I wasn’t quite finished with the story I was telling by the time 2025 ended and so decided to continue it until it reached an ending point. Then I will start a new one. Besides, I kind of want to see where Penelope ends up. And so we have…
Day 197: Until she got to the last package.
Until she got to the last package. Penelope opened the last package and found that it too was a knot of tangled chains. Unlike the others, nothing looked costume to her. She was by no means an expert, but every item in this collection looked like real stones and expensive metals.
Penelope frowned looking at it. She knew the proprietor purchased from estate sales and after going through any jewelry purchased he grouped them. Penelope was certain that he extracted all of the expensive and valuable pieces. Even if he didn’t take it to a jeweler then it would have been put in the display case with other more expensive pieces. It made little sense to bag it up and offer it for only a few dollars.
“This package was a little bit more, but still not enough to cover it,” Penelope said as she began untangling things. “I could be wrong though and these are just better costume jewelry than I have seen.”
She wondered how to find out. As she untangled the chains Penelope imagined that if she took this lot to a jeweler, they might think it was theft. “After all, paying less than ten dollars for a lot like this if it is real seems absurd.”
She lay the chains out as she untangled them, finding a couple of bangles that many of the chains wrapped around inside as well. None of the pieces she saw had any form of charm etched on them. “But the charm went super hot when I touched it,” she recalled. “Maybe the charm likes expensive jewelry as much as charms.:”
It was in the center of the mess that she finally found a charmed piece. The chain was fine and delicate, the pendant on it was a flat silvery disk she was certain was platinum. The entire surface of the disk was engraved with interlocking charm symbols.
“I guess you were what the luck charm was reacting to.”
Penelope extracted it and set it to the side while she dealt with the other items. At length she had them all untangled. She set the items aside, placing them with the other expensive looking, but not charmed pieces. Penelope then gathered all of the cut-off paper and plastic, and after making certain nothing was stuck in the inside, she threw it away.
“That cleared off some space.”
She surveyed the kitchen countertop. “It looks like I robbed a jewelry store.” Much of the jewelry was in a category other than charmed and Penelope decided some categories didn’t need to be out at the moment.
“I just need to record the types of charms in my notebook so I can look them up. Everything else can go away.” Penelope started ferrying the other plastic containers filled with non-charmed jewelry back into her bedroom. The containers filled with what she knew were costume pieces she placed in the bottom of the closet. The container with pieces she thought were real, she put into one of the dresser drawers.
Ten til Midnight 