Prologue
This was an urban legend that didn’t make it onto Snopes.com.
In fact, it wasn’t even famous. Those who even heard of it dismissed
it as town folklore. But, he didn’t.
He sat up, turning up the volume on the TV as soon as the next
programming started to play. These skeptical stories about urban
legends only fueled his fire, even though it might just be another
repeated programming he’s seen before. It might just be the same
information in all the magazine articles, newspaper clippings and
highlighted book segments he had thrown all over his room, but he
was always looking for more. There was only so much to do with
recycled information. Wasn’t there a time and point where this
information becomes updated? The narrator on the TV began to
drone on.
“There is a story, dating back to the ancient Aztecs of a young prince
named Chimalhuitzcoatl next in line to become king, but a king was
everything he was not. He was shy, insecure, weak, and unable to
make decisions. He certainly was going to be the one to bring the
fall of the civilization. Desperate he prayed for days to the gods for
help, and one night the god Tezcatlipoca appeared to him. ‘Take these
jewels,’ he said to the prince, holding out an assortment of necklaces
and rings and bracelets. ‘I have blessed them to take care of your
personal faults. They will help you cure those faults and make you
the person you were meant to be.’ The Prince put them on, and then
was no longer shy and weak and no longer indecisive and insecure.
He became a great king, but on his deathbed, he wanted the jewels
to be destroyed. Fearful that anyone would find out he was only great
by magic, and would use his magic jewels to do harm, he cast them
away. Many years later people believed they found their way to the
western United States, mostly in Iowa. The legend is still a legend,
and not even proven to be true, but it has remained an idea some
love to entertain.”
The man sat unmoving on his couch and unmoved by the narration.
All he knew was that for some reason these legendary jewels managed
to stay hidden and find their way into modern-day jewelry stores.
“While this is so,” the narrator continued, “people have claimed to
come in contact with pieces of gold jewelry that gave them their own
magical touch and became believers of this legend. There was one
case in the nineteen forties of a jewelry store owner who claimed
he had a lucky chain. He wore the chain while vacationing in Vegas
and went home with jackpot winnings. There was another of a young
shopper in the eighties who purchased an anklet at a strip mall. She
claimed this gave her the gift to become the fastest swimmer in the
state and won a full college scholarship. These stories and others all
come from Iowa but many jewelry shop owners and workers have
been interviewed, and not many believe in this legend. In fact, several
were unfamiliar with it in the first place and disregarded it. If this is
so, then why did people in the area claimed it happened to them?”
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, drumming
his fingers together rhythmically.
This time, he promised himself, it’s going to be me.
© Jackie Sonnenberg
Photo Credit Eleanor Bennett
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All That Glitters
AcciónThe town of Wickerwire, IA has a jewelry thief on the loose and he manages to get by completely undetected. The only trace he leaves behind is candy in place of the jewels he steals, the media dubbing him "The Candy Caper." He won't give up his heis...