Talisman

by Linda S Barth

Written for Winterfest Online 2023 Daily Drabble Challenge

The prompts: Brigit, a piece of jewelry, a bookshop in Manhattan

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“Your ring,” a young woman gestures toward the wrinkled hand of the woman seated behind a white-clothed table in an uptown bookshop. “It’s lovely. Is it an heirloom?”

Brigit sets aside the fountain pen she’d chosen to autograph her latest book, another collection of love stories inspired by fables and fairytales. With trembling fingers, she twists the band of worn, woven silver, caresses the still smooth surface of moss-colored Connemara marble. The stone of strength and second sight.

She has seen too much. She has not seen enough.

She looks up at the young woman. “No, it is my destiny.”