Fiction: The Antique Shoppe

The Antique Shoppe:

Once Upon a Christmas Eve (first half)

Mike Kaiser would never admit it, but he liked his name. The hard sounds made him sound tough, even as a young man fighting his way through a cutthroat business. He would also never admit it, but that toughness had helped him amass a fortune as a gangster. Not that it could easily be proved, as he took advantage of every loophole and dodge to appear a respectable middle-aged businessman with multiple businesses under his belt.

It was with this mindset that he entered an antique shop in a quiet commercial district in his town. The front room was large and crammed with furniture and every conceivable knickknack. Bookshelves were against every wall and filled with books, board games, and more knickknacks. It had the air of either a pretentious secondhand shop or a garage sale gone wild.

Even though the bell on the door had rung when Mike and his two bodyguards had entered, no other humans were in sight. Finally, Mike cleared his throat loudly.

“Coming!” someone hollered from the back. A beaded curtain parted, and in came a tall slender woman. Long honey brown hair was draped over her shoulder in a loose braid. She wore something similar to a Regency-era day dress (Mike knew this because of his last girlfriend), but went barefoot. “Can I help you?” she asked politely. 

“You the owner?” Mike asked. 

“Yes.”

“I heard you can get the Tiger’s Eye here. That true?” Mike had never cared for formalities, so he always went for the jugular.

The woman smiled, and leaned back against a table, crossing her feet. “And if it is?”

“I wanna buy it.”

“Do you have enough?”

“Within reason.” He wasn’t stupid.

The woman shrugged. “Yes. I have it, actually. What are you willing to pay?”

The front door opened behind Mike. His bodyguards spun around, hands going to their guns under their suit jackets. The young woman who had come in froze in surprise, almost dropping the drink carrier in her hand.

“Jenny, good timing,” the owner said. “I was getting hungry.”

“Uh, sure. Yeah.” Jenny slowly made her way around the men, and back to the counter by the back wall. Mike surveyed her. Not a bad looking broad, but too skinny for his tastes. She had the air of a frightened, but scrappy, kitten, complete with flyaway tawny hair cut short around her face. Her denim jacket was too big and worn to have originally been hers, and her long skirt wasn’t much better. 

“My assistant, Jenny, gentlemen. Shall we go to the back room and discuss the formalities?” The owner stood up straight. “Your men stay out here though, and they keep their hands to themselves.”

“No problem.” Mike nodded to his bodyguards, and they took up a more relaxed stance further into the shop.

“Follow me, sir. Jenny, business as usual. Holler if you need me.”

Jenny pulled off the lid to her hot latte, letting the steam out. She nodded to the owner, then took a sip.

Mike followed the owner past the beaded curtain and through a dimly lit hallway into an office. It was rather spartan, especially in comparison to the front room. A large wall safe, a standing lamp, and a wooden desk and chair were the only furniture to be seen. The owner opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a black velvet-colored box, about twice the size of a ring box.

“You just keep it in your desk?” Mike asked.

The woman smiled as she held the box out to him. “I had a tip someone would be asking about it today.”

Mike opened the box. Inside was a diamond about the size of his fist, a rare golden diamond, with a strange black slit in the center of the jewel. It earned its name of the Tiger’s Eye. He smiled in satisfaction. They spent some time haggling over a price; while it would seem astronomical to any passersby, it was a paltry amount compared to what usually made its way through Mike Kaiser’s hands.

However, in exchange for the lesser payment, he was required to sign a contract with unusual clauses. “What is this?” he asked, pointing to the words.

“It’s quite simple. You are allowed to keep the Tiger’s Eye for one month on a provisional basis. The provisions being keeping these rules for that time being. In one month from today, I will visit you and inquire. If you have kept these rules, then you keep the Tiger’s Eye. If not, I will repossess it, and return all but $1,000 of your payment. Do we have an agreement?”

“I’ve never seen anything like this contract,” Mike protested. “Most sales like this are cut and dried.”

“Ah,” the woman said, smiling again. “But most sales are not for the Eye of the Tiger Demon. You know as well as I do the rumors surrounding it. You know the cost of something precious. Therefore, unusual circumstances require unusual conditions. So again I ask, do we have an agreement? If you don’t want to, all you have to do is leave. The jewel will remain here for someone else to purchase, for the same conditions. It’s up to you.”

“I’ll take it.” Nothing else would do now that he had seen and held the jewel. What had originally been a desire to obtain a rare treasure had morphed into a desire to be the only one who would ever hold the jewel again. It would go in the private safe in his private office, and be looked at by only him until his death.

Jenny had almost finished her latte and sandwich by the time Ceici and the customer had come back out. The two bodyguards had stood there quietly and scarcely moved in that entire time. Normally, Jenny would have offered seats and drinks to customers, but these men reeked an aura of “Don’t come near us or you die painfully.” So she stayed behind the counter. 

“It was very nice doing business with you,” Ceici said as she came back through the beaded curtain. “I’ll see you one month from now, on December 24th.”

“I don’t suppose you could forget that part of the contract?” Mike said, fastening the buttons on his coat.

“Oh, Mr. Kaiser, I never forget any part of a contract.” Ceici smiled and waved as the men left. She then eagerly turned to Jenny.

“Your frappe is mostly melted. And the fries are cold.”

Ceici pouted as she accepted the bag and cup. Her eyes turned from brown to golden for a brief moment, and the ice crystals reformed in the cup. She took a long sip through the straw and sighed in satisfaction.

“Why you can’t just magically make one yourself, instead of sending me, is something I don’t understand.” Jenny chewed on the last bite of her sandwich. 

“It doesn’t taste as good.”

“Then just have regular coffee.”

“The Count has his sweets,Yūko has her alcohol, and I have my frappe. It’s allowed.”

Jenny shrugged. She was slowly getting used to Ceici’s pop culture references, even if she didn’t understand them all of the time. “So why do you have to go visit that guy in a month? Do you mean you’re actually leaving the shop for once?”

“Yes indeed.” Ceici sank down into an overstuffed recliner behind the counter. “For a bit. On Christmas Eve.”

“Oh yeah. That’s coming up soon, isn’t it?” Jenny sighed and tossed her trash into the bin. “We just finally got Thanksgiving over with. Will we have people crowding in here?”

“Sometimes. It’s difficult to predict.” Ceici popped another steaming hot waffle fry into her mouth, then mumbled around it, “There’s something else you’re dying to ask me, isn’t there?”

“Yeah. What were the conditions for that guy’s contract? You had some, right?”

“You know the Ten Commandments?”

“I know of them, vaguely.”

“I told him he has to keep the last five for one month. ‘You shall not murder, commit adultery, steal, or bear false witness.’ That’s ‘lie’, in modern parlance. And ‘you shall not covet.”

“Why?”

“Oh Jenny. Sweet, sweet Jenny. You have no idea who Mike Kaiser is, do you?” When Jenny shook her head, Ceici continued, “Or of the rumors surrounding the Eye of the Tiger Demon?”

“Should I?”

“You’re better off not knowing the details, but suffice to say, Mike Kaiser is a gangster of the highest order. And the Eye of the Tiger Demon… Well, let’s just say there are some veeeery unsavory rumors about the previous owners and their fates.”

“I still don’t see the connection between those and the conditions.” Jenny picked up the duster from under the counter and started wiping down the nearby shelves.

“You don’t necessarily need to. But consider… how likely is a gangster going to be able to keep those rules?” Ceici tossed her trash into the bin like she was dunking a basketball. “Ah well. Nothing to worry about, young Jenny. You’re safe with me.”

~end part 1~

Hey, all. I usually try to write a Christmas story every year. And since I have a blog now, I figured why not post it? I want to put up my fiction anyhow. So I’ll put up the second half next week. Let me know what you think. Till then, catch you on the flip side.