It was early on that Sunday morning when Xavier awoke, hung over from Saturday nights romp through the bars in London. He had passed out on Norman's long comfortable sofa, as usual, after consuming way too much vodka, now Xavier sat up a aching in his head and feeling nauseous. He inhaled the aroma of fresh brewed coffee coming from downstairs in the shop and Norman was no where to be found, probably taking the two birds they picked up last night home. Xavier got himself dressed and went downstairs, barefoot, to get a cup of black java, in doing so he noticed Norman outside sitting at the little table and chairs Norman had placed outside for his customers to sit and wait and smoke. Norman would not allow anyone, not even himself, from stinking up his shop and his apartment with rancid tobacco smoke. Now marijuana smoke, no problem, tobacco smoke, no way. There was Norman full of pep, bright eyed, going over some text books on safes as he sat drinking a cup of coffee, smoking his second cigarette of the morning.
"Mornin' mate." Norman greeted his friend who looked tore up from the night before. "You look terrible! Go have a shower get yourself cleaned up." Norman said "Let's go get some steaks, soak up all that sugar from the alcohol last night. Yeah?"
"Yeah. I feel like a steaming pile of horse manure."Xavier said squinting his eyes from the glare of the early morning sun, shivering a little in the cool breeze on that beautiful Spring day.
So the two bade their time that morning waiting until sundown to drive up North in the dark of night. Xavier and Norman were nervous and excited like little children waiting for Father Christmas to come and pay a visit. They were prepared. Norman removed the magnetic panels from the sides of his work van; which displayed the name of his business, phone number and address. They had brought a box of surgical gloves to leave no fingerprints and, most importantly, Norman brought with him his bag full of tools and implements he needed to get into the house and the McDowell safe.
The ride up was tense and nerve racking, but as they pulled up to the secluded, two story, seven room country house from the Edwardian era, all was dark save for the light on above the porch and a few lights on the first floor. They pulled up through the gate which was unlocked and open. Norman and Xavier, dressed in dark work overalls, went up to the steps to the large wooden door and knocked, ringing the bell saying "Service call! Someone called for a locksmith!" Norman continued like this for some time until both men were sure no one was coming to the door. By the light of the full moon and the twinkling stars Norman and Xavier crept around to the back of the house, where all was still and motionless save for the rustling of the wind through the trees. There was a heavy, sickly- sweet scent of gardenias and roses drifting up from the well manicured gardens. On that calm Spring evening Norman glanced around the property wishing he could some day live in a grand estate such as this. Putting this thought to the side of his mind Norman focused on the task at hand saying "Listen I will get the door unlocked, but before I open it up, and we go in, I want you to bring the van around so, if they have an alarm system, we can high tail it outta here."
Xavier did as he was instructed and pulled the van up onto the emerald green lawn backing up as close as he could to the terrace and the back door. In about three minutes Norman had successfully unlocked the door; which he carefully opened, nervously waiting for an alarm to sound. No such sound issued forth from the house and, after a careful examination of the door frame, Norman told an anxious Xavier "No, I see no trigger switches, they don't have an alarm system." Norman said to Xavier much to their relief, and he was absolutely correct the McDowell's did not have an alarm system, yet.
So the two stepped into the big, empty house, as Norman marveled at the fabulous decor and everything he wanted to take, Xavier went straight to work going to the garage where he rolled out three Raleigh ten speed racing bikes, two complete sets of Ping golf clubs, along with a bag full Babolat tennis racquet's; which he brought out to and loaded in the van. Norman came out with loads of original oil paintings and a few works of art, a heavy marble bust of Shakespeare and a set of large bronze candle holders,Norman was not intending to sell these off, he thought they would look good in his flat. Xavier took one of the empty cardboard boxes, they had brought with them, into the dining room where he filled it full of sterling silver platters, trays, tea and coffee service sets. Here he called for Norman to fetch two boxes of sterling silver flatware, service for forty eight! The amount of money they would eventually receive for the silver alone was well over Twenty Thousand Pounds!
Now after only twenty minutes the van was chock full of stolen treasure, so Xavier took Norman back to the study. Here he showed him the large black safe. Upon seeing it, Norman's face lit up and he went over to it, as if it were a woman, he bent over hugging the heavy metal box and kissed it saying "Oh my, look at you, I am slowly going to make my way inside you! I will find out what your hiding in there!" Norman smiled over at his friend who laughed. "Here, take a note." Norman said as Xavier took a pen and a pad off the large antique ship captains desk. "This is a nice one, it's a 40's model, from back in the war, it is old! Okay, It's a 1940's Phoenix safe, the Imperial model." Norman explained as Xavier wrote all this down. "It might take a day or two, but I'm sure I can get it open. This company has been around since 1799 out of Liverpool. I've cracked a few before, but not one so old." Norman said lovingly touching the handle and knobs of the safe, looking forward to the challenge. "Let me get some information on this model and we'll come back tomorrow night and load up some more."
"Excellent this is going to be a lot of fun!" Xavier squealed like a little boy as he and Norman went around the house making a list of the items they would come back for tomorrow.
Within an hours time they were headed back to London a van full of merchandise they would hide up in Norman's apartment. Xavier and Norman were very pleased with the success of their misadventure and well pleased with themselves, for they thought how clever and cunning they were. However, later that night Harry the Bastard came out, at Norman's request, to look over the items to see if he wished to purchase the stolen loot. Harry said he only dealt in jewelry and smaller items, but he would give them the name of a man in Slough who would help them out. Now Harry looked over everything and he said he only would give Norman the man's name and number on one condition.
"What's that Harry?"
"Let me have this painting of the white horse, and I will tell you. I think this would look nice over the fireplace in my den." Harry said admiring the old oil painting.
"Sure take it!" Norman and Xavier said in exchange for the information; which Harry was more than happy to give them. But not as happy as he was to get that painting. Yet little did those two stupid boys know, for they had no education in the world of art, but that particular painting was done by one of the most famous English artists, a man named, George W. Stubbs [1724-1806}, this masterful work of art was entitled 'Mambrino' and was painted in 1790, and it was worth a small fortune. Harry would later sell it off to a collector for One Hundred and Ninety Seven Thousand Pounds! So Norman and Xavier were not as clever and as educated in worldly matters as they had imagined.
"Mornin' mate." Norman greeted his friend who looked tore up from the night before. "You look terrible! Go have a shower get yourself cleaned up." Norman said "Let's go get some steaks, soak up all that sugar from the alcohol last night. Yeah?"
"Yeah. I feel like a steaming pile of horse manure."Xavier said squinting his eyes from the glare of the early morning sun, shivering a little in the cool breeze on that beautiful Spring day.
So the two bade their time that morning waiting until sundown to drive up North in the dark of night. Xavier and Norman were nervous and excited like little children waiting for Father Christmas to come and pay a visit. They were prepared. Norman removed the magnetic panels from the sides of his work van; which displayed the name of his business, phone number and address. They had brought a box of surgical gloves to leave no fingerprints and, most importantly, Norman brought with him his bag full of tools and implements he needed to get into the house and the McDowell safe.
The ride up was tense and nerve racking, but as they pulled up to the secluded, two story, seven room country house from the Edwardian era, all was dark save for the light on above the porch and a few lights on the first floor. They pulled up through the gate which was unlocked and open. Norman and Xavier, dressed in dark work overalls, went up to the steps to the large wooden door and knocked, ringing the bell saying "Service call! Someone called for a locksmith!" Norman continued like this for some time until both men were sure no one was coming to the door. By the light of the full moon and the twinkling stars Norman and Xavier crept around to the back of the house, where all was still and motionless save for the rustling of the wind through the trees. There was a heavy, sickly- sweet scent of gardenias and roses drifting up from the well manicured gardens. On that calm Spring evening Norman glanced around the property wishing he could some day live in a grand estate such as this. Putting this thought to the side of his mind Norman focused on the task at hand saying "Listen I will get the door unlocked, but before I open it up, and we go in, I want you to bring the van around so, if they have an alarm system, we can high tail it outta here."
Xavier did as he was instructed and pulled the van up onto the emerald green lawn backing up as close as he could to the terrace and the back door. In about three minutes Norman had successfully unlocked the door; which he carefully opened, nervously waiting for an alarm to sound. No such sound issued forth from the house and, after a careful examination of the door frame, Norman told an anxious Xavier "No, I see no trigger switches, they don't have an alarm system." Norman said to Xavier much to their relief, and he was absolutely correct the McDowell's did not have an alarm system, yet.
So the two stepped into the big, empty house, as Norman marveled at the fabulous decor and everything he wanted to take, Xavier went straight to work going to the garage where he rolled out three Raleigh ten speed racing bikes, two complete sets of Ping golf clubs, along with a bag full Babolat tennis racquet's; which he brought out to and loaded in the van. Norman came out with loads of original oil paintings and a few works of art, a heavy marble bust of Shakespeare and a set of large bronze candle holders,Norman was not intending to sell these off, he thought they would look good in his flat. Xavier took one of the empty cardboard boxes, they had brought with them, into the dining room where he filled it full of sterling silver platters, trays, tea and coffee service sets. Here he called for Norman to fetch two boxes of sterling silver flatware, service for forty eight! The amount of money they would eventually receive for the silver alone was well over Twenty Thousand Pounds!
Now after only twenty minutes the van was chock full of stolen treasure, so Xavier took Norman back to the study. Here he showed him the large black safe. Upon seeing it, Norman's face lit up and he went over to it, as if it were a woman, he bent over hugging the heavy metal box and kissed it saying "Oh my, look at you, I am slowly going to make my way inside you! I will find out what your hiding in there!" Norman smiled over at his friend who laughed. "Here, take a note." Norman said as Xavier took a pen and a pad off the large antique ship captains desk. "This is a nice one, it's a 40's model, from back in the war, it is old! Okay, It's a 1940's Phoenix safe, the Imperial model." Norman explained as Xavier wrote all this down. "It might take a day or two, but I'm sure I can get it open. This company has been around since 1799 out of Liverpool. I've cracked a few before, but not one so old." Norman said lovingly touching the handle and knobs of the safe, looking forward to the challenge. "Let me get some information on this model and we'll come back tomorrow night and load up some more."
"Excellent this is going to be a lot of fun!" Xavier squealed like a little boy as he and Norman went around the house making a list of the items they would come back for tomorrow.
Within an hours time they were headed back to London a van full of merchandise they would hide up in Norman's apartment. Xavier and Norman were very pleased with the success of their misadventure and well pleased with themselves, for they thought how clever and cunning they were. However, later that night Harry the Bastard came out, at Norman's request, to look over the items to see if he wished to purchase the stolen loot. Harry said he only dealt in jewelry and smaller items, but he would give them the name of a man in Slough who would help them out. Now Harry looked over everything and he said he only would give Norman the man's name and number on one condition.
"What's that Harry?"
"Let me have this painting of the white horse, and I will tell you. I think this would look nice over the fireplace in my den." Harry said admiring the old oil painting.
"Sure take it!" Norman and Xavier said in exchange for the information; which Harry was more than happy to give them. But not as happy as he was to get that painting. Yet little did those two stupid boys know, for they had no education in the world of art, but that particular painting was done by one of the most famous English artists, a man named, George W. Stubbs [1724-1806}, this masterful work of art was entitled 'Mambrino' and was painted in 1790, and it was worth a small fortune. Harry would later sell it off to a collector for One Hundred and Ninety Seven Thousand Pounds! So Norman and Xavier were not as clever and as educated in worldly matters as they had imagined.
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