though he already has a wife his great goggling blue eyes anticipate the longed-for arrival of his dangerous girlfriend with an interest in scorpions ; already hes wondering if ill like the small glass case with a scorpion mounted on a square of watery aqua silk which he remembers seeing on a dusty shelf at the back of the frontier antique emporium out on demoss petrie road , and hes wondering whether he can strike a bargain with the crabby owner for a price for the case under twenty dollars .