“A Gold Dilemma”
A micro memoir by Anonymous (9).
“Nothing.” I complained, looking into the pan I was holding, “There is definitely here.” “Just try a little longer,” my parents encouraged.
In five more minutes, my time would be up and the money I had spent would be put to waste. “Please,” I whispered to myself. I needed to find this piece of gold. I loved collecting rocks and different gemstones and to my eight year old self, this was an important moment for me. I had many different crystals and gemstones at home, but I was always fascinated by gold. I had a small jar of silver flakes and the small pieces of gold would look perfect next to it.
However, five minutes later, I was leaving empty-handed. I kept looking back hoping that it would somehow change the result. I was about to turn back around when I saw a sign that announced that if you paid an extra ten dollars, it was guaranteed that you would find some gold. I immediately imagined myself leaving the store again, but this time holding a tiny bottle of gold.
Not trying to hide my eagerness, I said to my parents, “Look at that, the sign says that it’s guaranteed that I can get it.”
“Are you sure you want the gold?” they asked, “It’s pretty expensive.”
“Yes, I want it.” I quickly replied, “I really, really want it.”
“Fine,” my parents said. They gave me ten dollars and told me to go back to the shop myself and get the gold. At this moment I froze up, I had never done anything like this myself before. I was taught not to go up to random strangers and talk to them. I was nervous and started thinking through all the possibilities about what could happen to me. “Nevermind, I don’t want it anymore,” I whispered. My parents looked at me, confused by my sudden switch in behavior. “What’s wrong?” my mom asked, “You just said that you really wanted the gold, and now you say you don’t want it anymore?”
“Nothing, I just don’t want it,” I said, not wanting to reveal that I was nervous about talking to a stranger.
Seeing my sudden change of expression, they began what felt like an interrogation. Soon, my parents began to realize what I was so nervous about. The fact that I had never talked to anyone I didn’t know by myself before. They agreed that they would come with me and help me pay, as long as I talked to the person and told them what I wanted myself. Looking back, I think my parents saw this as an opportunity to teach me how to talk to new people. They pushed me out of my comfort zone and this led me to be more comfortable around strangers. This moment was when I learned how to talk to new people and connect with them. At the moment, I must have been too confused to realize this, so I was still apprehensive about this plan, but since I wanted the gold and I had someone with me I decided to take the risk.
I walked up to the cashier and said, “I saw the sign, can I pay an extra ten dollars so I can have another chance to find gold?”
“Sure!” he replied, and gave me a bag filled with sand and rocks, “There is guaranteed gold in this one so be careful when you sift through it.”
I let out my breath and took the bag from him. I brought it to the sifting area and took my time finding all the tiny pieces of gold that were hiding inside of the sand. Ten minutes later, I was walking out of the store with a smile on my face and a tiny, but priceless bottle of gold in my hands.