Max and Charles - 7. Paddington Market

It was a beautiful summer morning when Max and Charles decided to spend their Saturday at the Paddington market. They breakfasted on the way at a favourite cafe and then went onto the market to browse the bric-a-brac and buy some fresh vegetables and baked goods. They each carried handmade shopping bags they had purchased from the market many years before. Max’s bore the image of an open empty coffin and the words ‘Old Queens never die, they just go Shopping’. Charles’ had the image of a cannabis plant and the words, ‘Grow your own, Roll your own’.

The boys knew many of the stallholders as they had been patronising their businesses for several years. They stopped and chatted with many of them, bought a few items and were generally having a great day amid the fun, colour and hum of a busy market. Mid-morning they came across a coffee stall that sold freshly ground coffee in one kilo packs as well as serving espresso. They took their coffees over to some tables nearby to sip slowly, rest and watch the fellow shoppers pass by. On such a sunny morning many young men had removed their shirts and paraded around the market, much to the delight of Max and Charles. Opposite the grassed area with tables and chairs, was a stall selling home decorator items. The stallholder was new to the market but seemed to be doing a good trade. He was a tall gaunt gentleman who seemed to speak more with his hands than verbally, while he was closing a sale to a young couple. They also purchased coffees and sat at a table next to Max and Charles who struck up a conversation with them when Max said “Great coffee isn’t it?”

“Yes” replied the young man, whose female partner nodded in agreement and smiled back at the boys.

“Do you come to the market regularly?” she asked.

“Yes, we have been coming here for as long as I can remember. It’s quite an institution here. What about you two?”

“Oh it’s our first time.” The young woman replied, “But we’re glad we came, we just got a great bargain over at that stall.”

As Charles asked “What did you buy?” she took from her bag a carved wooden box and proudly displayed it to the boys.

“And it was only thirty-five dollars for such an old item. I don’t think the man at the stall really knew its true worth.” Charles and Max stared in astonishment at the wooden item and the purchaser, who said, “I can see you are as amazed as I am at the beautiful bargain I got.”

Finally, with a crackly voice, Max asked, “May I have a closer look?”

“Certainly” she said as she handed over the carved wooden box with an inlaid crest and added, “It’s certainly one of a kind and I think quite valuable, really.”

Max turned the box over to see if there was anything on the base, but it was bare. Then he looked quizzically at Charles and asked, “What do you reckon?”

“Looks the same, except that it has no attachment on the bottom.”

The young woman then asked, “Is there a problem?”

“Um...er...not really. It’s quite beautiful isn’t it? I hope you enjoy it.” Max added as he handed it back.

“One more thing.” asked Charles, “Do you mind if I take a photo, I would like to find something similar and it would help if I could have a picture of what I am looking for.”

“No problem, I’ll hold it up for you.”

“Thank you.” said Charles as he switched his phone to camera mode. The two couples finished their coffees without further conversation.

Charles said, “Let’s go over to that stall and see what he has there. I want to know about the box he sold that young couple.”

“Buna dimineața domnilor” said the stallholder as they approached.

“Good morning” replied Charles.

“You speak Romanian sir?”

“No, I just assumed that’s what you said.”

“I am Marius, how can I help you.”

“We were just admiring a carved box that you sold to a young couple earlier and wondering if you had another, the same.”

“Nooo, he exaggerated, “Everything here is a one-off, but maybe I am having something similar next market day.”

“Have you sold any more like that one recently?”

“Yes, last month I’m selling one very similar to a gentleman, of about your age. He said he wanted it for a wedding gift. I told him it was very good choice for such occasion.”

“Why was that?”

“Well, it was very beautiful and I’m telling him of very old Romanian legend concerning a wedding. He was very impressed by story and thanked me much.”

“We thank you also Marius.”

“As you Aussies say, no problemo.”

“Oh one more thing, was this man balding, round-faced and with a little too much belly.”

“I’m thinking he was, do you know him?”

“Maybe, thanks for your help.” concluded Charles as they left the stall.

“That crafty old bugger.” said Charles to Max.

“Who Marius?”

“No, Roger, didn’t you recognise my description of him?”

“You mean, you think he bought our box here and left it on our doorstep after the wedding?”

“Exactly.”

“But what about Conrad, he’s a respected antiques dealer, he wouldn’t be fooled by such a cheap box or the story.”

“Remember who introduced us to Conrad originally. It was Roger and they have been friends for millennia. In fact, I think they were once an item. They could have cooked up this plan between them and played this trick on us as a ‘buck’s night’ type stunt.”

“I suppose it’s better than being chained naked to a lamp post at midnight.”

“Yes, but do you think he intended for us to find out, or was he just going to keep mum about it until a future date and embarrass us at some dinner party.”

“Probably the latter, you know how Roger just loves to have the upper hand and the element of surprise.”

“But we have the upper hand, now that we have busted his secret.”

“Are we going to confront him and get him to confess?”

“I’m thinking I would like to have more fun with it than that.”

“Now who’s the crafty old bugger?” asked Max. “What are you planning?”

“I’m not sure yet. I’ll just let the idea percolate for a while until I come up with a suitably embarrassing scenario to deal with both of them.”

“I think I’m going to like this.”

“Thought you would, if fifty years together has taught me one thing about you it’s that you love a good drama. So that’s what we’ll have.”