It wasn't until a week before Lindsey's birthday that Josh bought her present: a diamond pendant dangling from a gold chain and displayed in a carnelian-colored jewelry case. Its materials sparkled and glistened like the real thing, but Pamela saw the price tag, and it was too cheap for the whole thing to be real. She bet her money on the diamond being fake, but it didn't matter—she had another gift in mind that would reach Lindsey's hands. Pamela thought her gift idea was better, anyway, more creative. Josh's gift, real or not, looked nice and would undoubtedly attract a many envious eyes, but it was so generic. Like Josh forgot what Lindsey's interests were and got her a piece of jewelry, because that's what women are into, right?
Pamela watched Josh assemble his gift bag together and considered herself lucky that Josh didn't bother wrapping the case. She planned for a wrapped gift, didn't look forward to having to carefully copy Josh's wrapping job, but Josh made her life easier. He filled a silver gift bag with white tissue paper and buried the case in it.
He set the bag aside and plucked a card from his dresser and a pen, too. He removed the birthday card from the orange envelope and wrote an extended message on the inside flap. What he wrote down and what he wanted to write were two different messages. He scribed a loving message about how lucky he was to have a girlfriend as great and beautiful as Lindsey and he hopes to be able to celebrate her birthday together next year. The message he kept sealed in his head started with the typical birthday wishes, but those gave way to a perverted promise of the “real” present he could only give her once they were both alone. Pamela couldn't tell which message revolted her more.
Josh finished his message and signed the card. He laid it gingerly on top of the tissue paper, making sure it was the first thing Lindsey would see when she dissected the bag, and then set it on his shelf until the big day.
*
Pamela left that evening in a hurry, fearing that if she waited one day too long, the jewelry stand would sell out of cases matching Josh's. She realized this fear was irrational, but she also wasn't willing to take any chance at all, no matter how slight. If her plan fell apart or demanded readjustment because of an unpredictable event, she wouldn't be happy, to say the least.
Before she left for the mall, Pamela burrowed one of her father's baseball caps from his collection hanging from plastic hooks hammered into the wall beside the front door. It was themed after his favorite baseball team, and Pamela wasn't shy about letting other people know that she detested sports. She tied her hair into a ponytail and pulled it through the closure. She also burrowed her mother's sunglasses, which were hooked onto the sun visor, and made them the last piece to her disguise.
At the mall, she greeted the salesman Josh had bought the case from earlier that same day. “I was wondering if you could show me the cases necklaces are sold in,” she requested.
“Sure,” said the salesman, who produced from beneath the display cases a carnelian-colored case that matched the one Josh bought.
Pamela reached for it and carefully spun it in the saleman's hand, pretending to examine it. She made sure to touch the salesman with the tip of one of her fingers. “Are you able to sell me the case by itself?” She applied her Looking Glass and found herself, oddly enough, looking down at herself.
I wish I could, the salesman thought. “I'm sorry, but I can't,” he said. “You have to buy something to go in the case.” Pamela expected that answer because the salesman looked like a college student working part-time to pay for textbooks and instant ramen. His boss likely gave him a strict set of instructions on how to conduct business and didn't bother with special situations, such as the one with Pamela.
“You really can't?” Pamela watched herself say.
I wouldn't care, but I might get in trouble, the salesman thought. “I'm sorry, but I really can't.”
“What if I tipped you? Or paid extra?”
For a case? he thought and then repeated his previous answer.
Now I'm drawing suspicion, Pamela thought. She hid her Looking Glass and mumbled impatiently, “Okay.” She usually found the right words for haggling with cashiers, but not tonight. Her eyes darted back and forth across the display case with the necklaces. The cheapest necklace she found was $19.95. It was little more than a golden chain, but if it came in the case, Pamela didn't care. She pointed to it and said, “I'll take this chain here.” She wasn't sure what she would do with it—maybe give it to her mother as a present for Mother's Day—but she'd concern herself with it later. Right now, she was about to have one half of the things she'd need to complete her plan. All she needed to do was wait until the day before Lindsey's birthday to purchase the other.
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