The cup

In the 30s Pearl had gone with the silver and the mine. So Charlie tended towers of people in Tacoma with plastic Japanese gardens on their balconies. An Opal with a gleam like his Pearl appeared. They married and left Tacoma for Texas Creek. The cabin roof was raised again, the worn log walls caulked with a plastic paste. Charlie redug the spring and lined it with rose quartz and granite. Fool's gold flecks sparked the water that Opal drew and served to Charlie - in a red, polyethylene cup.