The Jewerly Box

“It’s my turn!” Gold Hoops said with petulance and more than a little indignation. “I’ve matched every outfit this week and still, she’s picked something absolutely ghastly to wear instead.”

Gold Hoops was lucky indeed that “absolutely ghastly” Southwestern Silver earrings purchased on a road trip through New Mexico by Mia’s mom, were not within earshot. She was, in fact, on The Ears, and Southwestern Silver was as rough and tough as they come, a real mountain girl who could swing and poke you with the silver feather that dangled from two silver balls, intricately carved with Navajo designs.

Leather Necklace, who hadn’t been worn since college due mostly to trends and sour memories incurred in dark bars and backseats, sighed. 

“It’s not about turns, Goldie dear, it’s about the ‘mood’ and today, you weren’t it!” Leather said. He didn’t add that Goldie’s mood was likely why she hadn’t been picked. 

The jewelry box was crowded and like most of Mia’s possessions, a mish-mash of periods and people, gifts, and ghosts. Leather thought about the small boxes lining the bottom of the green velvet base, the ghosts of love's past, they were saddest to him. Unlooked at despite their significance in Mia’s life. There was the opal ring from her grandmother’s travels to Australia. Leather had loved hearing Opal’s tales about potoroos and the streets of Melbourne. But he hadn’t heard them in so very long and he missed Opal’s sweet, soft accent. 

There was Leather Cuff from Mia’s emo days. They had never really gotten on, Cuff and he, but they had bonded over a shared history. Once, they had both been cows and that was something wasn’t it?

There were Shell Earrings too, from that guy Mia had met at the beach in Florida. They had written to each other for a year, falling in and out of love by letter. Leather still got mad whenever he read Chad’s last letter.

Not all were romantic mementos of course. He was thinking of Aspen Leaf. The gold-dipped pendant had fine, gray hairs tangled in the clasp of the golden chain. Mia took it out to look at now and then, but she never put it on. Leather understood that It was sacred, and not for every day. He hoped Aspen was doing okay, it had been a very long time since they had seen each other.

He’d been lost in thought, and when Goldie started sobbing, a blatant performance that made his cord crawl, he sighed again. It was ever thus. Not all gold glitters, he thought to himself again.

“Tell you what my dear,” he said to Goldie, “Why don’t I read you some of the letters?”

Goldie stopped sobbing as if on cue. Leather was feeling generous and like taking a trip down memory lane. He hadn’t read the letters in a long time either. 

“Oh, would you really Leather?” she asked. “That would cheer me right up.”

Leather began:

Hey Mia, It was great to get your last letter. I’ve been applying to colleges and think U of Tampa is going to offer me a scholarship. Thanks for your help with my essay, I couldn't have done it without you. You’re so great. You should be a writer! That part about Napoleon saying that “geography is destiny,” was so clutch. I can see myself now, a lacrosse star and history major. Haha. Where did you even learn that? 

Listen, I have been thinking that with me going to college and you still in high school for another year, we should probably cool it for a while, ya know? Like I like you so much but I just really need to focus on my college apps and getting ready for the season. If I’m going to be on attack for the Spartans, I gotta be great.

I’m so glad I met you. I hope your life is good.

Later,

Chad

“God I really hate Chad,” Goldie spat. “He was such a user.”

Leather didn’t disagree. Chad was a complete ass. But he also loved knowing that Chad was now an accountant in Venice Beach with a chubby belly and thinning hair. Mia had gotten tipsy one night and looked him up on Facebook when the box had been open. She laughed so hard she’d spilled her wine. 

He picked Abby’s next.

Dearest friend,

You would not believe for one second what I did last night! Mom and dad were watching T.V, Aliens if you can believe it but I didn’t. They’re so uptight and religious, I could barely believe it when I snuck by on my way OUT OF THE HOUSE! I nearly gave myself away, but luckily Sigourney Weaver was screeching like a banshee and they didn’t hear me. SO yes, I snuck out of the house to meet Sam!!! Ahhhhhh. I felt like a freakin 'rebel in a romance novel. We climbed onto the roof of the barn and just sat there for a while looking at the stars. It’s funny because no matter how long we’ve known each other, which is forever, it was still so awkward. My heart was hammering and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I got so nervous I thought I was going to puke or fart, but instead, I blurted out so loud: DO YOU KNOW OCTOPUSES HAVE THREE HEARTS BUT NO BONES! It was so loud and I could hear my voice echoing off the barns, but it somehow broke the tension and we started laughing so hard and then he just KISSED ME! It was so perfect and I can’t wait to tell you in person. I'll give you this letter at homeroom tomorrow. Ahhhhhh!!!

Love you forever and always,

Abs

“I love that one,” Sterling Pendant piped in. She’d been listening quietly from her corner, smiling as she revisited Mia’s life. “Abby is such a good friend to our girl.”

She was thought Leather, wistfully. But he knew from Enamel Strawberries, the earrings Mia wore the most, that Abby and Mia had fought recently over something silly and hadn’t spoken in weeks.

Absently, he picked another letter from the pile.

My own heart,

Can you believe it’s been six years since we met? It seems like yesterday that I first saw you, perfect against the glare of the fluorescent lights, flipping through a magazine, a plastic shopping bag dangling from your fingers. I wondered immediately what you had bought, it was such a light bag, you held it with one finger. But your hair was backlit somehow, shimmering red against the stale light, and my breath caught in my throat. Like actually caught, the way it does in books and movies. You were so perfect. You still are. And I know this hard bit we’re going through won’t last forever. I will get better and you will still shine the way you did in the harsh light of the grocery store. You are a lighthouse in my storm. I cling to you. AH, before I get too poetic I was wondering if you could bring my baseball books with you when you visit next week? I’ve not got a lot to read in here but the counselors say I should revisit some of my former passions now that I’ve sweat the nasties out. 

I love you. See you next week.

Ben

Ben. Leather thought of the name with utter sadness. Why did she choose Ben?

My dearest love,

Where do I even begin to explain the state of my head? I’ve gotten lost again, somehow, even in here. I don’t know which way to go and often wander the halls. There is one on the fourth floor with a flickering light, fluorescent of course, and it flickers on and off. I swear, this sounds crazy, but I swear it’s trying to tell me something. Like Morse Code, you remember? I learned it when my dad built the treehouse before the accident. I think it stuck with me so long because, well, it reminded me of my dad. I think it’s a message from him. I know that’s crazy, but I do. If I can just stare at it long enough, get a pen and write it down, the dots and dashes, I think he's trying to tell me something. 

The other day Nurse Butter slipped a new pill in my cup, I know it. I used to take three pills and then there were four and there have been four every day since and she won’t tell me what it is. I think they’re poisoning me. I think that’s what my dad is trying to tell me! I am so tired. I am so tired. 

Ben

Dear Mrs. Tate,

In regard to the untimely passing of your husband Ben Tate at the St. Moery’s Facility in Dorset we are initiating an inquest into the events leading up to his decline and unfortunate passing. We understand this is a trying and unexpected time for you and your young family, and want to assure you that we are doing everything in our power to discover how Ben was able to escape into the woods with the pen. 

I want to offer my sincere condolences to you and young Andrew.

Sincerely,

Charles Imp

Director, St. Moery’s

Leather didn’t know why he did it. Why did he read this letter? He’d been choosing them at random automatically, without pause as Goldie paid rapt attention.

He could feel rather than hear her sobs from the box below. Wedding Ring. She was so alone among the ghosts. Mia never looked at her. Never even put a regretful finger to the top of her box. She was buried under expired passports and old photos of Mia as a child, riding a too-big horse on her family’s farm, she and Abby, their arms linked and posing at summer camp. 

Goldie sighed. 

“Perhaps she’ll pick me tomorrow,” she said hopefully. Leather sighed too.

“Perhaps.”