This store was just weird. It was dark, there were all sorts of odd things for sale, and the clerk seemed a little out there. With the way he talked about all his merchendise, it sounded as though he really believed all these thingamajigs were as magical as he was claiming.
Maybe he was just acting a little too character. Honestly, Vanessa didn’t know what this shop was all about; it was the first time she had ever seen it, actually. But whatever it was, it just wasn’t her scene.
But then, her eyes caught sight of the jewelry section. Never before had she seen such exquisitely crafted jewels. The golden metals glowed in ways that were unreal and the finely-cut gems shimmered with unearthly light. But what seized her attention the most was this lone bracelet sitting around a long wooden peg. Rather than being a solid band of gold, it looked more like it an intricate tangle of vines that danced and curled around each other in subtle harmony. Dotting their tips were these fiery red gems that looked much like rubies. Curiously, Vanessa checked out the price tag. She couldn’t afford such a precious thing, but still she had to check.
“Twenty dollars?” she had said incredulously. It had to be fake. It just had to be. Something like this would cost thousands. Still, she couldn’t help but admire it. Even when she looked at it closely, it still seemed so genuine.
As Vanessa turned the bracelet over in her hand, she heard the clerk say something. She paid his words no heed, though. All she could pick up was something about a “godiva,” whatever that was. She was just too engrossed in the bracelet to listen to any more of his mystical mumbo-jumbo.
“I’ll take it!” she finally said. Fake or not, it was just too pretty to pass up, and she would probably end up regretting it if she just walked out of the store without it in hand.
“Enjoy your purchase,” the clerk said. “I can tell it’s going to suit you very well.” And so, here she was, out in the streets with her lovely new bracelet in a paper bag.
“Let’s see how it looks out here,” she said, pulling it out. She expected to finally see the obvious forgery out in the sunlight. To see that the gold was really just bronze-plated tin. That the rubies were little more than plastic beads. And that there would be a little label carved into the metal saying that it was ‘Made in China.’
But there wasn’t. The bracelet looked just as brilliant in the sun as it did in the dim lighting of the store. “Just what is this thing?”
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