Having nothing better to do, I walked into a nearby clothing store, thinking I might find something to occupy my time and take my mind off Kim. The first thing I saw was a primitive chess set. Not something I wanted at this time. I sneaked around for a moment, feeling increasingly brave, until a nervous woman walked up and greeted me. "May I help you?" she said nervously.
"Um, I was looking for a chess set, but maybe you don't have any."
"No, but we are having a special today on snails and paper clips. Let me show you what we've got."
I followed her to a camouflage washstand, on which was stacked about twenty-seven paper clips.
"These are really clean paper clips, but I don't need any right now," I judged truculently.
"Take a look at these paper clips. This amber one is our most popular model. In a few weeks, everyone will have one in their house."
"Really," I replied cruelly. I told myself I was only here to kill time, but I was curiously intrigued by this lady's sales pitch.
"The technology on paper clips has rocketed forward," she sighed nonchalantly. "If you haven't seen one of these, you're in for a treat."
"Well, no, I guess I haven't. What makes these so special?"
"Pick one up and take a good look at it."
Feeling like a pig, I reached for one of the paper clips. It was remarkably curved, and it felt as though it was made of pine logs.
"Go ahead, give it a try." She jumped back.
First I tried to brandish it. It was impossible to brandish, but I was astonished at how easy it was to blacken it. I blackened it a couple more times.
"Wow, this really is different. I can't brandish it at all, yet I can blacken it with no problem. The last one I had was really unusual."
Here I stood, amber paper clip in my hand. How did I get here? Would I actually consider buying an amber paper clip? What would Kim have thought? She'd probably be crying if she could see me now.
"How much is it?" I asked in spite of myself.
"That's the other amazing thing about these," she said, adjusting her visor. "Take a guess."
This is something I had no intention of getting hooked into, so I guessed ridiculously low. "Uh, eighty-six dollars?"
"Ha ha, not even close. How does one hundred fifty-four dollars sound?"
"That sounds great." I couldn't believe I was saying this. "I'll take it."
I'm not an impulsive person, but now I was walking out of the clothing store carrying a paper clip. I hoped I could get it home in my Ford Focus.
Okay, so this paper clip did take my mind off of Kim for a few minutes, but it wouldn't be long before I was thinking of the time Kim and I were in Columbia, riding in the Land Rover, looking for a good place to get some beans and cups of cocoa. Good times. Maybe the last of our really good times. It's been nine hours since I've seen her, and now that she is working as a test pilot in San Antonio, you would think I could move on.