The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E.L. Konigsburg Page A

room. On a shelf at eye level there was a pair of candlesticks. He very carefully removed one and handed it to Amedeo. “Turn it over,” he said. “Look on the bottom. See that mark? See those crossed swords?” Amedeo nodded. “That’s for Meissen. German. Valuable.” He turned back to the cabinet. “This one has a match, and they’re both in very good shape. Probably worth a whole lot.” After Amedeo checked them out, William returned them to the cupboard. “Very valuable. We won’t even begin to wash them until everything is cleared outta here. We’ll hafta line the sink with towels.
    â€œAfter we clean them up, Ma’ll study them marks on the bottom. She’ll study all them marks, not just the crossed swords. She’ll study the big ones, the little ones, the blue ones—what color of blue they are—the ones that are pressed in. By the time she’s done, she’ll know the name of the person who painted them and the year they were painted and probably will even know if the painter took a bathroom break between painting one and then the other.”
    Amedeo laughed.
    â€œThese will probably be the first things that Bert and Ray will buy.”
    â€œWho are Bob and Ray?” Amedeo asked.
    â€œ Bert and Ray. Better remember those names. Bert and Ray.”
    â€œWho are they?”
    â€œThey’re antique dealers. They have a shop over in the part of town called Huntington. They used to manage house sales themselves, and actually, they are the guys who got Ma started in the business. When they got too busy in their antique business and didn’t want to spend their time managing house sales, they turned their calls over to Ma. Then after a while, people started calling Ma directly. Word-of-mouth recommendations. About then, Bert and Ray stopped doing house sales altogether, but they’ve kept up their contact with Ma. They like Ma to let them in first; that is, before the sale is open to the public.”
    â€œWill Bob and Ray get their things wholesale?” he asked.
    â€œ Bert and Ray,” William corrected. He turned away, exasperated, but when he looked back, he saw that Amedeo was smiling.
    William waited a second more, then said,” Bert and Ray will get a discount. All antique dealers like Bert “—here he smiled at the angel on his shoulder—“and Ray get what is called a ‘professional discount.’ As long as they have adealer’s license. When it comes to quality antiques, it’s harder to buy them at a good price than to sell them, so that’s why Bert and Ray want to get in before the sale is open to the public. Ma always lets them in first.”
    â€œDidn’t she let Bert and Ray in first at the Birchfield sale when she found the Chinese silk screen?”
    William interrupted a long silence to say, “’Course she did, but they didn’t want any part of it.”

    When Mrs. Wilcox told Bert and Ray that she thought the screen was “something good,” they said that they wouldn’t have it even if she gave it to them. Bert, who was an ex-Marine, said that when he was in the service, every other sailor who hit Hong Kong had brought home at least two.
    When the Freer required that Mrs. Wilcox provide a written offer, proving that she had an authentic bid of twenty thousand dollars for the screen, Mrs. Wilcox called Bert and Ray and asked them to send her such an offer, written on their Huntington Antiques letterhead. Worried that they could possibly be made to honor such a bid, Bert and Ray were reluctant to do it. William took the phone from his mother, and with the same dignified determination that persuaded the receptionist at the Freer to call the curator and the same perseverance that persuaded thecurator to look at his photos, William convinced Bert and Ray to send his mother a letter offering her twenty thousand dollars for the Chinese silk screen