Broken Jewelry

by William Jackson on 2005-05-07

It almost lasted a year.

On 18 May 2004, I went to County Line Barbecue with Chloë and some friends. To begin the evening, she gave me this charm.

It was a little inside joke, really. Earlier, we were at some department store, looking at those cute purses with letters on them. I assume, for example, that if your name is “Chloë”, you would get a purse with the letter “C” on it. I realized that I hadnʼt seen any purses sporting the letter “W”, and I mentioned this to Chloë. We spent the next ten minutes scouring the shelves, but our search was fruitless.

I have empathy for the Wilmas, Wandas, Wendys, Whitneys, Winifreds, Wrens and Wynonas that canʼt buy a purse with their initial on it.

So, Chloë found this charm at Claireʼs and gave it to me. The other girl that was going to dinner with us said, “Itʼs from Claireʼs, so it will be broken in two weeks.”

Three hundred fifty-four days later, the gem broke off in my pocket.