Pearls

... the new high rises ...

I began looking for pearls last year – just as soon as Wyona told me that she was going to China. There was no Calgary shopping trip when I didn't go check out the strings of pearls in some mall.

Mary’s generous friend brought me back a string of back pearls, white pearls and a choker set of three pearls with a mother-of-pearl clasp from the Philippines last February. That should have been enough.

Then Wyona and I were trapped at a pearl kiosk in Tianjin. Happily. I thought my appetite for pearls would be waning.

Still I found energy to look at them again tonight, even though I couldn’t hardly walk at the end of the long day looking at tourist sites.

Greg only had to say, “On board, they suggested looking at the pearls on the second floor of this department store” He had gone to the trouble to guide us there. I felt a renewed energy making a dash for the escalator.

... buildings from a former era ...

The outstanding jewellery design was a white gold bar that lined up horizontally with my knuckles, the bar carrying 4 large pearls across it.

I told Wyona ... a version of brass knuckles, only with pearls.

To figure out the price, all we have to do is take off two zeros. The number of digits left on the price tag made me shiver and then laugh.

Better to be trapped in a street market than in a high-end department store.

Arta