Mildred's Barn Prolog

Three or four months ago, the woman who lives across the street from me told my wife about an opportunity.

The woman across the street is called Ko-KO.

Ko-Ko had a friend who had lost her mind.

Ko-Ko's friend who had gone cuckoo made the mistake of going nuts on QVC.

As her insanity deepened, her purchases of junk from QVC increased. The proportion was direct.

Direct teevee.

Ko-Ko's insane friend was named Mildred.

Nobody knew how nuts Mildred was.

She kept her conditon well-hidden.

Nobody knew how much crap she had packratted in the secluded country residence which she had inherited long ago from her wealthy parents.

She kept her purchases as well hidden as her psychoses.

All part of the same package.

One day, Mildred cracked. Kind strangers came to take her away. Ko-Ko was amongst the strangers. Mildred was gfoing to need long-term care. Long term care requires long term bread.

Going over the records, kind strangers discovered Mildred's country residence.

The kind strangers took a drive into the country.

The kind strangers unlocked the door to Mildred's fortress of solitude.

The kind strangers found thousands of unopened boxes.

Most of them from QVC.

The kind strangers realized that if they auctioned off these boxes, they might be able to come up with enough money to provide Mildred with the kind of long term care that she needed.

Mildred would be saved by the boxes that had led her to ruin.

Before they could be auctioned,however, the boxes had to be opened, priced and organized.

The kind strangers who opened the boxes would have the first shot at buying the contents of the boxes the day before the auction of the boxes went public.

Ko-Ko told Lynn about Mildred, the boxes and the auction.

Lynn is my wife.

Lynn agreed to help with the opening, pricing and cataloging of the boxes that Mildred bought from QVC while Mildred was losing her mind.