At once, the crowd fell silent as faces turned to see who had given the first bid of the day. Above me in the booth, Commander Armstrong had practically jumped out of his seat to make his first bid.
“I bid 1,000!” he shouted again, this time over the silence of the auditorium.
The announcer came from behind the Companion, squinting his eyes to look up at the commander through the bright lights beaming down over him.
“Sir? We haven’t started the bids yet.”
Again, there was some silence as the commander took his time to think about the response from the stage.
“Oh, sorry,” he uttered, foolishly embarrassed by his sudden outburst.
He seemed to stir in his seat, grinning stupidly in apology to the crowd and his colleagues beside him while shrugging his shoulders.
Once again, the announc
