Chapter 5

Gerri and I saw each other pretty often after that. One of the things we did together was go to flea markets and estate auctions on Saturdays. She loved to pick up odd knickknacks and I loved looking for heirloom gold.

For the gentle reader who wonders where my windfall comes into the story, that's it.

I'd dropped off $5000 in cash in a paper sack at the local Catholic Charities and another 5 grand at a 'mothers with children' shelter. The other 50 grand I stashed in a safe deposit box and drew out a couple thou as I needed to pick up old gold.

I didn't know anything about assessing gold when I started but I knew gold when I saw it and I figured if I looked closely at the detail on a piece of jewelry I couldn't go too far wrong. The ones with better workmanship are going to have more gold. And that was the key. I especially would bid on the certain examples of high-quality kitsch from the 1890's through 1930's.

They were often over-elaborate and reaching toward gaudy, but the detail, as I said, told the story. I picked up several pieces for ten bucks or so that assessed out later at over $500. That's assessed not appraised. Even found a few that valued higher as jewelry than gold content.

Of course later I educated my eye so I could do a quick appraisal, but some of the fun went out of it when I wasn't so much flying blind.

More fun went out of it in about a year when the economy looked like it was going into the dumper and I started seeing pawn shop and jewelry store owners more than middle aged ladies trying to get a bargain replica of something their moms had. Soon, heirloom jewelry disappeared from estate sales altogether, so we ended up cruising flea markets hoping to be first to an attic clearing neophyte's stand.

Still though it was fun and for the first few months we picked up quite a profit. The stuff went into another deposit box and that held more than $20,000 in appraisal valued jewelry plus approx 30 troy ounces worth of inlay and plate. I saw no reason whatsoever to sell the trinket gold. Why advertise you got it, and the total outlay for all the metal pieces was something around ten grand.

In other words, a bargain hunter buying flea market stuff is a piss poor way to launder money.

Fetishes

"Brad..."

"Yes?"

"Would you look at me some more?"

I leaned up on my elbow, so I could see her face.

"What do you mean? I look at you every time we're together."

"I mean, like explore me."

I swept my eyes over her, slowly.

"I see you ... and I like what I see! I especially like watching my semen ooze out of you."

She smiled and chuckled.

"That's not exactly what I meant ... but I like it, anyway."

"Then what DO you mean?"

"Well, I like the way you look at me. Some guys ... well, they make me nervous ... as if I'm taking a test or something. Or maybe like a cat looks at a bird. When you look at me, it's not like you're leering ... it's like you are drinking me in."

I winked and smiled at her ... I couldn't think of anything to say that could match that.

She grinned and poked my shoulder.

"Well, don't you know what I mean?"

"Hmm ... that the minute you see me, you have the urge to get naked?"

"I guess so, but I like the way you look at me when I'm dressed, too."

"So ... when you watch me watching you, that's sort of foreplay?"

"I guess it is. That seems strange, doesn't it!" I took that as Gerri asking a question; rhetorically or not, it was a good one.

"No, I don't think it's strange at all. In fact, I once had a "One Enchanted Evening" moment" when I was in London on a business trip. We got off on just looking at each other all the time we were together. Oh, yeah ... we had sex, but the whole thing was magical. I suppose partly because there would be a definite end to it.

Youth's 'Most Embarrassing Moments'!

Gerri stretched and remained splayed out for me to drink in her personal beauty. Subjective, to be sure ... she's not centerfold material; except for one of those "Southern Charms" mature women porn mags, maybe. But she was enjoying it and so was I.

"What was the worst experience you ever had trying to pick up women, Brad?"

"Lately? Or ever?"

"Ever..." Hmmm ... there wasn't any doubt for me, but this left open what SHE considered HER worst experience, sooo...

"Oh, that would have to be getting a date with the first 'love of my life'."

I bent over and nuzzled her nipple. "I was only 21 and fresh out of the army. I was riding around with my cousin and we pulled into a drive-in restaurant to scope out the chicks."

"Ed was onna those guys that women say they hate, but seem to have power over them, anyway and he looked over to see two young babes in the next car. He started to talk to them and convinced them to get into his car with us."

"I had been out of town so long that all the girls I occasionally dated were either married or in college, so I was almost starting off fresh."