“That’s a wonderful idea. It would help to tie the whole ensemble together.”
Corey finally came up with a rough estimate, which he wrote down and offered to Kaustav for his inspection.
To his surprise, and relief, Kaustav didn’t turn a hair.
“That seems very reasonable to me,” he said. “Rather less than I had anticipated, in fact. Are you sure it’s not too low?”
“I can usually bring my projects in on or under budget. And there’s one advantage with this one. Even though we’re talking about so many separate pieces, each of them will be comparatively small and require much less in the way of silver than a full-sized ensemble would.”
“You’ve factored in your time, of course.”
“Certainly.”
“Then I’m ready to proceed. I’ve seen the sample contract you have on your website.”
“Yes. I’ve taken the liberty of bringing a copy of it with me.”
“I too have taken a liberty. I’ve typed it out and modified it in certain respects, and I have it here in a file on my computer. Would you like to look it over?”
“Please.”
Kaustav called up the document on his computer then hit the print button. “We can make any changes in it that you think might be appropriate.”
Corey read through the pages that Kaustav handed him. He had to admit that the contract was extremely comprehensive. It covered all the bases, and the financial terms were favorable to him. This project, if successfully completed, promised to pay his rent for some time!
“What do you think?” Kaustav asked.
“I suppose I ought to try to assert myself by insisting on one change or another. But the truth is I can’t find any fault with this.”
“Excellent. I’ll print out a second copy. We can sign them, one copy for you, one for me. And then I’ll write the check for your advance.” As Kaustav set about these tasks, he looked up, met Corey’s gaze, and smiled. Corey had already begun to recognize that distinctive smile, which had something intimate and disarming about it and which he found beguiling. “I have to admit, Corey, that I always enjoy doing business with people who are straightforward and direct.”
“Well, I hope that describes me.”
“I believe it does.” Kaustav had printed out the contracts. He signed both copies, and while Corey took the pen from him and signed them, too, Kaustav got out his checkbook. “Now that we’ve come to an agreement,” Kaustav said briskly as he handed Corey the check, “what’s our next step?”
“What I usually do for such projects is draw up some tentative designs. Including alternatives. Once you’ve seen them and chosen one, I’ll make some maquettes—full-scale models, usually in wax—of the various pieces, so you can get an idea of what they’ll look like in three dimensions. And then, when everything is to your satisfaction, I’ll set to work. In case you’re wondering about the time frame, a project like this, with so many individual pieces to be made, will take me about five or six weeks.”
“That will be fine. I don’t want you to rush. Take your time.”
“Right now I’ll need to borrow the statue, if I may. Take it home with me. Now only so I can study it, to get a better idea of what size and style of jewelry will be appropriate, but to take a lot of measurements.”
“I anticipated as much. Let me put Vishnu in his box. I brought it out of storage.”
The box was sturdy wood, with latches to secure the hinged lid. It looked as though it had been made especially for the statue. The interior was fitted with two layers of “egg carton” foam rubber to cushion the statue between them.
“There,” Kaustav said when he had placed the statue inside the box, closed it, and secured the latches. “I entrust Lord Vishnu to your care.”
“I’ll take very good care of him.”
“Please do. As I said—he has considerable sentimental value for me. Renesh will carry him out to your car for you. I’ll call him. Do you need to take the jewels with you, as well?”
“Not at this stage. I’ll need them later, of course. I’m bonded, in case you were wondering. And I have my own small safe to keep such things in. I will take a quick look through the boxes again, if I may, and jot down exactly how many of them there are.”
Corey took care of this chore, drawing up a list of the jewels and their relative sizes. “That should do it,” he said, when he was done. He was reluctant to leave but couldn’t think of any excuse to prolong his interaction with his new client.
“Then, as pleasant as this has been, I suppose I had better see you on your way. But we’ll have other opportunities to get together.”
“Absolutely. I’m looking forward to them.”
“As shall I.”
“Thank you for lunch. And for the commission. I’ve enjoyed myself, here, this afternoon. Meeting you, aside from anything else, has been very enjoyable.”
“I, too, have enjoyed making your acquaintance,” Kaustav replied, perhaps rather formally. But he immediately mollified the formality by treating Corey to that warm, open smile of his as they shook hands. “I hope we will become good friends.”
“I hope so, too.”
“No, let me carry those for you,” Kaustav insisted when Corey moved to retrieve his laptop and portfolio.
Outside the house, Renesh helped Corey to stow the box containing the statue in the trunk of the Triumph. Kaustav handed Corey his laptop and portfolio, which he placed behind him as he got into the car. Both men stood there, smiling and waving, as Corey drove away.
This time, as he approached the foot of the long driveway, the gate slid open noiselessly to allow him egress.
During the drive home, Corey felt pleased with himself. He had a new commission, which promised to be a challenging and a lucrative one. And he’d met an extremely attractive and interesting man—well, two such men, since that sexy little houseboy, Renesh, was certainly so slouch.
I wonder if “houseboy” is really a euphemism for “boyfriend.” I wonder if Kaustav fucks him. I know I sure as hell would if I had a young number like that living with me and working for me!
Chapter Five:
A Houseboy Makes a House Call
Corey was excited, as he always was when he had a commission for a piece of custom jewelry. And this commission was not just for one piece, but for a set. The fact that the jewelry was destined to be worn not by a human being, but by an inanimate object, further piqued Corey’s interest, adding to the challenge.
Corey spent the next few evenings getting the know the statue, studying it from different angles and taking some photos of it, including many close-ups for future reference. Most of this time, however, he spent taking precise measurements, using a pair of calipers and diagramming and notating the results on graph paper. As he’d anticipated, the wrists and forearms—all four of them!—each had slightly different dimensions. There were similar discrepancies between the ankles. Vishnu, he discovered, also had an enviably trim waist. The god must have been putting himself through quite a grueling abdominal routine, up there in the celestial gym.
Corey also began to study traditional Indian jewelry designs, using as a resource not only the Internet but several books that he checked out of the public library. He was curious, though, to see some examples of the real thing.
This being Hollywood, the home of the American film industry, it wasn’t long before Corey availed himself of one of his contacts in the business. He called a friend of his who worked in the costume department of one of the major studios.
“Christopher, I need your help. Suppose you wanted to rent some authentic Indian jewelry—I mean East Indian, as in Hindu, not Native American—for a flick. Where could you find something like that?”
“That’s easy. There’s a little specialty shop called Rashi Gems in the Jewelry District.”
Los Angeles’s Jewelry District, located southeast of Pershing Square, was a concentrated area, crowded with jewelry wholesalers and retailers.
; “Why, I know that area backwards and forwards,” Corey boasted. “How come I’ve never heard of this place?”
“It doesn’t appeal to quite the same clientele as you guys in the Hills. It’s a tiny hole-in-the-wall place, a family business, and the clientele is mostly members of the local Hindu community.”
“The local Hindu community? Is there such a thing?”
“Sure. It’s not exactly a Chinatown. It’s more spread out and scattered. But it exists. And some of them have a lot of money, and one of the things they invest it in is jewelry. Anyway, Rashi Gems is kind of like certain bars and sex clubs I could name. You have to know it’s there, otherwise you can walk right past it without realizing it. I’ll give you the address and directions. And Mrs. Rashi, who runs the place, is a sweetheart. Tell her I sent you, and she’ll take good care of you.”
When Corey made his expedition to the Jewelry District, a few days later, he had to admit that, without Christopher’s directions, he might indeed have walked right past the storefront. Located on Hill Street, between two much more imposing shops, it was unprepossessing indeed. The façade was essentially a door with small, discreet lettering on its glass pane.
As Christopher had warned him, he first had to pass inspection by the shop’s Cerberus, a hulking young man named Surya, who was one of the Rashis’ sons. Surya was the equivalent of Fernando and wore a handgun in a holster on a Sam Browne belt.
The mention of Christopher’s name disarmed Surya, so to speak, and literally opened doors. After being ushered through several of them, and negotiating the narrow corridors that linked them, Corey found himself in an elegantly furnished little sitting room. Only the presence of some flat-drawer filing cabinets and an abundance of mirrors suggested that this was a place where goods were sold.
He met Mrs. Rashi, a dignified-looking but friendly woman who wore a deep plum-colored sari and a lavish display of her own inventory.
When Corey dropped first Christopher’s name and then Kaustav Thevar’s, that opened further doors, metaphorically speaking. He was invited to sit down and take tea.
He learned that Kaustav Thevar was well-respected in Los Angeles’s Hindu community. He was an astute businessman and had a reputation for charitable works. He did not lead quite the kind of active social life that one might expect of a man of his prominence. However, an invitation to his house, for dinner or some other event, was a coveted prize.
Corey explained the project he had undertaken for Kaustav. Mrs. Rashi nodded, as though outfitting statues with jewelry was an everyday occurrence.
Mrs. Rashi proudly showed Corey a sample of her own skill at deity dressing—brass figures, less than a foot tall, of Krishna and his girlfriend Radhna. They were dressed in elaborate detailed outfits made from the same pink and blue silk fabrics, trimmed in lace and embellished with embroidered beadwork. Krishna’s arms were raised to hold a little flute to his lips. One of Radhna’s delicately molded hands held a tiny artificial rose, with silk petals and leaves. Both deities were adorned with good-quality costume jewelry.
“They’re beautiful,” Corey said sincerely.
“I change their outfits every so often,” Mrs. Rashi admitted, “and sometimes I make them new ones. Sewing them gives me something to do in my spare time. I’m not quite as dotty as one of my friends who has drawers full of outfits for her deities, all made from the most expensive fabrics. She talks to her statues as though they were human beings and can answer back, and she worries about whether they’re dressed lightly or warmly enough depending on the weather.”
Proudly, Mrs. Rashi began opening some of the cabinets and showing Corey part of her inventory. There were extraordinary examples of intricately patterned minakari enamel work and of patta-haar, jewelry made of tiny gold beads strung together. The sets of elaborate matched pieces intended for brides were especially striking. Mrs. Rashi also showed Corey some examples of jewelry incorporating what were called “polki” diamonds. These were natural stones, uncut, used just as they had been mined from the earth. Corey had never seen such jewelry, except in photographs, and so he found the “polki” diamond pieces especially interesting.
Corey and Mrs. Rashi finally got down to talking business. She could, of course, supply him with any additional small gemstones or silver beads and ornaments he might need to supplement the jewels Kaustav had already set aside for the project. All of her inventory was imported directly from India. It would be bad luck, she suggested, to combine Indian and non-Indian gems in the same piece of jewelry. Traditionally, Hindus believed that different gemstones possessed individual powers and influences. Corey was welcome to return as soon as he determined exactly what he would need.
In the meanwhile, though, Corey felt it would be only polite to buy something. And with so many interesting and beautiful pieces to choose from, it was only a question of narrowing the selection down to those he especially liked.
He was drawn to a bracelet in which semiprecious gems were arranged in a pattern suggesting a stylized lotus flower. It was, Mrs. Rashi told him, an antique, from the middle of the nineteenth century. If it had originally been part of a set, it had been separated from the other pieces long ago. Corey saw at once how the design could be adapted for the jewelry for Vishnu. He bought the bracelet, which struck him as an orphan deserving of adoption.
“Come back whenever you like,” Mrs. Rashi invited Corey, handing him over to Surya, who was ready to escort him out. “We can have tea.”
Surya’s soulful brown eyes seemed to linger on Corey as he held open the street door for him. “I hope you have a pleasant afternoon, sir.”
“Thank you, Surya. The same to you.”
For a moment, a blip on Corey’s gaydar suggested that Surya had been checking him out. But then Corey dismissed the notion. The young man was probably just being polite, especially once he’d determined that Corey wasn’t a jewel thief who was casing the joint.
On his way home, however, Corey debated which were sexier, Italian-American men or Indians. He found himself unable to come to a conclusion.
Corey now got down to the real work of drawing design after design on more sheets of graph paper, discarding most of them but saving a few, which he set aside to refine. He used colored pencils to fill in some of these sketches, then cut them out and secured them to the statue with bits of tape to study the effect. It took a bit of imagination to visualize how the paper jewelry might be transformed into the real thing, but Corey believed he was on the right track. The trick was to come up with designs on the small scale suitable for the statue but which would not be so delicate that they lost their visual impact when viewed from a slight distance.
One afternoon after getting home from work, Corey called Kaustav to provide him with a progress report.
“I’m done taking the measurements of the statue. I’ve also begun drawing up some possible designs for you to choose from. One or two of them aren’t too bad, if I do say so myself.”
“Oh, excellent.”
“I know you’re anxious to have Vishnu back home with you.”
“Yes, but only if you’re sure you’re done with him.”
“I am, for the time being. I may have to borrow him again, for a ‘fitting,’ later on. When I can drop him off at your place?”
“Any time that’s convenient for you. Although, on second thought, I hate for you to make a special trip. I have an idea. I can send Renesh to pick him up.”
Corey was slightly disappointed because he’d been looking forward to having an excuse to see Kaustav again. But he said, “That would work out just fine for me, if he doesn’t mind making the drive into the city.”
“Renesh is extremely accommodating. And I have your address.”
“Do you need directions on how to get here?”
“Oh, no. Renesh will find it. Would this evening be convenient? Shall we say in an hour or two?”
“Of course.”
“You’re sure I’m not inconveniencing you? You had no othe
r plans?”
“None at all. I’m just having a quiet evening at home.”
“How disappointing,” Kaustav said with a little chuckle. “I was laboring under the illusion that a young man-about-town such as you must lead a very active and exciting social life.”
“I wish,” Corey retorted. “If anything, I was starting to feel a little bored.”
“Then perhaps you would not mind doing me a small favor?”
“Anything. You name it.”
“You might, if it’s not too much trouble, well, just be nice to Renesh, engage him in a little conversation, and so forth. You see, he is rather shy, and he doesn’t always have as many opportunities to meet people as I might like. I would like him to continue to develop his social skills.”
“I understand perfectly. I’ll do my best to entertain him. I’ll get to know him a little.”
“I would be ever so grateful.”
“Don’t mention it.”
The two men exchanged good-byes and hung up.
Corey carefully replaced the statue of Vishnu in its foam rubber cocoon inside its box. He glanced around the apartment, wondering if he ought to tidy it up a bit, but then he decided against it. This was going to be an informal visit, surely, and there was no need to go to too much trouble for Renesh’s benefit. He might be young and naïve and living in a foreign country where the people and their ways were still strange to him, but he was presumably aware that not every American led the kind of affluent lifestyle that his employer enjoyed.
Renesh was prompt. He arrived within the hour.
“Hi there, Renesh. Come in. Did you have any trouble finding the place?”
“Not at all. Mr. Thevar told me to take the BMW. It has an excellent GPS system,” Renesh boasted.
Corey smiled.
“And he told me to give you this note.”
“Did he?” Corey took the sealed envelope that Renesh handed him. It was a heavy, luxurious cream-colored paper. He tore it open and extracted a matching piece of card stock, which he unfolded and read.
Jewels for Vishnu (Siren Publishing Allure ManLove) Page 11