Read Online Summer of Pearls by Mike Blakely - Free Book Online Page A

caused by lightning striking the water. And the Romans … well, the Romans thought they were the tears of angels. Christopher Columbus theorized that they were caused by dewdrops falling into the water from mangrove plants … .”
    She felt as if she were in a dream. No one had ever spoken to her of such fanciful ideas. That was not bayou talk. “Whatever got you so interested in pearls?”
    He shrugged. “My father was a jeweler.”
    â€œSo? My father was a gambler. You don’t hear me going on about cards and dice.”
    Billy glanced up at her and smiled. “Well, we had a summer home in the country in New Jersey. A stream nearby had mussels in it that my mother liked to fry. She’d send me out to collect them.”
    â€œAnd you found a pearl in one of them?”
    â€œOnly after it was cooked and on my plate. The cooking had ruined it. My father said it would have been worth five hundred dollars. It was
a big round one. Anyway, that’s what got me interested in pearls. I’m out of the business now, though. I had some bad luck with it.”
    She watched in silence for some time as Billy studied the pearls with a serious look on his face.
    â€œSee,” she said, mistaking his expression for one of disappointment. “I told you they weren’t worth anything.”
    He looked up at her and squinted his eyes. He smiled slightly. “This blue teardrop is your best one, by my judgment. It’ll fetch seven hundred. All together, Miss Cobb, I’d say you have between three and four thousand dollars’ worth of pearls here.”
    Pearl looked back and forth between Billy’s face and the collection of Caddo Lake pearls. This Billy Treat was out of his mind! “That doesn’t make sense. How come nobody ever sold them before?”
    â€œProbably because nobody knew they were worth anything. The South Sea islanders used to play marbles with theirs, until they found out they could sell them.”
    That was the third time he had mentioned the South Sea to her. “Have you been there? To the South Sea?”
    He looked away from her and nodded. “Yes. Years ago. Listen, Miss Cobb, I know a pearl-buyer who works out of New York City who would probably be interested in buying these from you. If you want me to, I’ll contact him for you and have him come take a look.”
    Pearl got up from her chair to stand beside the table. “I never wanted to sell them,” she said, wringing her hands.
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œThey’re mine. I like them.”
    Billy sighed. “Look, Miss Cobb,” he said, “I know how you came by these pearls. I don’t understand why you’d want to keep them. But if you sell them, you can use the money to get out of this town. You can make a new start. You know how to run a business. You could buy one of your own.”
    Pearl’s anger flared. She put her hands on her hips and scowled at him. “Well, you’ve got gall to talk to me like that. Anyway, since you know how I came by these pearls, I guess you also know that if I sell them for money, it makes me a whore … an expensive one, to hear
you talk.” She didn’t raise her voice, but charged it with deep indignation.
    â€œWhether you do it for pearls or for money,” he said, “it seems about the same to me. What I’m telling you is that you’ve got a chance to turn your adversity into something valuable. That’s how pearls are made.”
    â€œWhat’s that supposed to mean?”
    â€œA pearl starts out as something that galls the shellfish—whether it’s an oyster or a mussel. It could be a grain of sand the creature can’t get rid of. Could be that some pearls start as parasites living off of the shellfish. Anyway, the animal takes this thing that frets it, and covers it with the same stuff it coats the inside of its shell with. Covers it and covers it until it’s