"You better pick that up, it's Lam."It was Lam and the man pulled the phone a little from his wife's ear so he could hear the conversation too. The Vi...tnamese was loud, fast, and furious. Lam explained a lot of what Mom had said on the television. The customer heard one side of the conversation and was troubled, because she wanted to be with the boys and wanted to talk with Lam. The community here was small and everybody knew everybody else.The talk went on for quite a while and I was sure if. It was in excellent condition, easily more than a hundred years old. I knew a woman down in Lake Elsinore who'd have paid me five hundred for it, without even batting an eye.I saw quite a few whalebone artifacts this one guy had for sale in his home. These were mostly old carvings, done by whalers, back before the turn of the twentieth century. His grandparents had been collector's, but he had no interest in keeping it all together as a folk art collection.When I spoke with him about the. The address she’d been given was a tea house, and outside lounged what city dwellers called ladies of ill repute, their bodies nearly bare their eyes glassy and hollow. The looked her up and down but made no greeting or other move as she stepped inside. Inside was a long counter with only two jars on it, behind it an old woman who looked like a grizzled tree. There were two small tables, both empty, and flies buzzed in a corner where a crack in the walls had been stuffed with a dirty rag. ‘No. I had shown him, after all.If Art had been older, he would have had a heart attack when I opened the box. He whistled 'wow'. Before he could ask, I told them."This is mostly my Great-grandfathers collection. He left it to me."Helen was looking really white in the face.'Well, good, ' I thought. 'I got her goat in this lifetime. Last lifetime, she died on me, before I married her daughter.'Art finally asked, "How much does all that weigh?"I said, "At last count, about a hundred and fifty.
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