2. Perfect Glass

“Come on, be something valuable.”

Don took out an old rag from his back pocket of his blue over-alls, wiped the dirt from the object. 

“Did you find anything good, Don?” Don looked over his shoulder and saw Taylor steadily approach. Behind her came Quinn trotting slowly in second place. Don hopped to his feet to greet them, showcasing a wide grin. Dirt and sweat outlined his Asian features, his short black hair curled along the coverture of his face.

'You'll never guess what it is, Tator. If you guess right, I'll share a liter with you.'

Tator was a nickname Don had invented when he was younger and couldn’t properly annunciate. Everyone thought it was cute and ever since then it stuck. 

 Taylor’s eyes were fixed towards the sky with an index finger under her bottom lip, her signature pensive trance.

“Ok, Don. It's aaaaaaaaaaaaaa diamond?” 

'What’s a diamond?' Don look confused, 

'They called it jewelry back then. You could find it in the ground, and people spent lots of money on the stuff.' 

Taylor loved teaching Don new things, seeing as he was the youngest of the trio. 

Don's face crumpled up in even more confusion. 'Why would people pay for things found in the ground? Didn’t they have other cooler things?'

 Quinn put one hand on his hip and stretched out the other.

“Don, just give us the damn thing.”

As if second nature, Taylor backhanded him the chest. He shot Taylor a look consisting of both anger and pain. 

'Nope, it isn’t a diamond. Try again, Tator.'

 Taylor started to look down, tapping her foot, creating small dust clouds. 

'Ok. Guess number two! Ummmm.... oh, I know! It is one of them CD player things. You know, the ones you hear music from?'

Don's eyes grew wide with excitement, his face turned beet red as if he was about to shout at the top of his lungs. Taylor squatted like she was going to lay an egg while clenching her fists in anticipation. 

“NOPE! WROOONNNGGGG!!!” shouted Don.

Taylor fell on her backside, wearing a frown. 

Quinn began scratching the back of his head out of impatience. 

“Man, forget this. Show us the damn thing already!”

Quinn took a step forward, but before he could reach Don, he ran. He ran circles around Taylor as she sat up in place pouting. After four laps, Quinn was bent over and out of breath, trying to catch what was left. 

'I swear.. when I catch you Don.. *heave* ..you're... dead.'

Don stopped running, with both hands outstretched he held the mysterious object high above his head.

'Look! Shhhhiinnnnneeeyyyy!'

Whatever it was shone brightly in the sun. Quinn shielded his eyes and slowly walked towards it, still heaving. 

'Alright, alright. Put it down, would you?' he quickly snatched the object, then sat next to Taylor on the ground. Don furrowed his brow while sitting in front of Quinn, completing a triangle.

Quinn began running his fingers over the top of the object, it felt smooth on top and rough on the bottom. Quinn put it up to the sky, it showed an aqua blue, the clouds hovered behind it, in the light it was almost transparent, only one side was reflective. It was like a piece of glass, two inches in length, shaped like a hexagon, about the size of child’s palm. It had symmetrical lines running between both surfaces. It looked machine made, precise, and despite being in the sun it felt cool to the touch.  

“I think it might be made of glass but glass.”

Taylor began twirling her hair around her index finger.

‘Hmm, let's take it to Harrison and see what he says.’

Don nodded exuberantly in consent.

 Quinn pulled the glass-like object closer to his face. Examining it closely, he could see little the square blocks of silver, gold, with very small etchings and symbols, almost naked to the human eye.

“I wonder what these symbols mean?”

Taylor hopped to her feet, a swarm of gnats and mosquitos were buzzing about. Swatting the air Taylor broke Quinn’s focus.

‘Come on, let's go. The sun is setting, we better get home before we can’t find our way out of here. If Harrison has to come looking for us, you know we'll hear about it forever.’

Don followed suit, hopping to his feet and saluting Taylor like a soldier, he started marching towards Harrison’s shop. Quinn, slowly stood up, dusting off his sneaker and pants. He looked down at the object in his hand and began clutching it, his fist turned red with blood.

“This is my ticket.” He said to himself as he started to trot behind his friends, this time in third.