On the first day of the New Year, twelve-year-old Ashley Enright asked her best friend, Josh Stewart, if he’d made any resolutions for the New Year.
“Have I ever!” Josh said excitedly. “I have two whole pages!” He pulled out two sheets of pages that were covered front and back and pushed them across the Enright’s kitchen table toward Ashley.
“Wow,” said Ashley as she looked at the list. “Most people just make two or three resolutions. How on earth are you ever going to get all of that done?” She pointed to the pages.
“Well,” said Josh as he pointed out some items on his list. “I’ve padded the list with things I know are going to happen. That way, I’ll be sure to keep all of my resolutions.”
“Padded?” Ashley asked. “With what?”
“Oh, it’s simple,” said Josh. “Like I resolve to grow two inches or to get a haircut. I know those things will happen.”
“Oh, brother,” Ashley sighed. “What are your real resolutions?”
“Real ones?” asked Josh. “Well, I resolve that my comic books will be printed and that I’ll work on new ones.” Josh was a talented artist who drew comic books featuring superheroes. Ashley always laughed to herself when she heard the superheroes’ names because Josh didn’t seem to realize that they had the same initials that he did: J.S.
“Oh,” said Ashley. “Those are good resolutions and you’re pretty much guaranteed that they’ll happen!”
“Yeah,” said Josh. “I know, but I just like to have a long list of things I can check off. Did you make any resolutions, Ashes?”
“Not really,” said Ashley. “It seems like most people make resolutions that they never keep just to say that they’ve made resolutions. I try to change things throughout the year.”
“I guess that’s pretty smart,” said Josh. “I know my mom resolves every year to cut down on desserts, but, I can guarantee you that by next week, we’ll be having dessert every night!”
Ashley laughed and said “See what I mean?”
“What’ll we do today?” asked Josh. “After all, it is the first day of a brand new year!”
“Gram said that she was going to an estate sale in Oakdale,” said Ashley. “Maybe she’ll take us with her?”
Gram was Ashley’s grandmother who lived a few miles away in Oakdale. She loved to spend time with Ashley and her younger sister Kelly.
“An estate sale?” asked Josh. “What’s that?”
“It’s when someone is selling all of the belongings after someone dies and they don’t have anyone to leave things to,” Ashley explained.
“Oh,” said Josh. “I guess it’s kind of sad that the person didn’t have any family. But, I guess it’s good too because we may get to see some neat stuff!”
“Yeah,” said Ashley. She quickly called Gram on the phone.
“Oh, I’d love to have company, dear,” said Gram when Ashley told her that she and Josh would like to go to the sale. “I’ll pick you up at 11 o’clock because the sale starts promptly at noon!” Gram said “good-bye, dear,” and hung up the phone.
“It’s all set,” said Ashley. “She’ll pick us up at 11 o’clock.”
