a gag gift?

Amazing Curiosities and Marvels Emporium was bizarre. There was probably not two of the same thing in the whole shop, and though the shop was small, barely 500 square feet, every wall was covered in shelves, and there were rows of shelves cluttered with all sorts of baubles, knick-knacks, jewelry, vials, statuettes, figurines, and other items.

Julia moved down the first aisle. She looked at some lockets and bracelets, but nothing caught her eye, nothing she wanted to give to that brat Brittany anyway.

"May I help you, miss?"

Julia jumped. She turned around an saw a short, wiry old man behind her. He looked like he could have jumped off the pages of The Shoemaker and the Elves. He had twinkling blue eyes under bushy white eyebrows, many smile lines, a bush white mustache and long white goattee. The top of his head was bald and shin, and he had wild white hair over his ears.

"Um, I'm looking for a birthday gift," said Julia.

"Ah, excellent," said the man, "for a friend, loved-one, co-worker?"

"Um, actually none of the above."

"Well, then, tell who about the person, maybe I could help."

"Her name is Brittany, and I can't stand her!" said Julia. She swallowed and looked sheepishly at the old man who just smiled and nodded. She did not know why she just blurted that out. "Our moms work together, and I have to act nice around this brat, so as not to cause friction for my mom." Again, Julia did not know why she just said that instead of something simple like "oh, it's an acquaintance, but there was something trusting and reassuring about the man's smile.

"I think I can help," he said. "Come this way."

Julia followed the man to a glass case. In the case were pendants, rings, bracelets, and earrings. "Those look lovely."

"Ah, but looks can be deceiving," said the man. "You see, though these look very pretty, but are not exactly what they seem."

"What do you mean?" asked Julia, "are they like costume jewelry."

"No, it's all fine craftmanship, but each item has a...shall we say...special surprise for the wearer."

"How so?"

"Well, this ring is a bad luck charm." The man opened the case and picked up a silver ring with an onyx stone. The wearer has embarrassingly bad luck, and the nastier the person, the nastier the luck."

"Yeah right," thought Julia. "What else?" She asked.

"There's the necklace of obedience." The man put the ring back and picked up a beautiful silver chain with an amber pendant. "Whoever wears this must obey the person who gives it to her."

"What else?"

"Well, there's the truth totem." The old man picked up a small statuette of a beautiful princess. "Whoever owns this can never tell a lie and must always tell the truth."

The doors to the shop chimed. "Excuse me miss," Said the kindly old man. "Please continue to peruse on your own for a moment." The man gave a slight bow then shuffled off towards the front door.

Julia looked at some more items in the case. She checked the tags on the items. Each item just happened to be exactly the amount of money Julia had in her purse