The jewel

«Oh my god. I can seriously have this!?» an infant spoke surprised. In his young floppa paws was put a beautiful turquoise gem, encased in a shimmering rose-gold ring. He admired it like a piece of candy.  
«Yes. Family tradition. You will have to pass it down as well.»
«Where does it come from? Did you mine it from the ground, dad?» The older figure laughed.
«It was found by your grandma. It’s a long story. You’ll have to sit down for this one»
He paused for a moment, then continued.
«Well, it all started with a trip to the city.
«Back then the city was just a pile of lifeless towers, destined to rot and fall one by one. Where the fighting happened, buildings were so unstable they could have fallen at any moment.
Four floppas entered the city, and walked on the main street. Amongst the ruined shops they hoped to find supplies, food, or weapons.
One quickly gazed inside a store, once called “s  erm  ket”. What “serm ket” was, he had forgotten, but he knew he could find food inside.
There were metal cans carefully constructed to contain soup, while other goods had gone bad or been eaten by rats. The only safe food was in the cans, and they made sure to hoard as many cans as they could.
«It started raining.
«Beside the city, the old stone temple persisted, as it had done for millenia. I was told it was built a long time before the city, back when otherworldly knowledge was preferred over worldly goods. The idols in the temple laughed, for they were made of stone and not of rubble.
«Amongst the rain, the sound of running echoed in the street. They panicked.
Grandpa reached for his daughter and quickly threw her behind the counter, where he and Grandma hid. Mark quickly crouched behind a stall, with a gun in his hand, carefully listening.
As the thing stepped inside, it slowed down and halted. Then it started walking behind the stalls stopping every now and then, as if interested by what it saw.
«Silence. Then, a can slipped from Grandpa’s hand and hit the ground making a loud thump. They thought they would die. What they heard after was a “huh!?” and frantically stepped out of the place.
After a moment of confusion, they slowly rose up from their hideouts and looked at eachother. Then they laughed, for what they mistook for certain death was just a scavenger.
Their adventure was quite prolific, for they had managed to find a shop with most of its products remaining untouched. They had found 23 cans of soup, some tape, plasters, and some soap. God bless, this lasted them for an entire week.
«Outside the shop, the air was now just a little bit darker. Windswept clouds now sat on top of the more distant ruins, and as such the rain had subsided. The main avenue was overshadowed by the buildings. Separated by brief hints of forest, skyscrapers elevated themselves like uneven nails on a board. Some were still intact, most were slanted, a few snapped in half from the wear. Tinted gold on one side and gray on the other, they appeared like a mountain range.    
The sky, dark blue, was slowly shifting into the sunset.
«Grandpa walked first, followed by the others. He figured sleeping in the city was the best choice, because at night, the surrounding forest was hunting territory. The reflex of cars still lingered in his subconscious, so he crossed quickly.
They reached an enclosed park through an entrance found on the street and decided to camp there for the night. Grandpa and Grandma set down the tent, started a small fire, checked their weapons, and conversed for the rest of the night. They talked about survivor settlements, joked about the quality of the food, and reminisced of the old times.
«My mother played in the park while Grandpa and Mark were talking, picking up daisies and dandelions and bringing them to Grandma. And each time she was praised for the quality of the flowers, as if to make her feel proud of her work.
She went out one last time before dinner, searching thoroughly between the grass for the most beautiful flowers. First, she saw a sparkling point in the dirt, then looked at it closer. She had found the most beautiful stone she had ever seen, turquoise coloured and streaked with green. As she pulled the sphere out of the dirt, it came along with a piece of shiny metal, and a long white rock. She threw away the white rock, and kept the shiny one.
«”Mom! Mom! Look what I found!”. Moments before Grandma called for her, she returned back with the shiny rock and showed it to her mother. How shocked she was to see a jewel this precious in the middle of total misery! Useless now, but certainly a nice gift to a future husband.
They 3 whole soup cans, cooked on the fire, and some stale bread. They hadn’t eaten this much in a long time.
Grandma hid the ring inside her vest until mom’s 14th birthday, when she passed it to her for safekeeping.
«Grandma played with mom, Mark went on patrol around the park, while her husband tried to fix a broken radio. Then they argued, convinced grandpa to throw away that burdensome weight, and succeeded. He spent the early night angrily salvaging whatever component was salvageable, then slept.
«The next morning they woke up, ate some berries with bread, and departed. I wonder if that radio carcass is still there. Bla bla bla, then your grandpa and your grandma found eachother, and the ring was passed down to the first child that married since then.
«Did you enjoy the story, son?»
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Category:Tale