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Ugh. She was insistent on whatever it was.
My life was crumbling around me, and she was concerned with mail, why? It was silly, actually.
“Um, Ava. Sandy’s right. Look at who it’s from,” Felix squealed.
wiping away the tears, I finally looked at the damn thing. It was powder blue with gold lettering. It looked very official and snazzy.
In the upper right corner, in swirly letters, was The Marriage Auction Association.
Dear Miss Ava Palmer of Kira Heights,
You are invited to the Fifty-fourth annual Marriage Auction. This year will be monumental in many ways. This is the first year we are allowing *Homeless to enter. To accommodate the influx of expected entrants, we have a new automated system for bidding. No more waiting days to find out if someone purchased you! Lastly, Elites will be able to purchase two total entrants. You could share your spouse with your best friend. How fun!
To enter, please respond with your name, age, height, pronouns, and list of previous sexual partners.
Having children or previous marriages makes you ineligible to enter.
*Homeless must have a residence with a mailing address to be eligible.
The Marriage Auction Association
“Helping populate New Boston one marriage at a time.”
Dottie entered the room, and I handed her the letter. None of us spoke while she read it. Maybe she could shed some light on this insane invite.
For years, there had been rumors that the rich and elite had so much money they even bought their wives. Apparently, it wasn’t a rumor. They really did. And now I had an invitation.
“Oh, it's okay for you to get sold to a rich or an elite, but I can’t take a business card from one?” She flicked her curly brown hair out of her face.
So, she was still mad about Moore Tech. I had tried to talk to her about it, and she refused to listen to me. “That’s different. I tried to talk to you about that.”
“Yeah, like always, you are the one that gets to make the bad decisions, while I have to be the cautious one. I know.” Dottie rolled her eyes at me.
“Every bad decision I have made has been to protect you and mom.” I tried to push away thoughts of the past, they always had a way of sticking around.
“Ava, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean.” Dottie wrapped her arms around me. “I wasn’t talking about that night.”
“Um, can you ignore the invite?” Felix asked, trying to bring us back to the present.
I shrugged.
“Of course she can,” Dottie snapped. “They can’t force you to marry someone.”
“Are you sure? It looks like it was sent to every eligible homeless person that was given housing. Maybe this is like a quid pro quo.” Felix smiled at Sandy. Even if it was a demand, they were fine. They still lived in a tent. I had offered them to stay here, but they refused.
“Is there more with the invite? Like a pamphlet or something?” Dottie checked the envelope and pulled out two more pieces of paper.
One was more of a small card where I put my stats (age, sex, etc.). The next was a bullet point list.
Marriage Auction Rules and Regulations.
-This is not mandatory.
-You receive twenty percent of your bid. You can choose to give it to your family or place it in your bank account.
-If purchased, your new spouse will take care of you financially.
-If not purchased, better luck next year.
