LITMIR.BIZ

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goodness! I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.

      – Hello, auntie!

      When she hugged me, I thought I could even taste the sweet taste of her perfume in my mouth.

      – Your father, no way, is a great man! Now Arbiter Ramsey was able to come, even though he said he wouldn’t be here a few days ago. I wasn’t the least bit taken aback when I found out it was because your father was coming. I always knew that Henry, which, incidentally, is my father’s name, would be a great success in his business. But not like this! I couldn’t even dream of that. It’s a shame, of course, that Claire left us so soon. She was a saint.

      Nothing disgusting was ever said about my mother. Everyone knew her as the beautiful, cheerful, and kind spouse of Mr. Henry Spikes. Which, evidently, cannot be said of me.

      Almost every seat in the auction hall was taken. So I slowed my pace as I spotted an empty chair, in the right row, off the small improvised auction stage.

      – Where are you running to, young lady?

      Behind me was an old lady in a perfectly tailored peach-colored tweed suit with a thin string of pearls around her neck.

      – Nowhere, madam. Please, come in!

      Such prim girls, always trying to cut in line. Because, you see, they have been through a lot more than you have, and also, in the rules of good upbringing, it is considered bad form not to give way, a person older than you, a seat. Which, in principle, I – a young, well-mannered lady – had to do. Specifically, I had to let an old lady into the empty seat I was claiming.

      In order to finally sit down, I now had to drag myself across the room, cursing my apologies as I passed other people who had already taken their seats. As I made my way to a free chair, I banged myself in pain. The nasty, throbbing pain in my knee reminded me of when, as a child, my mother had gently treated my scrapes and sores. I swiftly wiped away the tears, so no one would see them. I did not want to become another victim of gossip mongers, or simply inquisitive individuals who loved to discuss such displays of helplessness in their own small circle, with a glass of local French wine.

      – Excuse me sir, may I…

      Next to a vacant chair, sat a man, in a gray-blue three-piece suit, who was reading the newsletter of the current auction when I approached him.

      – Yes, of course.

      He had to get up from his own seat so I could get through.

      – Thank you, sir. – The man nodded his head courteously in response to my reply, and began again to examine the lots on display for the day.

      I, too, picked up the ballot as I sat down, and almost shrieked in surprise when I opened the last page.

      «What the hell!» – I wanted to say when I found out in the last lot, my mother’s beloved brooch my father had given her, in honor of their third anniversary of marriage.

      Well, nothing for yourself, a turn of events!

      Chapter 4

      20 The $500 that was in my purse now seemed like a pittance. Because the original price of my mother’s brooch was 500 bucks, not 20.

      At the auction, there were a lot of people who I knew well, and who also knew me. I could have asked one of them to buy my mother’s brooch, but as luck would have it, all those people were sitting very far away from me at the moment. There was no one in front or behind me who I could ask for such a favor.

      I began to shiver nervously as the last item was brought onto the stage. A small brooch, in the shape of a bee, made of white gold and studded with dark diamonds, which my mother adored so much.

      – No… no… no… no! – I kept repeating.

      The auctioneer pronounced the initial price, making it clear that the bidding had begun.

      – 700. – Raising the sign, the lady in the black velvet dress said.

      – A thousand bucks! – The man in the third row answered.

      With each bet, it felt like my heart was clenching desperately in my chest. I needed to do something, but I didn’t know what to do. My father had acted inappropriately in putting my mother’s thing out there without telling me. I was very angry with him, but that anger did nothing to help me at this point.

      – 2000! – The old lady to whom I had given up my seat not so long ago clicked.

      – 3500.

      I almost jumped up in surprise when the man sitting next to me said resoundingly:

      – 5,000 bucks.

      I turned in his direction. It seemed that, at the exact moment he said it, something was finally beginning to make sense to me. Specifically, my only chance to get my mom’s brooch back.

      – 5500!

      – Sir!» I grasped the sleeve of my neighbor’s jacket.

      The man looked at me in surprise.

      – 5,500 times! – the presenter pronounced resoundingly.

      – Sir, please buy back this brooch!

      – 5500 two!

      – This thing is very dear to me. It once belonged to my mother. If you help me, I promise I’ll give you double the value for it!

      – 6,000! – I heard the painfully familiar voice of my own father.

      – Me-my name is Violet Spikes and I’m Henry Spikes’ daughter. I don’t know if you know him! But please believe me, I’m not some crook or whatever they call me. Sir, I really need that brooch, but I’ve only got a buck20 on me. – To be sure, I took it out of my purse and showed it to my friend. – I didn’t know Mom’s brooch would be on display right now, please believe me!

      «What else can I say to this man to get him to help me?»

      I was desperately gnawing his eyes, trying to figure out if I could get through to him or not.

      – Six thousand, two! – the booming voice of the presenter sounded.

      – Ten thousand! – Raising his sign, my neighbor said.

      For the first time in my life, I wanted to hug someone as badly as I was hugging this man right now. I took my hands off his jacket and looked gratefully in his direction.

      – Thank you, sir!

      – 12,000. – It was my father.

      – 12,000 ra…

      – Fifteen thousand! – the neighbor answered at once.

      – Fifty thousand bucks! – my father kept up with me.

      My rescuer looked at me questioningly.

      – 100,000. – Without waiting for my answer, he said.

      I saw a lot of people in the audience starting to look in our direction.

      – 200,000!

      Apparently my father put my mother’s brooch up for sale, so that he could buy it back himself. But I don’t know why I didn’t want to lose to him at this point. I was well aware that the promise I had just made to the man sitting next to me was beginning to take an unsafe turn. Because even without looking at a good income, I could not afford a brooch for 200 thousand bucks. But at this point I had other things on my mind. Like letting my dad know that I was playing against him?

      – Ma’am? – My neighbor turned to me.

      – Do you take checks?

      The man grinned.

      – I accept.

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