24. Chapter 24
Chapter twenty-four
Aras
H e and Dane had made it through twelve episodes of Ancient Protectorate—with Dane assuring him they’d see the big cool spider mech in the next episode—before work started to pick up the pace. They didn’t spend every night together, so it had been a little over a week to get that far, but Aras had insisted they keep watching that night.
But now that fixtures and appliances and all the other shit had started to pour into the house, Aras had some actual work to do. A lot of it was rote, to be sure. With new construction, everything would have the same wiring. Once he’d done one of them, he could practically do the others blindfolded. But it was an important step. They’d chosen to paint the ceilings with a snow white semi-gloss. That way it could catch the light and wouldn’t close in the space too much. Because it was all one easily available color, that had been handled first, which meant Aras was in the clear to add all of the ceiling fixtures.
After the first one, which blasted to life when he had them turn the breaker back on for a test, he got a round of whoops and applause, which grated on him. It was more than a little patronizing to act like him doing the easiest part of his job was somehow an achievement. Even though he knew it wasn’t meant that way at all, the thoughts rubbed the inside of his skull raw.
After installing all the ceiling fixtures—and only having one five-minute argument with Evander about the rotation of the bedroom fixture—Aras went in to check the progress of the bathroom. While he knew how to do waterproof lighting, it was still best practice to have the plumbing done before starting in on something like that. At least, as much as he possibly could.
He couldn’t get all the way inside, since they were filming Robinson doing something with a proper camera this time. Aras wasn’t sure what it was, something with the toilet. But it looked like it was going to be a while still, so he wandered toward the living room. After pausing a bit longer than necessary in the doorway. Dane was inside, lifting a light up high so his shirt rode up. Once he’d gotten his fill, he stepped away. He could head out to the back yard to see if there was anything out there that could use his help. Or he could go to craft services and breathe for a second. That was always an attractive option.
“Aras?”
He turned to see Caroline walking through the front door. Her hair was tied back in a bun, and she clutched a half-empty iced latte in one hand. He took a couple steps closer. “Everything good? You’re working today, aren’t you?”
“Wrapped up early. Lucky break. I wanted to bring you the bad news personally.” In spite of that, she smiled. “I may have bought several more pieces that I’d really like to display prominently. You know how it is when you get something shiny and new. It turns into your favorite.”
Aras snorted a laugh. “I know. You have them with you?”
She nodded. “Boss is letting me get deliveries at the office until I’m settled into the new place.” She jabbed a thumb behind her toward the door. “They’re in the trunk. I actually haven’t opened up the box yet, but the pictures online were amazing, so I have high hopes.”
She headed out and, since he had nothing else to do in the moment, he followed. Past craft services and all the vans and the hair and makeup trailer, out to a little black Kia. He was so used to the cameras, he almost didn’t notice that one had immediately latched onto them and followed behind, and it only barely bothered him.
Caroline popped the trunk to reveal three cardboard boxes, sealed with tape that had “FRAGILE” emblazoned on it all the way around. Judging by the busted up corners of the box, that warning hadn’t been taken all too seriously. But those were the risks of shipping glass. The label said they’d come from Iowa. Not too far—it was way worse shipping carnival glass to Washington, since almost all of it was down south or somewhere in the Midwest—but more than far enough for hundred-year-old glass bowls and shit to get broken.
She reached into a little pocket on the side of her trunk and pulled out a retractable box knife, which made quick work of the tape. Inside was all packing peanuts as far as the eye could see, but she was not delicate about them, scrounging through and letting them spill all over the inside of her trunk until they both saw bubble wrap. “Here we go.” She pulled out one, two, three bundles, checked through the box, then moved on to the second and the third. In all, she had seven new pieces, which they carried inside. The giant cluster of folding tables had been taken down as soon as they got a good look at her collection, but there was still one in the corner, so they set them on there as more cameras swooped in.
Which was enough to push Aras that little step over the edge. “I hope you were expecting to be filmed.” Aras kept his voice low, but his audio would get picked up no matter what. “If not, I can tell the vultures to back off.”
“Hell no. Get my reaction to this stuff on camera as far as I’m concerned. That’s what I signed up for with this show, right?” She still had the box knife, but was much less cavalier as she cut into the first bubble-wrapped bundle. “Based on size, I think this one is…yes.”
She pulled out a jewel-toned cylinder with an odd top. It was about five inches high, and the outside was covered in raised trees. The three feet on the bottom had been wrapped to try and prevent nicking, but she tore that wrapping off as well and set it on the table.
“Nice. Orange Tree hatpin holder in…blue?”
She held it up to the light to see the proper color, then shook her head. “Green. I have a little collection of hatpins, so I figure this’ll work to hold them. But this isn’t one of the pieces I was really excited about. Just a pickup because the price was good.”
Aras raised an eyebrow. “How good is good?”
“Well…these are from a random auction, not a specific carnival glass auction. So…ten bucks, plus shipping.”
“Jesus.” He laughed at that. “Well let’s see what else you pulled.”
They pulled apart the new finds. She had two different animal sculptures. A lavender covered frog, and a Hen in Nest bowl in blue. Two mid-sized Morning Glory vases as well, both in purple. The other two pieces were apparently a pair. She unwrapped them both together.
Aras sucked in a breath that was much sharper than he would have anticipated. “That is amazing . Do you have the cups?”
She snorted. “Not yet. They’re impossible, but I’m keeping my eyes peeled.”
She set the punch bowl on top of its base. It was a green, stippled Grape and Cable punch set, and the iridescence on it was absolutely crazy. Finding them stippled, with the glass textured all over, was a rarity. “You can’t tell me you got away with this for under five-hundred.”
She shrugged. “It was a good auction.”
“If you can get the cups, that’s…thousands?”
“Probably in that range. You can see why I want to display it. Maybe in the living room?”
“I’m on board.” He could already see how to do the lighting on it. And in green… “Does it glow under a black light?” Not all green carnival did, but some absolutely would. This looked like it might have been in the right range—not bright yellow like Vaseline glass, and not pale enough to be a true ice green, but a sort of Granny smith bright hue—that it could.
“I haven’t tested it.”
“I will.” He stopped himself. “If that’s okay. If it fluoresces, I want to make sure we can show that off properly.”
“It’s fine with me.” She patted him on the back. “I’m glad I wound up with someone on this job who gets it.”
“Yeah, he’s great like that.” Dane walked up, which made Aras unduly fidgety and nervous. “Very understanding.”
“You keep heaping praise on me, I’m liable to vomit all over.”
He turned in time to see Dane roll his eyes. “Kyle saw you were trying to get into the bathroom for something. We got the shots in there that we needed for now.”
“Thanks.” He looked over at Caroline. “Flag down Evander and tell him he’s going to have to work this into your living room design. And if he gives you any crap, send him to me.” A piece like that didn’t deserve to be tucked away in a special room. It deserved to live.