THE REDHEAD ☾ jj maybank

28 | a set-up

"Afternoon, ma'am." Delilah politely greets.

"Afternoon." The woman greets back.

"I see you buy gold." JJ states.

"That's what they sign says, don't it?" The woman fires back since he pointed out the obvious.

"Well, I sure hope you buy a lot of it because we're about to blow your mind." JJ informs.

"I ain't got much mind left to blow, so have at it." The woman tells him.

The boy swings the backpack off of his shoulder and places it down onto the desk. He unzips the bag and begins to fumble through it in search for the block of gold that they melted together. Soon enough, the heavy object is placed down in front of her with a small thud echoing from the action.

"How about them gold apples?" JJ asks.

"That ain't real." The woman protests, chuckling to herself at the sight.

"That ain't real?" JJ repeats.

"It can't be." The woman argues.

"Here, feel how heavy it is." Delilah tells her.

The shop keeper reaches forwards to wherethe gold rests upon the table, attempting to pick up the badly melted block of gold. It comes as a surprise to the woman when it feels heavier than she had expected, which only means that the teenagers are right. But with a bit of struggle, she eventually manages to get it to sit in the palm of her hands. A light then shines over the block of gold as the woman inspects it to make sure that it's all real.

"Spray-painted tungsten." The woman says.

"Spray-painted tungsten?" Delilah repeats, scoffing in frustration. "Really? Okay."

"Why don't you see how soft it is?" JJ suggests.

"That's what he said." Delilah mumbles.

JJ had managed to hear what she had said to herself, causing a grin to tug at the corners of his lips. The shop keeper ignores them both. She grabs a nail and a small hammer from the drawer in the desk, hitting away at the gold with it. The woman then pulls her hand away and checks to see if any damage has been created upon the nail. However, coming as a surprise again, it doesn't seem to have even made an indent and remains perfectly fine.

"Wow. Would you look at that?" JJ says.

"Hold your horses. We ain't even got to the acid test yet." The woman informs.

"Ooh! The acid test. My favourite." JJ comments as he glances over at the rest of his friends.

Next, the woman grabs a tiny bottle of liquid from the same drawer after placing the tools that she was once holding back inside. She pours a tiny bit of the acid on top the block of gold, conducting another test to prove whether it's real or fake. But her brows knit together slightly at the sight of it not reacting.

"Well, it ain't plated and it ain't painted." The woman states.

"Ma'am, I'm telling you, this is as real as the day is long." JJ informs.

"It looks like somebody tried to melt it down." The woman states.

"My mom." Delilah quickly replies, the blond boys gaze snapping over to her. "She had all this jewellery laying around the house and she thought it was best to melt it down. To 'consolidate' it."

The shop keeper nods in response, understanding the brief explanation being told. She picks the gold back up before placing it down onto a scale located upon the table. The metal plate of the object makes a loud clanging sound at the mere contact of the gold.