The Charm Bracelet (8 page)

Having been born and raised in the city, Holly felt a little short on some of the experiences that other people had had. She hadn’t even learned to drive: it was embarrassing actually. But she had never been able to afford a car, and her mother didn’t drive, so Holly had never bothered to take a course or test. When she took Danny to the shore, there was always a train out of Penn Station, and
New York City was loaded with public transportation and cabs. And of course there was no parking, or at least that’s what it looked like to her. Every street in Manhattan seemed to be crammed with cars parked so tight she wouldn’t even know how to manoeuvre one out of the space. And wasn’t that the excuse for almost every New Yorker running late? ‘Sorry, couldn’t find parking’, or, ‘Sorry I hit traffic’?

Having to get up early to move a car that she might only use on weekends seemed ridiculous.

Anyway, Kate drove, so on those rare occasions that Holly had needed a car, she simply called on her friend. Like when she found, on the street, the amazing big armchair that now sat in her living room. It had been too big to carry home. Danny had been eight at the time and appalled when his mother had come to a screeching halt on Tenth Street to inspect the chair. She had then eagerly pulled out her cell phone to call Kate and have her meet them.

‘We’re picking up someone else’s
garbage
?’ he had asked, mystified. Holly laughed. ‘Remember, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.’

‘But it’s in the
street
, who knows who owned it?’ he had said, eyes wide.

‘Exactly!’ Holly had said, pinching his cheek. ‘Who knows? Maybe it belonged to that guy who played Wolverine.’

‘Really?’ Danny asked, looking around. ‘He lives around here?’

‘Oh yeah,’ Holly told him. ‘All those celebrities get apartments downtown after they make it big. They think no one cares down here, that we won’t notice them.’ She had leaned in close to Danny and pointed to a tall passer-by with a black baseball cap pulled tightly down over his eyes. ‘So keep your eyes peeled.’

Kate had appeared in less than five minutes, and the two women hauled the chair into the trunk of her Volkswagen, tying it down with twine. Kate never complained. She was always there for her. Thinking about it, Kate had been raised in Minnesota, so she probably knew about things like camping – Holly would ask her about it later.

She had been so deep in thought while walking that before she knew it she was standing inside The Secret Closet.

‘Thank God you’re here,’ Carole exclaimed when she went out back to her boss. ‘We are
swamped
– look how many boxes there are to go through. This is insane.’

Holly looked around; the three boxes she had left unpacked yesterday had now turned into twelve, as if cloned overnight.

‘Oh my,’ she murmured. It wasn’t that they couldn’t go through them easily enough, it was that Carole was due to go out to Long Island that week to visit her daughter for Hanukkah, which was early this year. And Carole
hated
leaving unfinished business behind, and Carole
hated
not going through the boxes, or at least seeing every piece that came out, and whether she was going to sell it or not.

She was always afraid that even her trusted Holly would let a vintage piece slip by. Usually when they went through boxes, what wasn’t kept went to the shelter at Sacred Heart a few blocks away. The last thing Carole wanted to see, she always said, ‘was a homeless person in a D
olce and Gabbana overcoat’. As a percentage of all the store’s profits went to charity, it wasn’t that Carole wasn’t charitable, she was just obsessive.

Holly put her hand on her boss’s shoulder, ‘Oh, you are such a control freak, I can handle it. I’ll go through one box at a time at the desk, OK?’

Carole stood with her lips pursed.

‘And if I’m not sure about a piece I’ll call you, but I am usually pretty good at spotting the tags from Walmart.’ Holly grinned and gave her shoulder a little shake. ‘It’ll be fine, I promise.’

Carole laughed nervously. ‘I know, you’ll be fine and that’s great, you can call me. I’m sorry sweetie, I just get wound up at the holidays.’

Holly smiled. ‘We all d
o
that’s why there's eggnog. I'll take a box out with me now, all right? You go do what you have to do.’

She loved having Carole as a boss, but she also loved having the shop to herself now and then.

‘You're right, I will.’ Carole pecked Holly on the cheek. ‘Oh, did you call UPS about the bracelet?’

‘Not yet, but it’s on my list.’

‘Great. I want to make a decision on whether or not we can sell that jacket. If it happened to get there by mistake …’ She rolled her eyes. ‘You and I both know there’ll be hell to pay.’

But as it turned out the UPS service lines were jammed all morning, and try as she might, Holly couldn’t get anyone to answer her call.

So, during lunch, she decided to take a walk over to the nearest UPS store and see if she could get her query dealt with in person.

As she walked, a blast of icy wind hit her in the face. The weather had certainly turned colder today. 

Reaching the address, Holly pulled open the door to the brightly lit store and was immediately comforted by the rush of warm air. Somewhat less comforting was the long line of customers who were waiting, albeit begrudgingly, for their turn with the sole – and seemingly harried – store clerk.

She sighed. So much for being quicker in person…

Still, it was all a necessary evil. Holly prayed that if – heaven forbid – she ever lost her charm bracelet, it would fall into the hands of someone who would try to return it to her.

‘It’s all good karma – especially at this time of year,’ she muttered to herself, taking her place at the end of the line. ‘Season of goodwill … pay it forward and all that.’

Hearing her words, the man who was standing in front of her turned around quickly. He looked her up and down and she smiled politely at his frowning face.

‘Pay it forward?’ he barked. ‘I wish this line would
move
it forward. Bunch of holiday bullshit, can’t get anything done quickly.’ He turned back around and Holly took a deep breath.

She plucked the charm bracelet out of her purse and studied it for what seemed to be the hundredth time since stumbling across it yesterday. She turned each of the individual charms over in her fingers and wondered if the owner of the bracelet had collected her charms with the same intention that Holly had done over the years, by associating a special moment or memory with each new addition.

Interesting that this was the second time in her life that a mysterious bracelet had appeared out of the blue.

She thought again about the initial appearance of her own bracelet and how she’d tried to work out the significance of that first charm, and indeed who had sent it to her. 

Lost in thought, Holly eventually looked up and was happy to see that she was next in line. However, she was not so happy to see that the angry man in front of her was now making the UPS clerk’s life hell.

‘What do you
mean
you can’t have it delivered by then? You are friggin’ UPS!’ Angry Man bellowed.

The clerk held out her hands, looking exhausted. ‘I’m sorry, sir, we have our drivers working overtime this time of year and—’

‘But that’s not good enough!’ the man yelled. Holly couldn’t help but feel embarrassed for him. Someone should tell him that you always catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. She looked past the man’s shoulder as he continued his verbal abuse and tried to make eye contact with the clerk. The young woman looked dangerously close to tears.

‘You people are a bunch of morons! This is the last time I come here for anything. From now on it’s the other guys or nothing!’ The man threw up his arms and looked around, centring his gaze on Holly. ‘Good luck lady. Pay it forward, my ass!’ He hurtled through the store, slamming the glass door behind him. Holly grimaced as she watched the clerk try to recompose herself. She stepped forward gingerly. While she adored this time of year, she also hated the fact that the holiday season also seemed to bring out the worst in some people.

‘Are you OK?’ she asked kindly. ‘Maybe this weather will help cool him off.’

‘Thanks. It’s been a long day,’ the woman said with a shaky voice.

‘I’m sure it has,’ Holly soothed. ‘It’s this time of year. It brings out the beauty in some and the ugliness in others. I’ve always said that everyone should, at some point in their lives, be required to work in retail or at a restaurant. It teaches a good lesson in how you should treat others.’ She smiled warmly at the young woman whose name tag read ‘Lila’.

‘Oh how right you are,’ Lila laughed, a smile finding its way onto her face.
‘Anyway, holiday-related stress goes with the territory, and I’m fine really. Where do you work?’ she asked.

‘The Secret Closet, off Bleecker. It’s why I’m here, actually. I’m hoping you might be able to help me.’

Lila nodded. ‘Sure, I know that store. I can’t afford to shop there most days, though. What can I do for you?’

‘Most days I can’t afford to shop there either,’ laughed Holly. She pulled out the shipping document from the box in which she had discovered the charm bracelet. ‘Well, yesterday morning we received a shipment at the store, three boxes in total. This is the reference.’ She handed the document across the counter. ‘The problem is, when we opened up one of the boxes, we found a bracelet inside a jacket that had been sent to us for resale. But there’s nothing on there about the sender.’ She pulled the charm bracelet out to show her. ‘And I know this is valuable, I’m sure someone is missing it.’

Lila leaned in closer to take a look at the bracelet. ‘That’s really pretty, look at all those charms. Let me see what I can do. Usually we do have sender information, but it’s weird nothing was on the label.’

She started typing on her computer, entering the UPS tracking reference to pull up the file. She pressed ‘Enter’ on her keyboard, and a moment later a crease appeared on her forehead. ‘Huh,’ she said. ‘That’s odd.’

Holly cocked her head. ‘Is there a problem?’

‘I’m not sure really,’ Lila said, frowning. Then she shook her head. ‘See, there is a tracking number associated with the shipment that came to us, but here’s the problem. We reuse tracking numbers, especially this time of year. So there is no information about origination for the other tracking number associated with the boxes, because corporate already put the tracking number back into the system. When I run that number, the one that is associated with it being delivered here, it shows that there is a package currently using it, and it’s in transit … to
Boise, Idaho.’

Holly made a face. ‘So you can’t tell me where our delivery came from?’

Lila shook her head. ‘I’m sorry. It’s our policy to reuse these tracking numbers … the older tracking information might be saved, but I have to call corporate. Problem is I’m on my own today so it might be a while.’ She looked at the long line behind Holly.

‘Of course, I understand.’ Holly reached back into her handbag. ‘Here’s my card. If you do find anything out, I can be reached at those numbers.’

‘Thanks. I’ll do that. It’s not a problem at all.’ Lila smiled. ‘It’s nice that you are trying to find out who that bracelet belongs to. Many people might not bother. Good to know there are still nice people out there.’

‘Thank you, but it’s the least I can do.’ Holly picked up the charm bracelet and looked at it
again. ‘‘I know it has lived a good life, I just need to help it find its way home.’ Smiling at Lila, she placed it solemnly in an inner pocket of her handbag. ‘Thanks again.’

‘You’re welcome. And I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.’

‘Great,’ Holly said as she turned to leave. She’d taken a couple of steps towards the door when Lila called out to her. The customer who had been behind her in line had already moved to where she had stood just seconds before.

‘Oh … Miss?’

‘Yes?’

‘Well, it’s just that, this might sound silly, but my mom always told me that if you lose something, you should retrace your steps … try and remember what you had been doing before you realised you were missing it. Maybe that’s what you should do.’

‘But I’m not lost,’ Holly replied, puzzled. ‘The bracelet is.’

Lila
smiled. ‘I know, but maybe if you worked out where it’s been, you might learn where it’s supposed to be? Just a thought.’

Holly felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

The girl was right.

She thought about the individual charms on
her own bracelet. Each one had a story behind it, and held special significance. Maybe if she learned more about the charms on the other bracelet and what they signified, it would help lead her to the person who had lost it?

After all, Holly thought, looking again at her
beloved bracelet, the charms on this illustrated a direct path through her life, didn’t they?

City University of New York, Manhattan, 1997

‘I honestly don’t know how I am ever going to get all of this done, seriously, Warner is such a creep, it’s like he gets a kick out of punishing his students,’ whined Holly as she ran her hands through her frizzy auburn hair. ‘And this hair, I need to do something about it.’

She looked at the books spread out around her on the library table, a veritable Mount Everest of college textbooks, and sighed. ‘Above all, I need to get a life.’

Her roommate, Laura, looked up from her own stack of work and smiled. ‘I concur.’

They both laughed. ‘Maybe that will happen after this semester. This psych class is killing me.’

Laura pushed her books away. ‘I don’t see why you are taking it, anyway. Isn’t it unrelated to your major?’

‘You mean, how does psychology relate to fashion merchandising?’ Holly replied. She shrugged. ‘My advisor says it should be valuable, especially when determining customer purchasing habits. Still, maybe I should have gone into an easier major … like physics or microbiology.’

Laura groaned. ‘Look at us, in the college library on a Friday night in one of the coolest cities in the world. Our life is passing us by. I mean, when did anything exciting ever happen in a library?’

Holly raised an amused eyebrow. ‘I’m sure that some of the world’s great thinkers would argue with you on that.’

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. What I mean is, when was the last time you met a cool guy at a library?’

Holly looked at a guy sitting several seats down from them, poring over a chemistry textbook. He met her gaze, then shushed them and scowled.

Laura flipped her hair, rolled her eyes and gave him the finger. ‘See my point?’

Holly shook her head. ‘OK, what do you have in mind?’

‘Ah,’ Laura replied, jumping up and down in her seat. ‘I thought you would never ask. There’s actually this party tonight, at the Kappa house. I know a guy in my feminist theory class, he asked me to come along.’

Holly rolled her eyes. ‘A frat party? I thought you said something about meeting
cool
guys? And you met him in a
feminist theory
class? Wha
t
does he think that it’s a good place to pick up chicks?’

Laura swatted the air. ‘Whatever, it’s just for fun. Plus he is kind of cute. Come with me.
Pleeaaassseee
… ?’

Holly considered her friend for a moment and looked at the alternative, her books and the shussher who had just stood up from his seat – probably to report them to the head librarian.
He was wasting his time – Holly knew Inga, the librarian wouldn’t entertain his complaints. A kind, friendly woman who knew Holly and Laura well, Inga Laurila was well-used to student shenanigans.

It was true
tho; Holly kind of did need a night out. And she supposed a frat party was better than nothing.

‘What the hell … ?’ she conceded. ‘But I have to go change and put
some makeup on. I can’t go anywhere looking like this.’

‘Oh? I didn’t think you cared about what some frat boys thought about you.’

‘I don’t, but it’s Manhattan. And here, standards are necessary.’

As they left the library, Inga smiled and called out
in her native Boston accent. ‘Leaving so soon?’

‘A different kind of research!’ Laura called back, winking at Holly. ‘See you tomorrow.’

A little later, the two girls rushed through the doorway of their dorm building, eager to get changed and ready for their impulsive night out.

Just as
they were pushing through the heavy metal door that led to the stairway, their resident advisor called out to Holly from the lobby.

She turned around. ‘Hi Kirsten. What’s up?’

Kristen rummaged around underneath the front desk. ‘Glad I caught you. There was a delivery for you earlier.’

‘A delivery?’ Holly repeated, eyebrows raised. She took the package from Kirsten, eyeing it suspiciously. Then, noticing that there was no return address on the packaging, she felt her fingers tremble.

This was the second time a package with no return address had been delivered to her. The first time was the day she’d been sent her bracelet and the hourglass charm from her dad. But that had been over two years ago.

And, more to the point, her dad was long since cold in the ground.

‘Holly, come on, hurry up,’ Laura said, tapping her elbow.

Holly snapped out of her reverie. ‘Sure, sorry.’ She began to follow her roommate up the stairs, her feet on autopilot. She continued to stare at the package in her hand, wondering what it was and who it had come from.

When they reached their room, Laura immediately hustled about, shuffling through drawers and plunging into her closet.

Holly, however, sat down at a small table and turned the box-shaped parcel over and over in her hands.

Her fingers shook as she found scissors to cut through the packaging tape and reveal the contents.

When she did, her stomach did an almighty flip-flop.

Inside was a lilac box adorned with white satin ribbon. While it was a little smaller, it was exactly the same type of box as the one before that had contained her charm bracelet.

Laura finally took note of Holly’s mood. ‘Hey, is everything OK? What is that? You’re staring at it like it holds a bomb. Who’s it from?’

Holly’s voice trembled. ‘That’s it, I just don’t know.’

‘What do you mean, you don’t know?’

Taking a deep breath, Holly launched into the story of the charm bracelet that had mysteriously arrived on the day of her father’s funeral, and her conclusion that it had come from him.

‘But you never knew for sure that your dad was the one who sent it?’ Laura asked when Holly finished her story.

She shook her head, feeling very uncertain now. ‘I just assumed it was something he’d arranged before his death.’

‘Like a message from beyond the grave? Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to sound insensitive.’

But Laura was right. That was exactly what Holly had assumed at the time. ‘But this one couldn’t possibly be from Dad.’

‘Well then, what about your mum?’

Holly shook her head determinedly. ‘Not  a chance. Me and my mother … well, you know we’re not exactly best buddies.’

‘Are you absolutely sure it was from
your Dad, though? You said that your parents were pretty well known in Queens. Maybe it was someone who read the obituary, and wanted to connect?’

Wanted to connect …
              Holly looked at her, wondering if she might be right. Her thoughts galloped. ‘But then … why would they be sending me another box, and why now?’

Laura moved closer to peer over her shoulder. ‘Maybe what’s inside might give you the answer to that?’ she suggested.

Opening the box, Holly revealed a small silver charm displayed on a piece of purple satin. She gently lifted it out, taking in every small detail.

‘It is another charm,’ Laura stated. ‘But what … ?’

‘It’s a book, an open book,’ Holly confirmed. ‘And look, there’s an engraving on it.’

The wise man reads both books and life itself. – Lin Yutang

‘What do you think it means?’ she asked quietly, more to herself than to Laura.

‘I have no idea.’ She glanced surreptitiously at her watch, as if suddenly recalling they had things to do. Then she grinned. ‘Maybe it means that you should get dressed so that we can go to this party to experience some college
life
?’              Holly rolled her eyes, amused by her friend’s short attention span.

It was true, her academic life as of late could use some balance, but there was something too, an expression playing on the edges of her mind, as she tried to recall something that her father had told her when she was young and just learning to read.

That books should provide for learning, but that they should also provide for enjoyment.

When was the last time that she had actually picked up a book to read just for the sake of reading? When was the last time that she had cracked open
Gone with the Wind
, or
Pride and Prejudice
, or any one of her other favourite books? There had been a time when all of those novels had been her best friends, when they had been a part of her soul and much more than just a hobby.

She smiled at the memory, suddenly feeling comforted by it. She wasn’t sure how he’d done it, but clearly her dad had somehow arranged to have this one sent too. But yet, how could he have known she’d end up going to college here, or where her dorm was or—

‘How would the person who sent you that know that you have been spending all your time in the library?’ Laura, who had already gone on to change into a mini-skirt and a halterneck top, returned to where Holly was sitting.

Holly’s mind was reeling as she thought the very same thing.

‘I’m not sure. Clearly someone has been keeping an eye on me.’

Laura’s eyes widened. ‘You mean like a stalker? Eww, that’s creepy.’

But for some reason, Holly knew it wasn’t quite like that

‘No, not like a
stalker
. More like … a fairy godmother.’ She smiled at the idea of someone watching over her, sending her encouraging messages and providing guidance on how to live her life.             

A new thought was playing at the edges of her mind, but one that she couldn’t quite yet process.
.

She looked back down at the new charm. The idea made sense, and it certainly fed Holly’s imagination. She liked the idea of someone on the periphery looking out for her, giving her a small push in the right direction.

‘You know I’m adopted, don’t you?’ she said to Laura, almost reluctant to share her thoughts out loud.

Her friend’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, so you’re thinking …?’

In all honestly, Holly wasn’t sure what to think. But there was no denying it was nice to think that somebody was looking out for her.

So maybe she should do justice to her mysterious benefactor, whomever it might be. After all, without her love of reading, Holly might not have the ability to dream and imagine and wonder about the charm that she now held in her hands.

Mind made up, she decided that, tomorrow, she would pick up a book, one of her old friends, just to read for fun.

But tonight,
tonight
, she would go to this party with Laura, and keep an open mind. A recognition of sorts, of what the charm might be trying to tell her.

After all, her future could be likened to an open book and, Holly thought, surely the best part of life was enjoying writing your own story?

Greg rummaged around in the bread drawer and came up with a heel from a loaf of white and an end from a loaf of rye. He slapped together a makeshift sandwich of tomato and mayo and leaned up against the counter to eat.

His grandfather,
Nonno
, from the deli, would be spinning in his grave about that sandwich. Despite his heritage, they were the only Italian words Greg really knew:
Nonno
meaning Grandpa and
Nonna
, Grandma. And only because his mother would say, ‘Oh, your Nonna would have loved that’, or, ‘Your Nonno could make a mean grilled cheese sandwich.’

Both had died long before he was born, and he often wondered what impact they would have made on his life. His father’s parents had also died young, a product of the hard work and sacrifice necessary to make it in
America.

He made his way to his darkroom, filled the trays with chemicals and switched off the lights to begin exposing the film. As he worked, he felt a sense of calm that only happened in the darkroom.

‘Or just all those chemicals making you stoned,’ Karen would tease.

She’d come round a little since the other day, once she’d had a chance to get used to the idea of his leaving the firm and going out on his own. In truth, it was Greg’s own fault for landing such a huge change on her completely out of the blue. Who could blame her for being concerned? But she needn’t worry for long: Greg wasn’t one for sitting around, and today he was going to get out there and start work. It might not be paying work just yet, but everyone needed to start somewhere.

He let the chemicals do their thing and, once he had everything pinned up to dry, he slipped out the door to wait.

He noticed the answer-machine light was blinking. He’d been so absorbed in his work that he hadn't even heard the phone ring. He pressed play on the machine – it was Karen.

‘Hey babe, just wrapping things up here on Further – back in town later.’

She was at a staff team-building exercise in the
Hamptons. The event management crew had just finished with the Macy’s parade, and were now knee-deep in planning the January promotions.

Her boss
Bradley’s’ house was on Further Road in East Hampton, and Karen always joked, ‘You never know, if we push a little “further”, we could wind up there.’