Page 102 of Instant Karma

It’s my opening and I brace myself, trying not to seem too eager. “Speakingof that. There’s this girl, someone I know from school. She lost something here a couple of weeks ago. An earring. A diamond earring.”

The woman’s eyebrows lift.

“It was really precious to her. The earrings belonged to her grandmother, who passed away, and… anyway. You wouldn’t have happened to have found anything like that, would you?”

There’s a second, the briefest second, when I expect her to lie. After all, a real diamond earring just might be the most valuable thing she’s ever found. Finders keepers, right?

But then she takes a step closer to me, almost fervent. “Actually, yes. I did find a diamond earring. Right after I spoke with you. Over there.” She points to the same spot where I saw her find the earring last night.

“Oh! Great,” I say, relieved that she doesn’t seem upset at all to know that her buried treasure belongs to someone else. “That’s wonderful. She’ll be so happy!”

“But I don’t have it anymore.”

I pause. “What?”

“I already sold it. That’s what I do when I find anything that might have value. I take it over to the pawnshop on Seventh. I would offer to go give the money back for it, but…” She grimaces. “I don’t have the money anymore, either.”

“Really? But… that was just last night.” I do the math in my head. If she sold the earring this morning, and then came out here… that only gives her an hour or two to spend the cash. What could she have done with it? I’m desperate to ask, even though I know it’s none of my business.

“I know. Money doesn’t usually slip through my fingers quite that quickly,” the woman says with a mild chuckle. “But when I see a cause as worthy as the rescue center, I have a tough time saying no.” She gestures toward the tent.

I follow the look. Rosa is talking to the journalist. Quint is putting the extra tote bags back into their cardboard boxes. Shauna is…

Shauna is screwing the lid onto the large glass jar, which is almost full to the brim with money.

“Oh, I see.” I’m in awe as I look back at the woman. She finds a diamondearring—a total stroke of luck—sells it for cash. Then immediately gives that cash away to an animal rescue center?

Criminy. Should I be nominating her for sainthood or something?

Seeing my look, she shakes her head sheepishly. “I just don’t need any more money. I’m retired with a good pension, my kids are grown and have families of their own. I have more than I could ever ask for in this life. When unexpected windfalls like that come by, it seems like the universe sent them my way so I could do something good with them. Seeing you passing out those flyers last night, and then being here to witness the release of those animals… well, that’s just too many signs from the universe that I wasn’t willing to ignore.”

I nod understandingly. “I know exactly what you mean.”

“But that still leaves your friend. Iamsorry about that.”

“It’s… it’s okay. I’ll figure something out. Maybe if I talk to the pawnshop they’ll… give it back. Or something.” I hesitate. “I know it isn’t any of my business, but, um… would you mind telling me how much money they gave you for it? Just so I have an idea of what they might be expecting to sell it for?”

“Well,” she says, “Clark—that’s the owner down there—he says it would have been worth more as a set, of course. Not too many people interested in just one earring. And he doesn’t pay market value. Needs to make something for himself, naturally…”

I sense that she’s stalling, and I think maybe she’s embarrassed, but I’m not sure why.

Until—

“But, anyhow. He paid me twelve hundred for it.”

It feels like I’ve just been shoved in the chest. I even take a step back.

A flurry of emotions cascades through me.

This woman just handed over one thousand two hundred dollars like it was nothing—and this, I’m certain now, is why she looked embarrassed. No doubt she’d intended that donation to be made anonymously.

And then… it hits me.

Twelve hundred. Our fundraiser made twelve hundred dollars today! And that’s only from one person! Quint and I had felt like we’d be lucky to make half that much.

Except… is it really our money to keep?

My head is spinning. How did this all get so complicated so fast?

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