The Mystery Pack

As the clock ticked over to five on a warm summer’s Friday afternoon, twins Emily and Abby could not contain their excitement. The long weekend had finally arrived. The sisters had made plans to travel up to Sydney for some retail therapy. During the unprecedented pandemic, life had become extremely difficult. The little gift shop that the siblings owned in partnership together had endured hardship from closure. This trip was a much needed soul revival.

Despite being identical, the girl’s interests were far from it. Abby was an avid reader and conveyed a passion for all things eclectic, while her sibling was less enthused and showed a love for fashion and anything trending at the time.

Abby had read about some twilight markets and was keen to visit them. She had convinced Emily that this would be their first stop when they arrived, appeasing both the girls’ interests.

As the pair meandered through the sea of tents filled with homemade goods, clothing and jewelry, Abby caught eye of a quaint little store nestled between the rendered brick buildings.

“Let’s check this out,” Abby suggested, as she wandered straight towards the ornate, frosted glass doors with brass handles to investigate.

Upon opening the doors, her eyes lit in amazement. She had discovered a heavenly room, filled with a myriad of books, nothing short of biblical proportions.

Emily, oblivious to the surrounds, instantaneously fixated on the antique wooden armchair, upholstered in emerald green velvet. It was positioned comfortably in the dappled moonlight oozing through the stained glass window. She found the chair way too inviting not to take a seat, while trying to wait patiently for her sister to peruse the store.

As Emily leaned forward reaching for her phone, which was wedged snugly in her back pocket, she caught glimpse of a pile of books, neatly stacked like a pyramid on the silky oak side table. They were tightly wrapped in a sheer gold ribbon and a tag hanging precariously by a thin jute rope. Inquisitively, Emily stretched closer to read the writing on the tag– Mystery Pack $20.

Knowing all too well that her sister could take forever, Emily thought this was an ideal solution.

“Abby!” she exclaimed, “Look what I have found, the perfect thing just for you.”

Abby peeled her eyes away from the seemingly endless shelving of treasures to casually stroll towards Emily, who was hunched over, curious to see what her sister had discovered.

“What is it?” Abby inquired.

“It’s a mystery pack of 5 books, and only twenty bucks, what a bargain!”

“Oh yes that does sound like a bargain, how fascinating,” Abby replied.

Not giving her sibling another moment to consider her thoughts about the gem she had found, Emily picked up the pack, nestled them under her arm and proceeded towards the counter.

“Good choice Abs, let’s go!”

The shop assistant carefully placed the books in a crumpled brown paper bag, ribbon still securely in place, and wished the girls a good evening.

As soon as they returned to their motel room, Abby eagerly opened the bag to probe her bargain buy. She carefully untied the ribbon and spread the books out on the bed. The first was a mini exotic travel destination book, which was colorfully illustrated.

“This could come in handy if we ever get to travel again after the craziness of the pandemic”, she chuckled.

Putting it aside, she found the second book even more intriguing. It was bound in black embossed leather, appearing to be worn in patches, with no title on the front or on the spine. It was more like a notebook in size. Abby carefully peeled back the hard cover, to find a fine gold chain slip from the page. A pale pink stone pendent, enmeshed in a filigree pattern of gold attached. It was both delicate and beautiful.

“Look Emily, you won’t believe it!”

Emily who was enthralled in her phone did not hear her sister.

“Emily look!” as Abby raised her voice, dangling the jewel from her fingers, ambling closer to get her sister’s attention.

“I found this necklace. It was in this black notebook.”

“Wow that was a lucky find!”

On closer inspection the girls noticed that the luster of the stone radiated a shine of such beauty.

“Do you think it could be valuable?” Emily asked inquisitively.

“I don’t know, how could we find out?”

Emily wasted no time, tapping her fingers on her phone screen in search of where they could go. Before long she had googled a specialist in antiques not far from where they were staying.

“Perfect!” she said, “Hopefully they can tell us more about it.”

The wonderment and mystery plagued havoc on the mind of the girls all night, tossing and turning in suspense with so many questions.

“I wonder who the owner is and if they are missing it?” Abby whispered to Emily.

“Who knows, they probably put it in there for safe keeping and forgot about it”, how sad would that be.

Abby sifted through the book again the next morning to find only weather damaged sheaths of paper inside, giving no clue as to the owner, their whereabouts or its age. She gathered up the necklace and notebook and headed off to the antique store determined to find some answers.

As the girls entered, they were cheerfully greeted by an elderly gentleman, with a snowy white beard, spectacles and a magnified eyeglass strapped to the top of his balding head.

“Good morning ladies, how can I help you on this fine morning?”

Emily, the spokesperson for them both, bluntly answered, “My sister found this necklace and we were wondering if it was worth anything?”

“Let me take a look,” he said, as he removed his black framed spectacles and drew down his eye glass.

After a thorough examination of the piece of gold jewelry placed on the glass counter, the gentlemen responded, “Can you give me a moment, I would like to make a phone call.”

The room was silent as anticipation filled the air.

Upon his return from only a few short minutes absence, he questioned the sisters, “Why did you think it was valuable?”

“I don’t really know,” Abby replied, raising her shoulders, as if to imply she really had no clue.

“The stone just sparkled so brightly and it seemed so mysterious that someone would keep a necklace in a notebook like this,” pointing to the black leather bound book.

“I bought it at a bookstore yesterday in a mystery pack”.

“Well my dear, you would be correct, it is definitely worth something. “

The sisters turned immediately to one another in perfect synchronicity.

“Can I ask how much?” Abby’s voice quivered.

“I had to contact a good friend of mine to be sure. He knows a lot about this type of jewelry. His estimation was $20 000 on today’s market.”

“You’re kidding?” Emily replied, with a complete look of bewilderment on her face and eyes the size of golf balls.

“It really was a mystery pack!”

After a short pause, the man leaned over the counter pressing both elbows on the glass. And with a slight smirk on his face queried, “So…. Who shall I write the check out to then?”