Feelings are material things(Parth Garg) Even at the age of 12, Tom Harrison - student of Moorsevill High, prone to bullying and all-round loser - knew that it is possible to sell feelings such as love, courage etc. What he also knew was that feelings like hatred, fear, and trust can be sold, but no one bought them, and so they weren’t sold.

Now, there lived a girl next door, Tina Haddock. She was in Tom’s class, and has been for a long time, Tom’s crush. Although Tom had feelings for her, he knew that he would never be able to summon the courage to tell her so; this was mainly due to two reasons: everytime he stood in front of her, he had a mental block; and this was only because of his feelings for her. Also, the school bully, Mort Hannings, had threateningly warned all the other boys to stay away, unless they were hungry for a ‘nuckle sandwich’.

So, Tom lived his life, head hung in shame due to the fact that he came from a poor family. Sometimes, the only reason he was able to think of for living was for Tina: to see her face the next day.

Now, there came a few times in Tom’s life when he had seen his mother, or father, sell out a little love or courage, just enough to keep the house running; they knew what would come with too much greed; if someone sold off all their feelings, then the imbalance which happens is enough to lead many a man to his death; Without feelings, a man is just a body, no different from his ancestors buried deep in their graves.

Call it a sixth sense, or mere intuition, but Tom knew that one day would come where he would have to part with his feelings, if only to keep the house running.

Tom didn’t have to wait for that day very long: the next week itself, his parents told him to go sell off a little of his courage and love, as they needed the money and had sold too much of their own to sell anymore; after all, they still wanted to remain human.

It might have been a mistake on the store’s part, or somebody was out to get him, but the end result was that Tom had sold off all his love and courage. The hard-hearted Tom, confused by the physiological imbalance, walked home to give the money to his parents, while they, shocked at seeing such a heavy bag, asked Tom what happened, and then were devastated by the horror of the events which had taken place: Tom wasn’t a human anymore; at least not a proper one. His father swore that he would get back his feelings, no matter what.

Despite this terrible incident, life continued, as though nothing had happened. The next day at school, Mort Hannings confronted Tom, and his reason was that, in Mort’s eyes, Tom was getting a little too comfortable with Tina. The weird part was, although Tom remembered having some feelings for her, he couldn’t understand what they were, as he had sold all of his love the previous day.

Mort, not knowing this, considered Tom’s silence as resistance, and beat him black and blue. Just then, the boys got a surprise visit from Tina. Seeing Tom in trouble - and harboring a secret crush for him too, and a strong dislike for the bully - she encouraged Tom to stand up to the bully, for whom, Tina had decided, the time was up.

Tom was in a dilemma; he didn’t know whether he should listen to Tina, or just let Mort beat him up. His memories of his lost love for her told him to trust her, as he still had plenty of that; and his new-found hate (which was probably just due to the imbalance in his mind), and so, after due consideration, he decided to listen to Tina.

He spoke to Mort, dodging all his punches and kicks, and then made him realize that being a bully isn’t helping him improve his image in school, and that all the students would help him, if only he didn’t beat them up every time somebody tried talking to him.

As the (one-sided) conversation drew to an end, Tom found that there was something that he had to tell the world; something that he knew he felt, even though that was not possible. He then realized that he loved Tina, which in itself was no big thing, as he remembered having a crush, but then, he thought, ‘Why would the cutest girl of his grade talk to him?’. And then the realization hit him: If it weren’t for her help, then he would currently have been dragged home. This newfound thought compelled him to go to her, and tell her of his feelings. Tina, as though in a dream, just started crying, and when she looked up, Tom could see, without a single word from her, that she loved him too.

That day when Tom went home, he told his parents everything, and they were shocked by the events that took place. His dad, confused, asked him, ‘Son, you told us that you had sold off all your love, then how did this happen?’ Tom thought long and hard, but it was Tina who was able to answer this question, ‘When we found out that we liked each other, the realization, on your part, was enough to bring back all the feelings you had to sell. Your physiological being pulled them back from the vials in which they were placed.’ Tom did not know how a 12 year old girl knew that, but he felt happy none the less.

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