delight.  Inside was an antique Symphonion Music Box.  She had never seen a Symphonion before but she had read about them in catalogs.  They were rare and usually sold for upwards of $1500.  If they had any of the 10 inch discs, the price jumped.  She picked up the box, thinking, “It seems heavy for a music box.”  She put the box on a shelf by her desk in the small office she kept in a corner of the back room.
    She locked the front door and turned on the small light she kept on at night and went to the back to her desk. 
    She went through the sales records for the day.  Selling the Tiffany clock had actually made it a good day.  She thought, “ Lord knows, I could use some good days.  It’s a good thing the house is paid for or I would be having trouble making the ends meet without leaving a gap in the middle.  It won’t be long until the tourist season.  Once school is out, traffic will pick up.”
    She looked around, “There really are some nice things here.”   Rebecca had been a history major in college and really loved old things.  Rossville was a popular spot for