Tourmaline

Walking to the bus stop, I saw a kitten trying to cross the street. People say cats can see spirits. I am pretty sure it is true. I don’t spend enough time around cats to know for sure. I don’t like cats. Especially white cats. Like Doctor Evils cat in the Austin Powers movie. Not that the cat was any better bald. Both are just wrong.

This was a small, striped kitten standing on the yellow lines in the middle of the road as traffic kept passing by on either side. I don’t like cats but it is still a living creature. There was a break in traffic so I rushed across the lanes, scooping up the kitten as I crossed the center of the road.

The kitten sank its tiny, sharp claws into my hand. That is the thanks I get for possibly saving its life. Any questions as to why I don’t like cats. I put my injured hand on the ground and let the kitten go. The kitten stepped out of my hand and then turned back to my hand. It stepped on my hand with a sheathed paw and went to lick at one of the wounds it had made. I jerked my hand away. No way was I allowing the kitten to taste my blood. Creatures could control you that way. Just because the thing looked like a kitten does not mean it was one.

The kitten looked up at me and gave a soft meow. “Yes. Pitiful. Now go try that trick on someone else.” I scoffed. I turned and continued to the bus stop. A change in plans on the destination. I needed more protection, just in case, after all the thing did draw blood.

I had two ideas where to go to get the Schrol to balance and protect myself from negative energies. Both were in downtown Troy, just a simple bus ride on the CDTA Route 85 to River Street and Front Street. The large bus stop with the where all the CDTA routs intersect. Alright not all but it is the main intersection point for my use. Both shops are just a walk down River Street, across the street from each other.

I do not want to see ghosts so an orb would be counterproductive. Just a simple, rough-cut black tourmaline to carry as a psychic shield. It shouldn’t be too expensive.

I started out at River Rocks. It was a nice shop, well lit, with one employee. There was a long folding table with beads for jewelry making. She had more beads made from gemstones in bowls on a class counter. I found a bowl of small black tourmaline beads for seven an a half dollars each. Expensive. She also had chrome tourmaline crystals. I will need to look those up when I get home.

“I have larger pieces in the cabinet behind you.” She suggested.

I looked. On the top shelf were two crystal chunks of Schrol, labeled as such. Black tourmaline and white crystals too. The large one was priced at sixty-eight dollars. The smaller at forty could fit in my fist. “Interesting and I might be back. They are not exactly what I am looking for.” I said honestly.

I left the store and walked across the brick cobblestone crosswalk to Hippies, Witches, and Gypsies. The store was smaller and darker but stronger in the metaphysical sense. There were two customers, one looking at books and another looking at jewelry. The woman behind the counter greeted me warmly “Welcome. Is there anything we can help you with?”

“I am looking for black tourmaline.”

“Well we have some in our loose stones. I think Olivia made a pendant of one or two. Of course, there Is the bowl here on the counter with raw black tourmaline.” She continued as I walked straight to the counter. “Did you know that 2017 is the year of black tourmaline? There are shaped black tourmaline in the glass case behind you too.”

I looked at the bowl on the counter. One of the stones sang to me. I circled my hand above the bowl. Trying to figure out which stone it was. I waved it side to side still unable to tell which stone it was. Still unable to tell which one it was I decided to just blindly pick it out. I closed my eyes and reached into the bowl. I found the right one, hidden below the others, and extracted it from the bowl. The price tag on the edge of the bowl said three dollars and ninety-five cents. I smiled at the woman behind the counter. “This is perfect.”

She smiled back. “That will be four dollars and twenty-seven cents.”

I put my mini backpack on the counter, took out my arc, and pulled out a five dollar bill. She put the stone in a small, brown paper bag and handed it to me with my change. I put the arc back into the mini backpack, the change and stone in the bag in my right pocket with the house key.

“Thank you and have a great day.” She said with a smile.

“You have a blessed day too.” I replied smiling.

I walked out and back towards the bus stop to go back home. I nearly stepped on the same kitten. “Unless you want me to kill you and sell your body to a Chinese food place you will leave me alone.” The kitten yowled at me. “Go find some sucker to twist.” I said walking away. I stopped at Market Block Books, looking in the window. I saw the kitten still following me. I looked at its reflection in the store window. Nothing, no kitten, no entity, just empty space. Unsure if that was better or worse I hurried to the bus stop. I made it just in time to catch the Route 85 bus.