Some two hours after sunset a tall man enters the store. He is alone, dressed in a grey suit with what looks like dried mud on his shoes. There is nothing striking about him and his five o'clock shadow or his simple haircut. He carries a worn looking briefcase in his right hand while his left is buried in a pocket. The mans head swings back and forth, obviously he has something specific in mind that he seeks in this shop.

The chime over the door will sound and a few minutes later Calissa will walk up from a doorway that obviously leads down into some basement area of the shop.  She wears a light aquamarine dress that has just the right amount of clinginess and just the right amont of drape to complement her figure without being showy.

"May I help you?" she asks the stranger as she wipes her hands together.

Calissa is a vision. The kind of girl you would get all boned up chasing through a field with a knife under the full moon. I dont know where my thoughts come from sometimes. Beautiful women bring out the best in me, I suppose you could say.

'As a matter of fact you can, my dear.'

There is nothing special about my voice. I have the local inflection and im certainly no singer or swooner. Theres a slight pause, as if im going to make her ask exactly what she can help me with. She may expect some creepy come on, but no, I am actually here for something other than what I found.

'Im working on a special project and require an antique camera. It would make my night if you had something kicking around.'

"Well, as you can see most of what I have is a bit older than the invention of the camera," she smiles.  Her hand makes a slight gesture to a small statue of Ganesha.  The statue is cracked and chipped, with one tusk broken off halfway.  Despite that, it'll fetch a nice price from any buyer, being that it once belonged to a maharajah who reigned before the British occuptation.  Calissa leans against the counter casually.  "I don't think I have anything currently in stock.  I believe the earliest piece I have right now is a Japanese vase from the 19th century.  However," she continues before she can turn the customer away in dissapointment.  "I do have a number of contacts who are quite good at finding things.  Perhaps I can scrounge something up through them?  If you leave your contact information, I can let you know when I've found something."  Very rarely in this kind of business does one find exactly what one is looking for when simply walking into a shop.  These antiquities are rare and often unique objects.  Calissa is quite used to searching through the circles of like dealers, finding exactly what it is a client needs.

'Had you offered to help maybe thirty seconds later I might have noticed how much of an Idiot I sounded like.'

I poke at the belly of one of the small Buddhas and glacne around the shop once more as I consider her offer. If nothing else, its a reason to drop in again.

'I would make it worth your while. However, I dont own a telephone. Perhaps I should just return in a few days?'