Good morning all and welcome to a bright shiny new year. I hope everyone had a fabulous New Year’s eve. Ours was a bit quiet, which after the holiday rush was kind of appreciated. We talked about going out and joining more festivities, but sipping champagne on the couch in fuzzy pajama pants sounded far more appealing. So that is what we did. And it was ice champagne. And fabulous fuzzy pajama pants. But for those of you awake and kicking off this Thursday, we have the first writing prompt of the year. Are you ready? Excellent, let’s go.
Oh I like this. I’ll have to figure out what plans he has but then work into the gemstone angle. I don’t think this is the start of the story though. I think it needs to come a little after it gets started. But for this morning, I kind of like it.
Thursday, January 1st: He held the gemstone up to the light.
He held the gemstone up to the light. The light changed color as it passed through. Rainbow refractions. He lowered the stone, placing it with the others on the black velvet. He looked at them, uncertain what to do.
‘They could be fake,’ a part of his brain thought. The rest of him frowned. Did glass refract like that, throwing sprays of rainbows from its facets. He didn’t know. He would have to check in with someone more qualified. He looked at the small pile.
‘Probably best not to leave them out.’
He folded up the black cloth and slipped it inside the small bag he took it out of. He then put the bag with the others. Staring at it made his belly tremble with nerves. Each of the bags was filled with stones. Some like the one he just tied up, appeared to be diamonds. Others with rubies, emeralds or sapphires. There was even a bag of pearls.
The pearls and sapphires weren’t as concerning. They were valuable, yes, but not as much as the other stones.
‘And oddly there are fewer of them.’
He stared at the loot and then slowly put the bags in his backpack. Once they were safely hidden, he felt marginally better. He looked around the rest of the room. There was still so much to sort through. A few weeks ago he found himself on a liquidation site. He needed to at least look like he was working on a project and setting up a resale site fit with his plans. He could use this space to sort through items as the palettes came in. There was a photo station on the other side of the room along with racks for hanging clothes and shelving for storing other items. He even had the preliminary site set up so that it would go live. Once it was, he figured that someone might buy something and he could look busy filling orders.
He suspected that orders might be few and far between.
But he didn’t need the business venture to be profitable. He needed to make it seem like it was enough work to keep him occupied. Occupied enough that no one would question what else he might be doing with his time.
Currently this large room was filled with the pallets he purchased. Only two were open so mounds of clothing and boxes of shoes were covering much of the floor space. The first box had been almost exclusively clothing and shoes. The second box had been more of a mix and there were various electronics and some jewelry items mixed in with some home goods. Then there had been the bag filled with bags. Those bags were filled with gemstones.
Something told him, they weren’t supposed to be there. They didn’t fit with anything else.
‘And I need to not cause attention to drift my way.’
He slung his backpack onto his shoulder. These items needed to be put elsewhere. They did not belong with the rest and he didn’t want them here. The money, if they were real would help bankroll his venture. It would mean he could keep the possibly unprofitable resale business front up for longer. But he didn’t need the attention.
He left his rented space and stepped into the corridor. He made certain to lock the door behind him. As he came out one of the other tenants of the space stepped out.
“Hey, leaving so early?” Jake asked.
“Opened the first two crates and realize I need sorting boxes. It is utter carnage in there,” Luke replied.
Jake nodded. “I hear that. I did notice there was a sale on plastic bins going on. Had to stock up myself last week. No one realizes how much storage you end up needing.”
Ten til Midnight 