Tides of Fortune

Wishing on Stolen Pearls

"I don't want to go," I say.

"Daisy, it's a gift for you," Larz says. My fiance sends me to the market in his place. His chiseled face etches itself in my mind.

I get into my town car and drive to the market. I wear my fine yellow dress. Maybe to trick the sellers into thinking that I am foolish about money. False luxury for sale and false buyers too.

Here, everyone wears a mask of cosmetics.

I walk past the handbags and the costume jewelry and find the pearl seller.

The stink makes me gag, but shiny things come from pain and rot. I walk closer to the stall.

I examine the buckets of clean pearls.

Some real, some fake, and some covered with leftover magic.

One pearl will soon become a pile of fake luxury.

I let go of my painful gifts and pay the old woman.

The seller calls out, "We sell magic pearls."

I know the seller doesn't believe in the magic of the sea.

The seller's assistant tosses more cultivated oysters onto the counter.

Digging through briny flesh to find a treasure. She opens another and another.

Treasures can be nightmares to the oyster, but wayward magic for the buyers.

Each pearl will be cleaned and then sold to the jewelry makers.

A lavender-colored pearl stands alone. Unlike the other misshapen Baroque pearls, this one is grotesque and cheap.

I purchase the lavender-colored pearl and whisper. "This is what he wants."

I see the scam, fake pearls placed inside the shell of a long-dead oyster, or maybe it's fake too, like the smell of the sea.

They don't know what they lost. No, it's not worth millions, but it's magical, and it's mine.

My soon-to-be ex tells me some faux pearls grant wishes, and lavender grants love. He secretly plans to give it to his next girlfriend. My best friend is the one who stole my last pearl bracelet. They don't realize that I know about the affair or the theft.

He expects me to play the fool with my money.

The pearl speaks to me. "It's not him that is chosen for love, and your destiny is not yet fulfilled. He chose the false bride who would bring him misery. No magic can undo his choices."

I buy Larz, another lavender, a pearl, and a crushed and cursed one like him, but I am free of the arrangement, and I will create art that heals.