Flea Market Find

"Are you okay?" she and Chuck asked at almost the same instant.

"I'll be all right," she assured them, leaning against Jeanine. "Damn, but they built 'em sturdy in the old days! They meant these things to last." She wiped her face with the handkerchief Chuck offered and got to her feet, gingerly at first but able to walk normally. They finished moving the trunk in with the rest of their plunder. Chuck broke out a second sheet to augment the first before handing her four more cloth bags from the apparently bottomless big shopping bag of laundry bags.

"If you are all right, off with you to the guesthouse. Gather up all the clothing, including coats and footwear. Jeanine should have a separate checkout there, so just leave the full bags with the lady at the table. Tell her -- it will probably be Helen, as I haven't seen her yet; older lady, blue-tinted white hair, cat's-eye glasses straight from the 1950s -- that you have a special deal with Jeanine, ask her to call and confirm, and if she would please watch the bags until I can get down to help you. Tell her you're with me; that will reassure her, she's one of the ladies who trained me. I'll take the rest of the mansion. Call me at any time if you have a question or a problem."

An hour later, having filled two more bags with an assortment of boots ranging from hiking to cowboy and adding riding helmets, waders, camouflage hunting clothes and hats, and multi-pocket hunting and fishing vests, Chuck headed to the guest house to see how Maria was doing. He found her in the process of putting a pillowcase filled with something under a sheet that concealed the four Emporium laundry bags that were groaning at the seams. Helen's eyes lit up and she came out from behind the checkout table to hug him. After asking about his health, she said, "Your young assistant here seems to have a good grasp of how things work. She has an excellent assortment of items for the shop." Maria blushed, but copied her boss as he picked up two of the bags. It took two trips to get everything under the sheets in the library.

When they were done, Maria asked, "Would it be all right if I went looking for myself for awhile?"

"Don't let me stop you," Chuck replied easily. "Give me a call when you're done, and Jeanine and I will cash out. You and I will settle up later." She smiled and headed for the staircase. Chuck went to the bookcases and began to drift along them, reading the titles. Jeanine came in, raised an eyebrow at the size of the pile under the sheets, and joined him.

"Find anything you fancy?" she asked.

"Quite a bit," he said, pointing to a leather-bound Complete Works of Rudyard Kipling three shelves up, out of reach without a ladder. "There are loads of lovely books here I'd not mind following me home. What surprises me is we don't have bibliophiles in here, daggers out and snarling at each other over the wonders you have on the shelves. I've seen an Eleventh Edition Encyclopedia Britannica, complete sets of Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, at least three sets of Shakespeare, a complete Harvard Classics in red leather with gold trim and letters, the 1939 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary; and all that is just on the left side of the fireplace."

"And the sad part is, 95% of these books will still be here tomorrow afternoon," Jeanine said. "People just aren't buying books anymore, especially the Gen Xers and the Millennials; and the Baby Boomers are usually looking to get rid of books, not buy more."

"Tell you what. I'll buy all that are left when I come back tomorrow for one price, provided you let me take the OED and the Britannica today."

"Done! But how do you propose to take them all away? There must be a couple of thousand hardcovers here."

"I'll rent a storage locker and come back after them on Monday when you start the cleanout if I have to. Those are for me, not for stock. There is a library in my house Samantha stocked with popular dreck I wouldn't use for toilet paper that I will donate to the next book sale that comes up."

"Have you thought about how you're going to carry all those books? Listen, there's a wine cellar in the basement -- "

"I saw it. Bunches of empty racks."

"Yes, but if you look in the back beyond the racks there are a couple of piles of empty wine boxes. Go grab 'em and ask Audrey or Dotty to open the cloakroom under the stairs for you. Pile 'em up in there, and they'll be ready for you tomorrow."

Chuck did as Jeanine told him to do. It took five trips to salvage all the wine boxes, including a couple of 12 bottle crates. When he came up with the last load, Jeanine was putting the last of the Encyclopedia Britannicas into the cloakroom next to the Kiplings and the 1939 Oxford English Dictionary set.

"I remembered you used to sing Kipling songs when we were pricing things, so I threw that in too."

"Thanks a lot. I'd have hated to lose that one."

They came out of the understairs space and almost bumped into Maria, who was carrying a wire mesh trashcan she'd scrounged from someplace and filled with smalls from around the house.

"And what did you find that you couldn't live without, my estate sale granddaughter?" teased Jeanine.

Maria blushed and tipped the can so they could see in. There were six or eight bottles of perfume, some still holding perfume, others, empty, merely decorative bottles from the best part of a century ago; some DVDs; a rather nice celluloid lady's vanity set, 1930s vintage; and a few pocket-size LED flashlights with glass lenses that ran on AA batteries.

"I figured I'd be going off to college in the fall, and you should always have a flashlight in your purse or your coat pocket. Mom collects perfume bottles, and the DVDs I think Dad will like."

"Just put them under the sheet," Chuck said with a smile. "As I said, we'll work something out." Maria obediently trotted off to do just that, clearly caught up in estate sale fever. Jeanine gave Chuck a hard look.

"I presume you meant that you'd settle up with her later, and not what it sounded like," she said in her mama-bear voice.

"How could you even think such a thing, Jeanine? She's a kid, for God's sake! All I meant was I'd pay for her purchases as part of what I'm buying and we'd figure out how much she owed on it later, and she'd pay me back after her next paycheck. She told me she didn't bring a lot of cash with her."

"That's all right then," said Jeanine with a smile. "But I have to watch out for my estate sale granddaughter, you know. I don't think she's been to all that many."

"Certainly none with as good stock as you have here."

"You might point out to her that if she is going off to college in the fall, this would be a good way to pick up the stuff any dorm room needs without spending a fortune at a big box store."

"And get higher quality, too. I'll pass that along next time I catch up with her."

By the time noon rolled around, both Chuck and Maria had sated their estate sale hunger. He had found some large mineral samples, including amethyst, rock crystal, petrified wood, and low-grade emerald. There was also a box of fountain pens that had been stuck in the back of a desk drawer in the study; Pelikans, Waterfords, and Mont Blancs, along with some 1920s vintage Cartier gold nib abalone-inlaid pens and a Dunhill ebony pen and pencil set. He'd also picked up some antique swords, knives, and spears from the trophy room ranging from India to North Africa to East Africa.

Maria's selection was rather more catholic and included a respectable stereo setup of late 1980s vintage with a professional grade turntable and a three-foot tall stack of LPs starting back in the British Invasion of the 1960s that ran up to the Grunge Era. She had picked up a couple of lights meant for desks and nightstands, and some Art Nouveau bronze bookends. What could be seen of her pile was eclectic.

" 'The time has come,' the Walrus said, 'to talk of many things.' I'll track Jeanine down and we'll settle accounts."

Jeanine was walking back from the part of the mansion that held the master's study, the big living room mainly used for smallish intimate gatherings of forty or so, and the conservatory with a elderly gentleman leaning on a cane. They were talking about the paintings he had just bought. Chuck caught her eye and jerked his head towards the library. After she concluded the checkout process, she patted the old gent on the arm and joined Chuck in the library.

"Time for the great unveiling?" she asked teasingly. Humming the 20^th Century Fox fanfare, Chuck pulled the sheets off the pile. Jeanine pulled out a notepad and wrote the price they had agreed on for the clothing, then began looking at the other items the duo had piled up, periodically scribbling on the pad. She studied it, bit her lip, considered, and finally wrote a figure down, circling it. She tore off the sheet and handed it to Chuck. In turn, he pulled out his key ring, flicked through it, and handed it to Maria with one key up.

"This will open the trailer. Start loading the clothes. I'll be along when I'm finished at checkout." He and Jeanine headed over to where Dotty was waiting to take his money. A short time later he joined Maria. When they were done, they went inside to take their leave of Jeanine.

"We'll be back at noon tomorrow," Chuck said, giving his mentor a hug. "I plan to take all the good jewelry that is left, and look over the costume too, take the books in the library, and I may want to talk to you about some of the furniture, if any remains. Or have you made arrangements with a furniture dealer already?"

"Not yet, but you remember Jaime Ajudante? He's retired now, but his son Gabriel took over the business and is as good as his dad ever was. I'm expecting him mid-afternoon. I don't know if this sale is too rich for his blood or not.

"But there's something else I thought of," she went on, as if she and Chuck had not discussed this already. "Maria, you're going off to college in the fall?"

"Yes, to State University."

"Do you know anything about the dorms?"

"A guide took us through a freshman dorm when my folks and I toured the campus last summer. They're set up in suites. Each suite has a big common area and a kitchen with a sink, stove, fridge, counters, and cabinets. There are four bedrooms off the common area, each with a closet, double bed, desk and chair. What you do with the common area is up to you and your roomies, she said. Ditto the bedrooms. You aren't allowed to paint the walls, but anything else is fair game."

"When you come back tomorrow," Jeanine said firmly, "I want to see you gathering up three or four sets of sheets, blankets, a bunch of towels, a set of dishes and glasses, flatware, pots and pans, kitchen knives and cooking utensils, maybe some curtains and some furniture too. You can buy better stuff here than you'll find at any of the home stores or big stores. You listen to your nonna, capsici?"

"Sì, la mia nonna vendita immobiliare," smiled Maria, hugging Jeanine as Chuck's eyes twinkled with suppressed laughter. They took their leave and drove to the motel, where after checking in and putting their bags into the rooms they put in some time reorganizing the trailer and the truck bed to maximize the available space against the morrow. After an early dinner, they turned in. It had been a long day, and Saturday would be longer still.

Noon found them back at Elmwood. Maria took two woven market bags and disappeared up the stairs on the mission Jeanine had given her. Chuck stopped to say hello to Dotty at checkout, asked her to bag up all the precious metal jewelry on her table for him, and asked where Jeanine was. She pointed to the dining room, where Jeanine had arranged a number of china services on the big table and set up several of her own folding tables along the walls. One of them held an assortment of designer costume jewelry. It was thinned down from what it had started with, but there was still a goodly amount on the table. Jeanine saw him come in and waved him over.

"Still interested in the whole lot?"

"Dotty's bagging up all the good stuff for me right now. What will all the remaining jewelry, including this table, set me back?" She looked up and to the left, visualizing the case with the good stuff at checkout, looked at the table, thought for a minute, and named a price.

"Done!" He pulled the corners of the tablecloth together to form a babushka, tied it off and carried it into the library where he'd stored the clothes the day before, again draping one of the Emerson's Emporium sheets over it. Jeanine trailed behind him.

"Have you given any thought to the furniture?" she asked delicately.

"A bit," he allowed. "Let's have a look at the living room." As they walked, they discussed picking up the furniture. Chuck knew from the size of the house that it would take three or four days to clear everything left over after the sale out. Jeanine agreed that he could come down on Monday take the furniture away. She'd tell Richie to have one of his men help him load.

Chuck put stickers on the furniture he wanted in the living room, as well tagging two of the oriental carpets, while Jeanine made notes. They then walked to the study, where Chuck sat down in the judge's chair at the Victorian desk, a lovely French-polished walnut piece with many drawers on either side of the kneehole and more on the back of the desktop, the same desk where he had found the box of fountain pens the day before. He pulled the chair in to the desk and found not only did they fit together, they fit him. He did not say a word, merely stickering the desk, the chair, and the pair of Art Deco bronze nude lady lamps before getting up.

"Are you sure I can't interest you in the dining room set?" she asked.

"Too big for my house. I'm redecorating to suit myself. Samantha redid the house committing designer atrocities four times, and I had to fight to keep her 'experts' out of my study. It finally dawned on me I no longer have to cater to her tastes in furniture, so I'm going for the timeless classic look that I prefer. We're going to dicker over the furniture price, I have no doubt, but you can rest assured I'm taking more than a little of it off your hands. Let's keep looking."

Chuck selected a few more pieces, all of them antiques, before returning to the library with a ladder from the utility room in the basement so he could begin boxing up the library books in accordance with the deal he had made the day before. As Jeanine had predicted, despite their beauty almost none of the sets had sold. He'd been at it for half an hour when Maria staggered in with a liquor box that seemed incredibly heavy.

"What do you have there?" he asked.

She set the box down with a thump. "A complete set of Griswold cast iron skillets, griddles, baking pans, and a couple of pieces I don't even know what they're used for. They're better than bisnonna's that she's so proud of. Found them in the back of the pantry in the guesthouse. Don't think they've been used in years. Have you seen any more boxes around the house?"

"Try the utility room downstairs. What do you need 'em for?"

"A set of dishes and a set of glasses in the kitchen that I think the servants used. I think the glasses are gas station giveaways, but they're nice. The dishes are plain white restaurant grade, nothing fancy, a set of twelve -- dinner plate, two smaller plates, three kinds of bowls, cups and saucers. They're just the thing for dorm life, but I'm only planning to take eight to school. The others stay home as spares. Nonna Jeanine had me pull three whole sets of bath towels and sheets out of the linen closet upstairs, and after I finish in the kitchen I'm going back after blankets, duvets, bath mats, and the like. I'm having so much fun!"

"Just remember you need pots as well as these pans you snagged. Tinned copper would be fantastic, but steel will do for dorm life. Doesn't have to be fancy or even match, it just has to work. And don't forget your cooking tools. Check the guesthouse. Use your phone and see what a silverware set for eight is going for, then see what Jeanine still has here or over there."

"But all the silverware I've seen is silverplate, not stainless!"

"There's nothing wrong with using silverplate for everyday. Remember, right now Jeanine just wants things gone. Don't panic over the price tag. Let the price she quotes decide for you."

He went back to boxing up books. As he continued, several times he spied Jeanine slipping things under the protective stamped sheets. Each time, she whispered to Chuck, "Don't tell Maria. It's a present."

The mansion had been invaded by a horde of bargain-hunters who knew as well as Chuck that in the last couple of hours of a clean-out sale, the operators are willing to take offers that would have been laughed at on Day One. When Maria came in with her final load of things -- an armload of curtains and tiebacks -- Chuck left her to protect the boodle and went to finalize the price with Jeanine. Getting permission to pull up right in front of the main entrance, they loaded the truck and trailer almost to bursting. They went in to say goodbye to Jeanine. To Maria's surprise, she was handed two vintage student lamps, and a business card.

"You're going to need these for your desk. You said you're going to the state university? After you get settled in, give me a call. I can always use a smart girl who understands pricing and how this business works." They hugged goodbye.

On their way back to the shop, Maria asked, "Am I going to have time to transfer everything to my car before we head over to the Grand Bazaar?"

"Doubt it. I'll help you transfer everything after we bring the box truck back. Maybe one of the others will help us out, if you ask nicely. They're likely to be jealous. I'll work out your share of the cost and tell you in a day or two what you owe me."

Chapter 6

Swapping vehicles at the shop, they drove over to the Bazaar. At first, the staff did not want to allow Chuck to park his car overnight, and Henry was summoned to decide what was to be done. After hearing the explanation, he reluctantly told Chuck to park his Mercedes near the center gate, but not to make a habit of this. Chuck gave him a half-smile that masked what he was thinking, and he and Maria walked to Emerson's Emporium. The smell of dinner cooking greeted them, and the members of the sales team who had not made the trip were eager to hear all about it. In return, they had stories of their own to tell about the day they had had.

The next day, the Bazaar had been open for a couple of hours when Miranda appeared. She browsed the racks, selecting a couple of blouses, and then came to the jewelry cases where Chuck was sitting.

"I missed you yesterday," she said, looking at him through her eyelashes with an enigmatic smile.

"I was off on a buying trip," he explained. "It's going to take a few days to get things into inventory, but if you stop by for the next three or four weekends, be sure to bring money. A lot of what we picked up will fit you, I think, and it's styles you seem to like."

"Such as?"

"A pleated royal blue miniskirt; a batch of silk tights that would look wonderful on you; and some dresses in colors from white to bright blue to gold. Those might need a bit of tailoring, but they're worth it. And there is a scoop-necked, translucent blouse in crimson silk I think you would enjoy."

"Something that would show the Grand Canyon to good advantage?"

"I've always wanted to visit there, and see it close up."

"Perhaps you will, someday," she said, handing over her choices and the cash to pay for them, her fingers lingering on his. Maria, in between customers, shot a knowing look at Amy, who winked back. That exchange was the kind of badinage that could go from innocent to serious under the correct conditions.