“Good morning,” I said, my voice sounding thin in the quiet shop. “I need to pawn something.”
He did not look up from the small brass gear he was cleaning with a toothpick.
“Looking to buy or sell?” he asked.
“I need three hundred dollars,” I said. “I have until Friday.”
He set the gear down on a green felt pad. He looked up at me, his eyes scanning my face before sliding down to my coat pockets.
“Three hundred is a specific number,” he said. “Most people just ask for whatever they can get.”
“It is for my rent,” I said. “I do not want to sell it forever, just enough to clear the balance.”
I reached into my coat pocket. My fingers found the cool silver chain, and I pulled the necklace out, laying it gently onto the glass counter between us.
The blue sapphire caught the yellow light of the overhead bulb, throwing a small, bright speck of blue onto Arthur’s gray sleeve.
I Brought a Coworker as My Date to My Ex’s Wedding, and One Comment From Him Wiped the Smile Off My Ex’s Face
My Husband Lost His Phone Until A Stranger Revealed Where He Found It
I turned eighteen on a Tuesday. No cake. No card. Not even a half-hearted “happy birthday.” Just my father sitting at the kitchen table, his wife stirring sugar into her mug, and my stepbrother leaning back in his chair with that look people get when they already know how the story ends.
I Saw a Homeless Man Wearing My Missing Son’s Jacket – I Followed Him to an Abandoned House, and What I Found Inside Made Me Nearly Collapse
He Took His Father’s Bedroom After Surgery. Then Dad Took Back the House
