"Hard to believe that's wood, right?"
I stood up when I heard her voice. I had been leaning forward to look at a display of what I thought were rocks. Now I noticed the sign that read "Petrified Wood," and immediately forgot it again when I saw who had spoken.
She had on a loose sweatshirt over a black sleeveless top, and I caught a glimpse of a black bra strap on her shoulder. Dark leggings disappeared into gray Ugg style boots. Her strawberry blonde hair was up in a high ponytail, and she had classy, subtle eyeliner. There were specks of glitter on her cheeks around her eyes.
I realized I was staring and hastily looked back at the display of stones. Or wood, I guess.
"Hi, I'm David." I held out my hand and she shook it once, up and then down.
"China," she said.
"Um, no I think that's crystal." I pointed to the huge sign that read "Healing Crystals" hanging over the tubs of stone.
"No, silly. My name is China."
I wanted to keep talking to her, so I looked for something to discuss.
"These are pretty, don't you think?" Next to the petrified wood was a tub of white malachite cylinders, what the sign called 'wands'. They were shaped like little cucumbers, in a smooth if uneven tapered cylinder.
She nodded excitedly. "Yeah, I got some for my brothers, and they were only like 8 dollars each."
"That's a pretty good price." I didn't actually how much stuff like this usually cost. I came here on a whim, looking for a few last minute Christmas presents.
"Kind of looks like sugar, right?" I joked.
"Wait, that's what they are made of?" Her voice pitched up at the end.
I knew she was kidding when she stuck out her tongue and pretended to lick it. The sight of her open mouth in front of the white malachite phallus shape was extremely distracting.
She must have realized what I was thinking because she winked and made a kissyface.
"Hey China, come here." This not-quite-shout came from the other side of the store, by the bright African fabrics.
China rolled her eyes, and mock whispered, "My sister."
Her sister was a little older than her, cute enough but nowhere near as attractive as China. She had glasses and a beanie hat, and was FaceTiming with someone on her phone.
"Wait right here." She ordered, and then scampered over to see what was going on.
I stared at her ass for a moment longer than I should have, and then wandered around past the tubs of stone to a wall with a mirror backed shelf display.
The minerals on display here were nicer than the ones in the bulk area, carved into geometric shapes and shined up. I picked up a little pyramid of black onyx and turned it over and over in my hands.
On the shelf below the onyx display was a large collection of polished spheres, displayed on little clear plastic stands. There was such a large variety of colors and shapes, and many of them had cloud-like swirls. I entertained myself finding and imagining shapes, like I was cloud spotting.
China came back over as I was holding up a lapis sphere with green-blue colorations. I showed it to her, and pointed out the front side.
"It looks like 'Starry Starry Night' by Van Gogh."
She exclaimed in agreement as she took the sphere. "And look! I found the 'Scream' guy!" She pointed, and sure enough there was the man with his hands on his cheeks.
"That's awesome! There he is." I put the sphere back on its stand, and rotated it so that the swirl that looked like Munch's 'The Scream' was visible.
"I love the spheres!" She enthused, and then grabbed my arm.
"Come on!" she urged impishly, and half pulled half pushed me towards the back of the store. I would have followed without the encouragement, but I got a thrill out of feeling her hands on me.
Up the ramp were the expensive stones, in their locked glass cases. There was a whole little nook up here, with a door on the far side. Because of the structure of the store, anyone who turned the corner towards the door could not be seen from the main area of the store.
There was a sign on the door that said "Crystal Therapy Room", and a weekly schedule. Today was a Wednesday, and on the sign, Wednesdays were marked as "Closed."
China tugged at my sleeve, and inclined her head towards the door.
"You wanna ... see if there's any more crystals in there?" Her voice was dripping with suggestion.
I turned to look at her, and slowly held up the malachite wand. I inclined it towards the door without breaking her gaze. She actually shivered -- I saw it happen -- and then she slowly turned the knob.