Nathan Lowell - Quarter Share

As we talked one particular buckle caught my eye. It was cast in a gold colored metal with a rough, knobby finish. The stone was shaped into a black dragon’s head in silhouette with a red inlaid eye.

“Well, I have a souvenir of my last port. I picked up an exquisite hand tooled leather belt and I need a buckle for it. Would you sell me one of yours?”

“Mr. Wang, do you think I’m sitting here for my health? Please, save the haggling preparation. Do you see the buckle you wish?”

I nodded.

“Fifteen creds.”

“A very generous price.”

“In that case…” He took the dragon’s head buckle down from the wall without my pointing it out. He had a small smile on his face. “Would you like me to wrap it for you?”

As we left the booth Beverly said, “I had to jaw him down from forty for mine.”

“Well, Pip and I will be buying a bunch of them tomorrow. Maybe he thought he was priming the pump for the deal.”

“Maybe. I thought you sold all your belts the other day.”

“All but one that I left in my locker. Drus made it specially for me.”

“Can I see it?”

I realized suddenly that I had just painted myself into a corner and tried to change the subject. “We still need to find some trade goods to take to St. Cloud. So, keep your eyes open, okay?”

She chuckled.

Diane pointed out a display of ceramics at a booth coming up and we descended on the seller as a group. The goods were nice, but expensive. Clay had to be imported which drove up the price. I passed on it, but Francis bought a couple of small pieces.

We continued through the flea market, eventually passing by slot four seventy-eight, empty since we hadn’t set up, and walked by Virgil’s wife with a nod, a smile, and a wave. Bev and I did our best not to crack up but we did admire her chair.

A few booths farther down a display of necklaces caught my eye. The seller had pinned them to a fabric backing for display. Each was unique. Bev saw me looking and said, “I gotta give you credit, Ish. You’ve got one hell of an eye.” She turned back to look for Diane and Francis and nodded discreetly at the necklaces. I could see Diane’s eyes widen from where I was standing but she and Francis sauntered over nonchalantly. We all wandered over to the display.

The fellow behind the counter introduced himself as we approached, “Good day, gentle people. My name is Franz Neubert. These fine necklaces were created by my wife, Nerile, from only the finest local materials. May I show you anything in particular?”

The pieces consisted of small, highly polished beads with an accent stone or pendant hanging from each. Franz pointed out that they were strung on a slightly elastic thread that helped prevent breakage. He spent some time pointing out the durability of the workmanship. There was an excellent variety some were strung in a monochromatic pattern while others were brilliant explosions of color.

Diane saw the one I was focusing on and shook her head slightly. “It’s pretty, but you would have to be wearing just white or black for that one.”

I reconsidered the necklace and had to agree. Diane had style. If she said it was a problem, I wasn’t going to argue. There were enough other pieces in blacks, whites, blues, and soft yellows.

I was standing there considering another one when I realized that I was being crazy. The prices were good, but I tried to think about selling these in a flea market on St. Cloud. The necklace I was focusing on was made of dozens of small black beads with a gold colored vein running through it. The accent bead was a natural nugget of a gold colored mineral that I assumed was iron pyrite. The price on the display said five hundred creds. Even assuming that I could talk Franz down to something like three hundred, I had a hard time imagining that I would find a flea market buyer on St. Cloud who’d pay the kind of money it would take for a decent margin. I sighed and put the necklace down.

I bowed slightly to Franz and slipped from the booth to see what else I might be able to find. Beverly, Diane, and Francis followed. “What’s the matter?” Bev looked at me curiously when we had stepped out of earshot. Franz was busy with another set of customers at any rate.

I shook my head. “Those were beautiful, no question. The prices were good and the mass was ok.”

Francis raised an eyebrow. “I hear a but coming.”

“But I can’t afford to buy more than one or two of them and the prices I’d have to charge on St. Cloud I’m not sure I would make a good profit.”

We stood there, silent for a full tick. Diane finally spoke, “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Bev sighed and shook her head. “Pity. He has some beautiful pieces.”

Francis nodded. “I knew I heard a but in there.”

We continued our shopping trip, eventually wandering to the loose gem dealers at the back of the hall. Francis, Diane, and Bev all bought a few things here and there.

Soon we heard the signal for the end of day and we joined the throng leaving the market.

On the way down in the lift, Francis asked, “You didn’t buy anything but the buckle?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t see anything except it and the necklaces that reached out to me. It wasn’t like the belts on Gugara. Pip’s handling the buckle deal and we’re probably going to buy ten, one each to go with the ones we have left.”

Diane nodded. “Some days are like that. You walk through and don’t see anything.”

Bev smiled at me. “Keep shopping. You’ve got good instincts.” The others nodded. “When you find something you like, let me know. I wanna buy some, too.”

We all had a good laugh. I looked around at them. “Can we find some dinner? I’m starved.”

Francis stopped the lift at level eight and led us to a nice place that specialized in pasta dishes. We spent the next two stans getting stuffed and just slightly tipsy on one too many bottles of wine. By the time we got back to the ship, the heavy food and unaccustomed alcohol took its toll on me and I had to call it a night.

Pip was going over some cargo data in his bunk when Bev and I wandered into the berthing area. “How was it?”

I shrugged. “Good, but I didn’t buy anything. The mass or the price-”

Bev cut in, “Or both.”

I nodded my agreement. “Or both, were too high. I didn’t see anything that grabbed me. There were some gem dealers but I don’t know anything about gems. I think they’re supposed to be clear and everything I saw was kinda cloudy and inconsistent.”

Bev finished for me, “So we went out to dinner and came home to sleep it off.”

I headed for my locker. “How’s by you?”

He gave a half shrug. “Quiet night. Got my manifest exercise in order. We’ve lined up some fresh produce on St. Cloud to swap the mushrooms for.”

By then I had slipped out of my civvies and into my ship-tee and boxers. I went to hang up my jacket and the buckle fell out. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot this.” I showed it to Pip. “I met Ingo and bought a buckle for my belt.”

He grinned. “The one Drus made for you?”

I nodded and pulled it out of my locker. I fumbled with it for a bit but finally got the thing attached. The ivy pattern and the knobbly gold colored finish of the buckle looked like they were made for each other. I strapped it on to see how it fit, just as Bev came out of the san. She froze and stared. I realized that I was standing there with my belt riding low around my hips wearing nothing but my ship-tee and boxers, just as she had been. I blushed furiously, I’m sure, and scrabbled the belt off.

Bev raised an eyebrow. “So that’s the one you were talking about?”

I nodded and she held out a hand. “Lemme see.”