The Stolen Vase

A very expensive Ming Vase from China is stolen while being temporarily kept at the Marriott Luxury Hotel in America, and the suspect is a photographer tracking a movie-star staying at the hotel!

Stan worked for the Daily Bugle for 3 years as a photojournalist. He was now given the special assignment to photograph movie superstar Leo DiNero who was going to attend a symbolic World Series game between the Boston Red Sox and the NY Yankees. DiNero was going to stay at the Marriott Luxury hotel near Boston (Massachusetts) for Game 2 of the World Series, and everyone was interested in this baseball-game, since the Red Sox and Yankees had become the ultimate rivalry in American baseball! Stan was to stay at the Marriott Luxury while Leo DiNero was there and take photos of him standing next to a $20 million Ming Vase from China which was being transported to New York's Whitney Museum en-rote from Massachusetts by the vase's owner and Sotheby's! Apparently, the vase was going to be presented on TV during Game 2 of the World Series by the vase's owner and Sotheby's owner to highlight all the high-profile endorsements and TV-ad investors for this World Series between the symbolic baseball rivals and the iconic American cities they represented.

Stan was an eccentric photojournalist. He enjoyed working for the Daily Bugle in D.C. and was excited about this assignment to photograph Hollywood (USA) superstar Leo DiNero as he made his celebrity-cameo at the World Series. Stan was also intrigued by the $20 million Ming Vase that would be showcased on TV during Game 2 of the World Series as a 'champagne-toast' to the lights and splendor of modern-day consumerism, entertainment, sports, and television. Stan reasoned that DiNero was staying at the Marriott Luxury while the $20 million Ming Vase was kept there so he could be photographed alongside the incredibly valuable Chinese antique and help media spokesmen further hype all the capitalism confetti that was going to accentuate this World Series 'contest' between the Red Sox and Yankees. DiNero himself was a bigger fan of the Oakland Athletics baseball team but wanted to be part of the Sox-Yankees dazzle. Stan wanted to capitalize on all this media excitement by completing his special assignment for the Daily Bugle.

Stan was set to go to the Marriott Luxury to make contact with Leo DiNero, but right before he left for the event for the Bugle, he started having second thoughts. Stan wondered if all this following of media and celebrity and entertainment activity in America was simply a 'vain veil' for his otherwise somewhat superficial life! Stan wondered if taking a photo of a movie-star standing next to a high-priced Sotheby's vase for a World Series contest festivity was a sign that his life had become too commercial. Stan started panicking and began cooking up a deranged scheme to add some spiritual luster to his otherwise funny life! Stan decided to go to the Marriott Luxury hotel with a premade replica of the $20 million Ming Vase. The replica was made by Stan's artisan-friend who lived in a D.C. studio and made it for his friend for $100. Stan took the replica and packed it in his SUV and headed to the Marriott Luxury with a delicious plot.

Stan showed up at the Marriott Luxury and showed his Daily Bugle credentials to the hotel manager and requested to be taken to the vault-room where the $20 million Ming Vase was being kept, so he could snap photos of it for the Bugle. When Stan was taken to the vault-room by a hotel attendant, he quickly grabbed the attendant and knocked him unconscious with a special lightly chloroform-and-nitrous sprayed handkerchief (holding the handkerchief to the attendant's mouth and nose). The attendant would awake with no memory of what had happened and would think he simply had a dizzy spell and fell unconscious! Stan then pulled out the vase-replica he brought with him from a vent-duct he hid the replica-vase in on the night before by crawling through the vent-shafts! He then placed the real $20 million Sotheby's Ming Vase in the vent-duct before sneaking away. Stan took the $20 million Ming Vase from the vent-duct that night by crawling through the vent-shafts again and packed the vase in a leather bag and placed it in his SUV which was fitted with dark tinted-windows!

Stan took photos of movie-star Leo DiNero the next day in front of an eager crowd standing next to the vase that was actually the replica Stan switched the night before and smiled in delight! He faxed the color-photos to the Daily Bugle and promised he'd attend the Sox-Yankees game to take more photos of the vase presented/showcased on the field during the game as well as more photos of Leo DiNero who'd be attending the symbolic game. Stan showed up at the game (Game 2) wearing a funny ski-mask and eyeglasses while taking the photos he'd promised for the Bugle. When a Red Sox fan asked the excited photojournalist why he was wearing a funny ski-mask while taking his Bugle photos at the symbolic World Series game, Stan turned to the inquisitive baseball fan and explained, "Consider me a jester for this World Series game, dude!" He then turned to a very gorgeous American woman, a Red Sox fan, and blew her a very gallant kiss with his hand. Stan was going to start a completely new life.