Tease Mawray - Bidders Table

A simple short story of rare books and schemes

Tease Mawray �" BIDDERS TABLE:

Tease could hear the pounding rain on the stretched leather soft top of the vintage limousine he had leased specifically for the event. Complete with Ethan Smoove’, a very large limo driver, a gun toting no nonsense kind of guy; a bargain at fifteen hundred a night; “not to exceed ten hours” the concierge cheerfully explained. As Tease entered the open door of the antique carriage, “No charge for the umbrella” the concierge added with a smile.

Other than rain, the ride to the “secret” auction was uneventful; Ethan not open to conversation not associated with his driving skills, or his other, private, known skills, of which came with the job “at no extra charge”, unless there was “an event” as he put it, “something requiring cleanup.”

After a good hour of driving, we pulled off the main road and veered onto a meandering paved, private driveway. For the most part the experience was elegant; one hundred foot tall primitive Cedars lined both sides of the glistening pavement; while off the road, maybe fifty feet into the forest and hidden by ferns, golden orb lighting fixtures placed low to the ground and strategically to enhance some exquisite view or shape in the woods added to the experience. Tease thought to himself, “a very thoughtful and graceful garden design feature; quite nice.”

After a few miles of adventure, the Limo made a sweeping left turn, following the outside gravel edge of a magnificent circular entrance; lighted fountains gleamed and danced as Ethan slowed the car so I could enjoy my view. Some distance away, an even more magnificent view; the main house; shown in the glistening rain with designer lighting from the lower garden accents all the way to the fifth story gothic balconies. There must have been two hundred ornate leaded stained-glass windows in view; like a lighted Christmas tree in all its spender; simply magnificent.

.      Under the aged dark brown and green copper cedar peg and beam awning, our vintage limo came to a slow stop. Immediately, my rear passenger door was opened, and seconds later, I was greeted by my host, Jesse L. Tannermann, of the great Tannermann United Kingdom Steel Mills and the ever so “gauche” Tannermann London Garment District suite of top drawer boutiques; only for those wishing to be lost and not found I’m told. Everything is for sale, everything!

     His classic patronizing s**t eating smile was enough for me. “Come in Tease, right this way, other guests are waiting to meet you and learn about, “how do you say it” Chitcago?”

      Sad but true, I never liked it when someone, or anyone takes the liberty of addressing me by my first name upon meeting, for me, that kind of assumption is simply not done, distasteful manners regardless your standing. It set the mood, my mood.

     We entered the masterpiece of gothic architecture through massive hand carved wooden doors, and into a large, ornate room; tall ceilings, overstuffed chairs, liquor table, stone fireplace; I followed my host “Jesse” I like to call him…towards flickering lighting that emanated from an equally impressive matched set of polished cedar sliding doors; which as luck would have it, once opened by “Jesse”, I could see what I had come to see.
     A large group of very well to do men, the finest money can buy; like court room jury members, they were whispering to each other while gathered in the center of the turn of the century room; chaffing at the bit, fidgety, and some reflecting trickles of shiny, golden sweat on their brow; all waiting to bid on an exceedingly rare, one of a kind, fifteen century book. Rumor has it, bidding will start at fifteen million.      And yes, everyone had a drink but me, and all were enjoying the warmth from the massive river rock fireplace; the room being attended by no less than ten waiter and service staff.

     However, perhaps a little hasty, I was not to be ignored for long, as moments later, a beautiful rose petal scented waitress found me and asked my choice of drink; “a simple blended scotch will do, thank you”, she persisted, “from Scotland, eighty year old okay?”, astonished, and somewhat taken aback, I turned, “yes that would be perfect”, and with a smile, the scented bouquet vanished.

The large group of men gathered; all are there to bid on an exceedingly rare book, but by now, all had turned their backs to me; either intentional, or not, I was comfortable in my surroundings enough to ignore the whole lot; my rose scented angel returned just in time with my scotch, another smile, and like a wisp of wind, she and her scent, once again, vanished.

I sauntered over to a large overstuffed herringbone winged chair and sat, with my attention on the incredible fire within the incredible granite and river stone fireplace. It was perfect, I loved it, and after seeing two of my friends Jimmy and Dalton talking to one another while standing on the other side of the room, I was even more relaxed and I felt right at home. Everything is just as it should be.

You might say I have a plan, and while everyone watched my two friends, who stood away and rather secretly in the corner of the great room whispering to each other, it was amusing, and I thought all was rather dull until the rest of the crowd noticed their snobbish private conversation; yes, rather dull for such a special evening. Then it started...

“Hey, what the hell’s going on over there”, Jason Kingsley yelled out, motioning to my two accomplices standing in the corner of the room….

“What the hell are the two of you talking about…!”

Jimmy, staring across the room at Kingsley, “none of your business, that’s what’s going on over here!”

Just then, the men who had gathered in the center of the room, turned all eyes on Jimmy and Dalton;

“Come on now, hate for things to get ugly, but if you two have something to say, let’s hear it...!”

Our plan worked, sucked them in…and it was all I could do not to smile and beam with pride.

Jimmy was “on” and as planned, was the first to respond, “well, not that it’s any of your business, but you know Miles Togo is the gentleman selling the book…

“one of the other bidders called out, yea, we know it, so what!

Jimmy saw his chance, “well, the other day when I saw Togo standing with some other book dealers, I got as close as I could, and heard him whisper to one of them “there’s something wrong with the book, I tell you, there’s something wrong with the book!”. I overheard something I wasn’t supposed to hear”, that’s all, and to be fair, I’m telling all of you what you wanted to know; that’s what my dear friend Dalton and I were discussing, that it was my duty to tell the rest of you before the auction started.

All the men looked at each other, finally one said to the group, “so there’s something wrong with the book”, well to hell with this, I’m out of here!”

Slowly one by one, the disgusted bidders all left the room, not wanting to bid millions on a book that was not as advertised….

At the end of about an hour, only three of the bidders remained, Jimmy, Dalton, and a tall thin man, who called himself Tease Mawray.

It was Jimmy that spoke first, “well Mr. Mawray, that’s half a million you owe the two of us, and we’ll be wanting it now!”

Tease Mawray, with a smile on his face, reached in his overcoat side pocket, pulled out a white legal-size envelope, and said to the two men, “in this envelope, as promised, is your certified check for $500,000.00; he then turned and handed it to Jimmy. Jimmy stood up, put out his hand, “Mr. Mawray, no need to look, we know your good to your word, and with that, Jimmy and Dalton both extended their hands to shake, both men shook hands with their benefactor, Mr. Mawray, Jimmy said, “nice doing business with you, call us again if need be”.

With that, Jimmy and Dalton opened the two massive cedar doors and walked out of the room, the two doors slowly closed behind them with a whisper.

Moments later, the large red “bidders" phone and intercom rang…Tease Mawray, alone in the massive room, took a deep breath and picked it up the shiny red receiver, heart racing, and as he slowly raised it to his ear, from the other end he could hear, “Is the secret group of private bidders and bidding ready to start for this one of a kind, incredibly rare, and extremely valuable book?”, with that Mr. Mawray replied, “ready to go, let’s get started. I am the one and only, Tease Mawray, and I open the bidding with a bid of one-dollar U.S. currency!”