2003-03-29 - 10:52 p.m.

Now playing: "Einstein's Daughter" from _Mousse'_ by The Nields.

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So the family crisis got worse.

Karen and I talked yesterday, and she encouraged me to go to the auction today. I didn't really want to go, but not going would be worse, I decided.

I got to Kimball's Auctions at 8:15. Preview hours were from 8 to 10, with the auction proper starting at 10 and going to noon or whenever.

It was NOT GOOD seeing my family heirloom furniture and cherished German sterling silver coffee and tea set on display to be pawed over by any passer-by. It hurt. Bigtime. Wicked heavy mega-duty hurt.

I signed up to bid and introduced myself to the auctioneer, who assured me the furniture would not sell. Fine. I told him I'd hang around anyway just to see how it went.

I'm glad I did.

From 8:20 or so until 10 I sat and watched people paw and examine the stuff. Thankfully, nobody seemed much interested in the furniture. From where I was sitting I couldn't see the table the tea set was on.

10:00 came. They went an auctioned a car outside, and then an auxiliary room of big sofas and rugs, and then around 10:25 the auctioneer came back to start on the stuff in the main room.

The third or fourth item was the coffee table. I was shocked that it came up for bid. It was bid on several times, and the winning bid was $350. The auctioneer had it brought into their back room.

I was literally so shocked that I couldn't move! How could he sell that table????? It had been made clear that it COULDN'T BE SOLD since it was in an open estate. And he sold it anyway! I let my sisters down. I started to shake. This wasn't going to happen again, no matter how much I had to spend, all the way up to the $10,000 we'd decided to give Dad.

The silver set was up soon thereafter. I got into a bidding war, and won at $1100. A murmur went through the crowd of about 250 people - that was the first big sale. The lady sitting next to me said it was common for sterling sets to go for about $1000, so I didn't feel so bad. There's a tray that goes with the set that's not in the picture. I wonder why?

The hall table was up next. What you can't tell from the picture is that it is RICKETY. Dad tried to fix it a few years ago, but of course he did the popsicle stick and hot melt glue fix. You can see the blocks of wood he added at the top of the right front leg in the picture. I won it at $550.

A while later came some silver ice tea spoons, weirdo steak knives in bamboo cases, and some sort of German cocktail fork-and-knife-set with what I think are ebony handles. I got the lot for $50.

About an hour later came the desk. I won it at $900.

Once I won the last piece, I figured it was time to go outside and call Karen, which I did. She was shocked about the table, too, and just about called down lighting bolts. She'd call the police, she'd get an injunction. I told her I'd go back in and talk to the staff about the table.

I went back in and talked to one of the clerks. She assured me the table hadn't sold, that she had heard my conversation with Mr. Kimball and that I had nothing to worry about. Dubiously I believed her. Went back out and called Karen, and told her I'd speak with Mr. Kimball after the auction finished. She suggested I try to buy the furniture, and then Dad would get his $3K and that would be it from us, too bad for him.

Called Dad, too, to to tell him I wouldn't be going over his house this afternoon with a $5,000 check. Why not? I'm at the auction. What auction? The one with our stuff! DUH! Can we get together tomorrow? (read: will I get my money then?) I don't know, I'll have to talk to the sisters. Gotta go, auction still on, etc.

The auction ended. Mr. Kimball told me that the coffee table did not, in fact, get sold - that he "spiked" the bid. Could I buy the furniture for my winning bids? No, that was between me and Dad since the furniture was still Dad's. Okay. However, Mr. Kimball said that Dad had told him that while the furniture was not for sale, the tea set was, as it was his, and that I really did buy it for $1100. That really hurt, too, as I thought we'd made it clear to Dad that we didn't want ANY OF IT sold.

(There was a whole other run-around this week about his trying to sell something else from the estate. I had to keep repeating that UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES COULD HE SELL ANY ITEM IN THE ESTATE. My coworkers sure got a kick out of THAT conversation.)

Anyway, I wrote my check for $1369.38 for the tea set, spoons etc, plus a 10% buyer's premium and sales tax, and left. Called Karen again. We were much relieved that the table wasn't sold.

So, that was 6 hours of excruciating torture that I was needlessly put through thanks to my selfish, childish father.

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I then went home, ate a bit of lunch, watched some Buffy on DVD, and then met Mom for sushi (YUM) and a movie, which turned out to be, at last, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It was just the kind of fluffy movie I needed today.

Tomorrow, it's back to Mom's to do the laundry that I didn't do today. We're supposed to get sleet tomorrow and 1"-3" of snow tomorrow night. Oh, joy.