I had been watching this girl, young woman really, for quite a while now. It wasn’t that she was particularly good looking, rather she was quite plain. She had straight black hair tied into a loose bun, baggy clothes, and a entirely forgettable face. But despite the plainness of her features you could see a barely restrained excitement coloring her cheeks. She kept reaching into her pocket and taking out, as far as I could see, a normal looking black stone about the size of a young child’s palm. It was simply baffling. Finally I could keep my curiosity at bay any longer.

“Ma’am? May I ask why you keep looking at that stone you have in your pocket?”

“Oh!” She looked a bit startled then, “I suppose it won’t hurt to tell you, you seem a nice enough gentleman.” She takes out the stone once more . It is a singularly unimpressive stone, but it seems to have been handled a great deal as the surface was as smooth as glass. The young woman seemed to notice my staring and said smilingly, “It doesn’t look like much but I guarantee it means much.” Then becoming more serious she began her story, “This stone was given to me by my mom on her death bed and she said ‘crack this open on your 18th birthday, not a day before, and, my sweet angel, you must never lose it’. A day later she died of her illness. I was 10 at the time. From then on I carried it wherever I went, terrified I would somehow loose it.” She turned the stone in her hand. “And now it’s my 18th birthday, and I have not the nerve to break it. I was deeply moved by this young ladies story.

I suddenly had an idea. I was a carpenter by trade and I was just returning from work. I had a hammer in my work bag. I explained this to the young lady and she nodded excitedly. I left and returned shortly with a small hammer. I asked if she would want to do it but she shook her head saying that she would be to scared to do it. I asked her to hold the stone as we crouched down. She did and I did a quick hard tap upon the stone. I gasped. The stone had cracked to reveal beautiful little gems. I glanced at the young woman and was shocked to see tears. She saw my expression and grinned crookedly. “It’s something my mother always said to me after I got teased about my plain looks