THE WHEELCHAIR SCREECHED SIDEWAYS ACROSS THE POLISHED MARBLE BEFORE ANYONE COULD REACT.

broke apart.

Pearls scattered across the marble like fragments of white light, rolling in every direction.

The wealthy customers instinctively stepped back.

No one moved to help.

Only the young employee did.

One by one, he knelt and gathered the pearls with shaking hands as the soft piano music faded into uneasy silence.

The camera tracked a single pearl continue reading …