New Elements

by Barrobroadcaster

What Luck

There's only one light on in the store as I walk in. I'd spent most of the day searching every other jewelry store in town looking for the perfect necklace for Leena's birthday but at almost 9.p.m, I didn't have much hope of finding it in an antique store. Everything in the small shop seemed to be covered in a fine layer of dust and it was so dim I could barely make out the shop keeper's face at the back of the store. Things that look like relics from a lost civilization are lined up on shelves throughout the shop, as if an entire culture, or cultures' worth of posessions were relegated to the space of a single corner antique store. There weren't even price tags on anything. It was like I was in someone's house. I can tell I'm not going to find anything by just looking so I decide to ask the apparent store owner.

"Welcome, good sir." the shopkeeper addresses me as I approach the counter. He's a white-haired man about my height wearing a vest, jewelery and other clothes that look like they're half a Halloween costume and half circus clown outfit. I pull out my wallet and show him a picture of the necklace I was looking for, or rather a picture of me and Leena and her wearing the necklace she'd lost about a month ago. The necklace she'd been wearing when we met and that I wanted to replace for her birthday next week. "I'm looking for a necklace that looks like this one", I say, pointing to the photo. The necklace itself was a simple band but in the center was an opal jewel of some sort that complemented her hazel eyes. "What a lovely gem." the shopkeeper says as a sly grin forms across his face. You better be talking about the jewelry, I think to myself.

"I think I might have something." he says as he turns around to the shelves in the back. After a minute of fiddling, he turns around with a small green box. He pulls back the lid on the box and pulls out something delicately wrapped in paper, as if to preserve whatever it is from touch itself. He sets it down on the counter and pulls back the paper to reveal a necklace. What disdain I might have shown at his playful 'complement' on my girlfriend earlier is instantly replaced by a feeling of awe. I examine the necklace. I can't believe how similar it is to Leena's. In the center was a dark green gem and the band shined with a golden luster. On the band on either side of the gem were small symbols, the same on each side. A horeshoe, a four-leaf clover and a small star, engraved on the band. It must represent good luck and I was certainly having some to have found it at all. It's the perfect replacement.

It wasn't hard to see I was interested. "This item is said to bring good fortune to the wearer." he says. I nod, still amazed that I seem to have found exactly what I was looking for. "What would you give for such a fine piece?" he then asks. I was taken aback by the question. What would I give? What kind of antique shop is this? "I would normally sell such an item for, hmm, maybe two hundred dollars." Not an unreasonable price, I think to myself. It even came in a nice box Leena could keep it in and I wouldn't have to wrap it. "But because this item is one of fortune, I believe we should let fortune decide." I was willing to pay two hundred dollars, now it sounded like I was getting into something a lot more complicated. Was this even legal? Could I get arrested for making some shady backroom antique deal? Still, this was as close to anything I'd found that even resembled Leena's necklace. Maybe this is where hers had come from. He pulls out a small silver-grey coin from his pocket.

"A game of chance. If this coin lands tails-side up, you pay me two hundred dollars for the box alone and I keep its contents. If the coin should land heads up, both container and jewel are yours. Free of charge." Free? If I won I could just take it and leave? There had to be a law against this. I thought about Leena's birthday. She loved that necklace. Her grandmother had given it to her. After about a month of looking for it, we hadn't given up all hope of finding it but she'd always worn it. It was like a part of her and I wanted to get it back. Here was the perfect replacement. It wouldn't be the same but at least it looked similar. And it would've been something I'd given her. That settled it.

"I can take it and leave?" I asked. "Yes." he says, through the same coy smirk from before. "If this coin lands face up, the box and necklace are yours. Fate will have decided. Do we have a deal?" I clench my fists on the counter top. "Deal." I reply, feeling the tension in my throat. Without another word, he presses the coin to the counter top on its edge and spins it. I move my hands away from the counter quickly as not to interfere with the coin. The shopkeeper clasps his hands behind hs back and we both watch. It spins wildly on the counter top making a ringing noise that seems to echo off the walls. I can barely make out which side is heads and which side is tails. I can feel my heart pounding inside my chest and my hands go cold as I watch it spin. Is it too late to say best two out of three? But I don't take my eyes off the coin as it begins to slow and then fall on its side, landing finally, heads up.

The shopkeeper claps his hands together, replacing the ringing of the coin and making me practically jump out of my skin."Congratulations young man." he declares in a joyful tone. "Fortune smiles upon you this day." I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and swallow hard. I had won. This was incredible. The storekeeper wraps the necklace back up, places it in the box and hands it to me. "Thank you, thank you very much." I exclaim, so relieved I'm almost dumbfounded at the result. "Don't thank me young man. It was chance that decided this item's fate. Now, is there anything else I can help you with? I have many other fine items that might interest a young lady." he asks, smiling again. "No thanks, this is more than enough really", I answer, not wanting to press my luck. "All right then, please come again." he says as I open the door and finally leave.

I get in my car parked on the side of the street and strap the box into the passenger's side. As I buckle up and get ready to head home, I see the one light in the store switch off. Maybe they close at 9, I guess to myself. I look at the green box. Truly, I was going to be the hero of Leena's birthday. I couldn't wait to see her face. Even if she found her old one between now and the party, she'd have two now and one was from me. It could not have been a better turn of events.

I get to my apartment around 10:30 that night. My roomate Sam Marshall is still up playing Xbox 360 in the living room. He addresses me without looking away from the screen as I close the door behind me. "So you've been gone all day. Did you find it?" "Yeah, I found it." I say, patting the box in my left hand. "How much you blow on it?" Sam asks casually. "Not much at all actually." "You know you've been going out with her for two years now." he says as I make my way through the living room. I know he's implying I should propose, set a date, do something but I'm still a little nervous. I've never really had much luck at anything like this, until tonight of course. Maybe my luck has started to change though. "We'll see how things go after next week. Hey, don't you have to be at work early tomorrow?" I ask him over my shoulder. "Yeah, I'm only going to be on a little longer." He says, his attention fully returned to the game. "All right then, I'm hitting the hay. Night." "Night", he says as I close the door to my room.

I carefully place the box on the nightstand in my bedroom, lay down still half-dressed on my bed and watch an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic I recorded earlier. I never really noticed before but as I watch the episode, I realize Leena's necklace and the necklace I just bought for that matter look a lot like the Elements of Harmony from the show. Thinking it to be an interesting coincidence and nothing more, I drift off to sleep as the episode ends and the last image freezes on the t.v. I sleep comfortably, picturing Leena smiling as she opens the box and unwraps her gift that I was lucky enough to find.

Comments

[no longer on]

Good story, only one major problem that is consistent. Every time someone else speaks, you should start a new paragraph, because it's really hard to follow along when it's all in one huge paragraph.