In 500... (or less)

The Last Economist

The large diamond twinkled and glistened in the light, beckoning Katrina to inspect it closer. 

"It's so beautiful!" There was a price tag beneath it, one with an incomprehensible number written on it. It didn't matter to her, she went into the store. She had to have it.

"I'd like the pendant in the display," Katrina said politely to the man inside the store.

He eyed her for a moment, trying to discern whether she had the money for it. He retrieved it from the case and laid it gently on a piece of velvet fabric on the counter.

"You have an excellent eye," he said. "This is a flawless 15 carat diamond."

"I love it," Katrina said, mesmerized. "I'll take it."

The man cleared his throat while he stared at the price tag. Katrina was momentarily oblivious, until she noticed that the man had failed to begin wrapping it up for her.

"Oh," she said. "I don't have any money."

The man looked at her sternly, but said nothing.

"Should I find you a patron?" He seemed annoyed, no one bought anything from him with their own money any more, not since the law was changed to allow anyone to buy anything they wanted with someone else's money.

Katrina nodded in the affirmative.

The man clicked and clacked away at his computer keyboard, trying to find an account with enough money to cover the cost of the pendant.

"Are you sure you want a patron for this? It seems like you've made extensive use of patronage for awhile, maybe you ought to..." He stopped before finishing, criticism of someone using patronage was NOT allowed.

"Ought to what?" Katrina said, goading the man on. "Ought to get a job?"

"I didn't say that ma'am," he said, trying to backtrack. "It's just...just that finding accounts is getting a lot harder these days. Lots of people using patronage and not so many actually contributing to it."

"So?" Katrina only wanted the pendant, not a lecture.

"Don't you ever get concerned that it might all collapse? That we'll have to go back to the old way?"

"The old way?"

"You know, where you only got what you could afford." He remembered reading about the old way in books, books which were no longer allowed. The phone rang, giving him a temporary reprieve from the conversation.

"Why yes, Mr. Brooks, that charge was made just the other day. Well, I wish I could, but you know the rules. I can't tell you who, I am only allowed to inform you of the charge."

The angry words of Mr. Brooks rattled through the phone for just a few more moments before they were replaced with contrite ones. No doubt Mr. Brooks caught himself before it was too late.

"My diamond," Katrina said impatiently.

"What are you going to do with it? Do you have a social event you need it for?"

"Of course not," she said. "I just want it. Patronage please."

Something about her entitled attitude struck a chord, he found himself rattling with anger. He snatched the diamond from the counter.

No sale? That's not allowed.