“Ten dollars?”, Deedee echoed, “Isn’t that a lot for a cheap brass reproduction of an old lamp?”
The man reached out to take the lamp from Deedee’s hands and said, “It would be if it was a reproduction. But this lamp is from Saudi Arabia. My father bought it in a small village market in Saudi Arabia thirty years ago when he was making a geological survey for an oil company. I’d like to keep it, but I just Don’t have room.”
The man traced out the complex design cast into the side of the lamp with his fingernail and said as he rubbed the egg shaped quartz crystal mounted into the center of one of the sides of the lamp, “It’s a beautiful piece, isn’t it? When I was a kid, I used to dream this was one of the lamps with an imprisoned genie. You know, like Aladdin’s lamp. I used to polish it until it I could see my reflection in the brass, hoping that the rubbing would free the genie trapped within. Nothing ever happened though.”
Ron took the lamp from the man’s hands and looked at the crystal closely. It wasn’t faceted like a commercial leaded glass crystal. Instead, the crystal was a slightly irregular, smooth cabochon with patches of cloudiness buried deep within the crystal. Ron suspected the owner was telling the truth about the origins of the lamp. The imperfections implied that the stone was gemstone quality quartz and the irregularities indicated that it had been cut by hand. He handed the piece to Deedee who discovered the metal was oddly warm to the touch as she took it in her hands. Her eyes seemed to be drawn into the crystal as if it were a huge diamond. The more she handled the lamp, the more she wanted it. There was something compelling about the feel of the thing that told her that what she had in her hands was far more precious than an old oil lamp. Deedee decided then and there that she had to own the lamp and wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She asked the homeowner as she opened her Day Runner to get out her checkbook, “Would you take a check?”
The homeowner shook his head in the negative and said, “Cash only.”
Deedee winced slightly at the news. She didn’t have any cash with her. Deedee looked Ron straight in the eye and said, “Pay him, Ronny! We have to get going!”
Ron gave her an odd look and moved to pay the homeowner for the lamp. For a moment, Deedee’s voice had sounded so different. It was deeper than normal and more resonant. Her tone had changed too, her words had had been so forceful and commanding. She didn’t sound anything like the sweet Deedee he knew and loved. Ron wanted to get out of there before anything else happened. He didn’t like the way Deedee was acting. It was easier to buy the lamp and leave than argue about it. Besides, once he saw the crystal, he thought spending ten dollars on the lamp was a wise investment. The crystal alone was probably worth a hundred dollars.