Ixthia Club
Part Seven
 

Augsburg was a genius.  A literal genius…with an I.Q. of 157.  Ramalia knew this right away, mostly because it was tattooed in small letters on his bicep "I have an I.Q. of 160".

 "Augsburg, this is Ramalia, she's going to be joining Muck's bidding team."  Augsburg looked at her coolly, moving in fluid, arching movements to a standing position.  His shoulder blades poked out of his back and she could see a couple of his ribs.  He held his hand out and Ramalia shook it.  It was cold, but not clammy.  The fingers on his right hand were tattooed a dark brown with a diamond pattern on each knuckle, upon closer inspection, there was a lot of tiny detail to the brown tattoo…it was scaly.  Snakeskin.

 "Ramalia.  I've never heard that name before."  He smiled and flicked his tongue out at her.  It was split up the middle, giving the illusion of two skinny tongues.  She jumped back and Masha frowned at him.  "Augsburg.  Come on."

 "It's nice to meet you, Augsburg,"  Ramalia said, and he recoiled into the corner with his sketchbook.  Masha lead her away.  "Augsburg is trying to turn himself into a snake.  It's an experiment.

He's hoping that by living and looking like a snake he can become cold blooded.  Although, I've never seen him eat a live rat…which will be a true indication of his transformation."  Ramalia laughed with him.  "And you've met Violet of course."

"But she's not a bidder, right?"  Masha screwed his eyebrows up at her.

"Of course she is…she just happens to work here as well."

"You said you had no female bidders."  Masha turned to Violet who fell to her knees immediately.

 "I'm not a female or a male, ma'am.  I'm a dog."  Masha patted her on the head and she got up to get more drinks.  Ramalia watched her go, noticing for the first time that a black leather leash fell down her back from her necklace.

"Oh," Ramalia said.

"We all help each other out here.  She's been a lot of help…to me."  He let Ramalia's arm go and walked away, leaving her in the middle of the room, back at the box and it's rules.  Someone covered her eyes.

 "So?  What do you think?"  She was so happy to hear Muck's voice that she just sighed heavily and took his hands in hers.  "I think this place is crazy."  Beatle was standing next to her.

 "It is crazy, but it's also a gold mine.  The only other bidding team is Ish and Ian, everyone else is on their own.  If we pool our money together, we can win this thing."  Ramalia shook her head at him.

 "Beatle, what money? WHAT MONEY?  We couldn't pool together $1.57 to put gas in the car to get home last week.  I don't know how you think we're going to win this box."  She looked over at Augsburg who was laying on his stomach, his legs stretched out behind him.  Even the bottoms of his bare feet were tattooed.  Where was HE getting money from?

 "The point is, none of these bidders are rich.  Look at Violet, she has nothing, Ish and Ian, what do they have?  We've met some of the other bidders, too, and they don't exactly look like millionaires."  Muck was beginning to sound frantic.  "I don't know where the bidding stands exactly right now, but I know for sure that it's not even to $5,000 yet.  This box might go for nothing."  The were all whispering conspiratorially even though no one was listening.

 "I don't know."  Ramalia was nervous about getting involved.  She stared at their matching bracelets with the shiny lacquer beads.  It was a cult.

"Look, Ram,"  Muck spoke even softer now, "I have an opportunity to do a BIG RUN from Chicago to Amsterdam and back again."  She looked at him in horror.  "$50,000 worth of X for a dealer in town.  I bring the money there, bring the doses back and get a 10% commission on the project. Beatle's coming with me.  That's five grand that we can split between bidding and paying the rent."  He took her hand and squeezed it tightly.  "The winner gets whatever they need, Ramalia…whatever they need."  She looked at the box, looked at Muck and frowned at Beatle, the fly in the ointment.  She hated to admit it, but the facts were clear: She was on a TEAM with Beatle.

 

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