The Princess Figurine

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed princess figurine happened to resemble Brittany a bit. Julia scooped it up, thinking, Brittany probably collects princess stuff anyway. I'll just tell her it's super-rare.

As she turned around, the old man was right there to collect her $38.73 -- which really was the exact amount of cash Julia had in her purse, including coins -- and to warn her, "This is surprisingly powerful magic. Remember, the owner of this totem must always tell the truth."

Julia saw no one else in the store as she left, and she briefly wondered what had happened to the person who had opened the door, but that was out of her mind by the time she got back to her car.

She put the figurine down carefully in the front passenger seat, put her seatbelt on, put the key in the ignition, and cranked.

It didn't start. She groaned and tried it again.

It only cranked. "Aw, come on," she moaned. "This is such a reliable car."

The third time, it started right up -- in fact, the engine sounded better than it had in quite some time. Julia thought little of that, though, and merely pulled out of the parking space and onto the street.

It wasn't until she got home and was preparing to gift-wrap the figurine that she remembered the old man's curious statement. She looked at it as she held it in her hand. "So, you're a magical totem that keeps its owner from telling lies, huh?" she said to it. "I guess I'm really your owner until I give you to Brittany..."

Its painted face just smiled at her enigmatically.

Julia said with as much sarcasm as she could muster, "Gosh, I'm really looking forward to going to Brittany's party tomorrow."

Suddenly, she realized that she was -- she'd get to see Brittany in a different element than school, maybe find out some secrets, maybe even sneak into her bedroom. Maybe there'd be some cute boys there who'd see Brittany and her friends acting like jerks. If nothing else, Brittany would love this rare antique princess figurine as a gift.

Julia relaxed and started looking through the wrapping paper to choose the best pattern.