The Gemstone Wearhouse
Created | Updated Mar 30, 2004
I will call him Isaac?
He lived in a village in the mountains and worked in the quarry, digging out stones for the builders. Five generations of Isaac’s family had worked in the quarry.
Occasionally he unearthed pretty stones, green, blue and sometimes a beautiful deep orange. They would glisten and sparkle in the sunshine and if you stared into them for long enough it was as though you could see far off lands with cities and castles or undersea worlds full of strange beasts. His father told Isaac that they were fossilised ambergris from long extinct sea monsters, swimming through an ocean that once covered these mountains. Isaac thought that they were beautiful. When he found one he would take it home and place it on the shelf over the fire in his little house. His father had done the same before him and his father before that. There were thousands on Isaac’s mantelpiece.
Then, a time came when the harvests were bad in Isaac’s village. People grew poorer and poorer, until they began to starve. The wise ones came to Isaac and said, “Isaac, please take your stones to the big city, sell them. For the sake of our people and for the sake of our children. Isaac loved the stones but agreed that he should sell them in the city. So he loaded them on his donkey and set off down the mountains to the distant city.
In the market they said, “We cannot buy your stones, you must first get them examined and certified as genuine gemstones. Go to the big building in the square, it is called the Gemstone Warehouse. They will look at them for you. Everyone with gemstones goes there, they are the experts.”
Isaac entered the huge building. He had never been into such a huge place and was nervous. At the reception he said to the man behind the desk,
“I have some stones that I would like to show you, I need you to tell me if they are any good or not. I want to sell them in the market,” and he lifted up the great sack of gemstones onto the counter.
“Just hang on a moment please Sir, before we can look at your gemstones we need a few details. Name?”
“Isaac” said Isaac.
“What user name would you like?” asked the man behind the desk.
“User name?” Isaac was puzzled.
“Yes, sort of friendly name that we can call you so we feel relaxed and you are happy. How about Ike? No! hang on, already got an Ike. Sak, no we have one of them as well, Zak, no there is no Zak, or better still Zaki. That sounds really great, don’t you agree?”
Isaac, who I will now call Zaki, helped the man fill out his form and the man explained how the Gemstone Warehouse worked. There were many different rooms in the building, each had mentors in, they would look at different aspects of his gemstones and he could visit each in turn. This would give him a fully rounded appreciation of the quality of his stones. He also explained that there were lots of people visiting at the moment with gemstones and this would give him the opportunity to look at the stones of others and also give him the ability to place his stones in the wider context of the gemstone world.
Zaki set off and took the stairs to the first floor and after some friendly help he found room number 1.
He went in and saw a man at a desk. There was a single bright electric light hanging over him. The rest of the room was in darkness. The man wore a green shade over his eyes. He was already looking at some stones so Zaki waited.
“Look at the exquisite faces on these stones,” the man said without looking up, “each one cut into a perfect dodecahedron. Each face a tiny pentagonal mirror and reflecting ones own image thus symbolising the intrinsic worth that is extant in every stone. Do you know what that worth is?” Zaki was about to say that he did not when the man continued, “It’s the value we, ourselves, place on a stone. They are beautiful, cut and polished by Gloworm. He’s one of the G W mentors here. So am I, see, I have a badge.”
Zaki lent over and read his badge; “Dugshiner G W mentor, (facets)”
“Could you tell me if my stones are of any worth, please?” asked Zaki.
“Just hang on their Zaki, I can see straight away, from the ones in your hand there, that they are not polished, they are sort of quaint, but I only deal with polished stones. You need to go to Room Number 17. “Rufntumble, is there, he’s a great guy and he’ll sort you out. Hey, but before you go have a badge!”
“I have a badge, here with my name on, it says Zaki, but my name is really…”, but he was interrupted.
“No, no. I mean one of these; a smiley badge. Now which one would you like, ’big grin’ or ‘thumbs up’. Tell you what, have them both!” And the man lent across the desk, unpeeled the sticky badges and stuck them on Zaki’s jacket.
“How do I get to Room 17, Please? Is it back down the stairs?” asked Zaki.
“Stairs? You could, Zaki but no one bothers with the stairs these days, go by thread, just go into the corridor and look up at the ceiling and there you will see a rope moving along, just wait for the number 17 thread to come along, grab hold, hang on and you’ll be there in no time. Have a nice day now!”
Zaki did as he was told and hung onto the number 17 thread and in no time at all he was in a new office.
“I was sent here. I hoped you would be so kind as to look at my stones..” Said Zaki.
“Sure thing, love to…” said Rufntumble. G W mentor(unpolished).
The telephone rang and the man picked it up.
“Hello. What! Your kidding, No! They’ve done what? Pulled them? Gloworm’s new stones? Who pulled them? GW Bosses? Why? They said what? Home made and radioactive? That’s crazy everyone is using RadActGemstones on the streets these days! Poor old Gloworm. Yes, I’ll phone him straight away!” He put the telephone down and said to Zaki, “Sorry, ah Zaki, do you think you could pop back later we’ve got a bit of a crises here, with poor old Gloworm’s gems being pulled. Why don’t you try Tiara at Displays, Room number 36. She should be free. Hey! Help yourself to a smiley on your way out!”
Zaki said he wasn’t bothered about smileys, but the man insisted, so he took one with a pigeon on its head and a puzzled looking smiley and then he left.
Tiara was in a large office. Zaki could not see her at first. There was just this huge cluster of diamonds, rubies and all sorts of gemstones in the centre of the room. They were piled up in a huge tower that was beginning to lean a bit. Then from behind it came this little old lady.
“Hello there, I’m Tiara G W mentor (displays). What do you think?” She said pointing to the leaning tower.
“It’s big, very big!” said Zaki.
“I started building it when I first came here, years ago, before they made me into a mentor and now I can not stop, not until I get to the end! Isn’t it exciting? I call it Bablestone!” She said.
“Could you look at my stones, please?” Zaki asked and put a few on the table.
“Pretty, but a little too rough. They have promise though. Hang on, there is a shako here” Tiara said. “You really aught to have got rid of shakoes before bringing them in!”
Zaki asked, “What’s a shako?”
“You don’t know? Well a shako is a stone with a shake in it, a flaw, a crack!”
“Are the other stones worth anything,” asked zaki.
“I am sure they are to you, Zaki. Oh, dear Zaki! I see you have not got any friends, no friend badges. That is sad. You poor, poor man.”
Zaki said, “My friends are in my village. Back in the mountains. I have lots there but they are all starv….”
“Tell you what, Zaki, I will be your friend! Here have this badge with my name on it. It says ‘Tiara is my friend!’. There! Now you have a friend. That’s better”
“Could you help me? I want to sell my stones in the market.” Said Zaki.
“Money, money, money! It’s all you people think of these days. You want Room 101 for that, Nomarx G W mentor (Marketing), but you should get your stones polished, and get rid of your shakos. Have you tried Rufntumble?”
“Yes.” Said Zaki.
“Oh, don’t forget your Smileys, Zaki!”
Zaki took a sad one and a teeth grinding smiley and left.
He found the thread to room 101 but it was closed.
It had a notice on it,
“These offices are closed until further notice due to industrial action by the G W Mentors and Allied Trades Union which has called for indefinite industrial action on behalf of our comrade and fellow mentor Gloworm who has had his Gemstones unjustifiably, pulled by the management.”
Zaki left the GW building by the next exit thread. He found his donkey, loaded it up and prepared for the long, sad journey back to the hills. On his way out of the city he had to travel through the market and he saw a stall which was almost empty, just one man with a book and a pencil behind his ear. A small notice on the stall said,
“Stories Bought, Good prices paid.”
Isaac was tired and sat down and told the man what had just happened to him. As Isaac spoke, the man scribbled away as fast as he could. “Very nice,” said the scribbler, “ Here! It is all I can pay!” Isaac looked at the coins in his hand. There were five of them and each was solid gold.
Isaac took the gold down to the grain warehouse and bought ten sacks of corn and started his journey home, back up the mountains. Isaac’s donkey struggled to carry all the corn, especially with the big bag of gemstones as well. The animal would never make it up the mountains back to Isaac’s village. So Isaac took the bag of stones and threw them into a ditch. He looked at them for one last time as they twinkled in the evening sunlight and then he made his way home with the corn.
The people in his village were so pleased to see him and the corn saw them through the winter and the following Spring. Over the next years they had good crops, good harvests and were never hungry again.
And what of Isaac? He has given up working in the quarry. He spends a lot of time at home, sitting in front of his fire. His mantelpiece looks a bit empty these days, apart from his lovely long row of smiley badges.
He lived in a village in the mountains and worked in the quarry, digging out stones for the builders. Five generations of Isaac’s family had worked in the quarry.
Occasionally he unearthed pretty stones, green, blue and sometimes a beautiful deep orange. They would glisten and sparkle in the sunshine and if you stared into them for long enough it was as though you could see far off lands with cities and castles or undersea worlds full of strange beasts. His father told Isaac that they were fossilised ambergris from long extinct sea monsters, swimming through an ocean that once covered these mountains. Isaac thought that they were beautiful. When he found one he would take it home and place it on the shelf over the fire in his little house. His father had done the same before him and his father before that. There were thousands on Isaac’s mantelpiece.
Then, a time came when the harvests were bad in Isaac’s village. People grew poorer and poorer, until they began to starve. The wise ones came to Isaac and said, “Isaac, please take your stones to the big city, sell them. For the sake of our people and for the sake of our children. Isaac loved the stones but agreed that he should sell them in the city. So he loaded them on his donkey and set off down the mountains to the distant city.
In the market they said, “We cannot buy your stones, you must first get them examined and certified as genuine gemstones. Go to the big building in the square, it is called the Gemstone Warehouse. They will look at them for you. Everyone with gemstones goes there, they are the experts.”
Isaac entered the huge building. He had never been into such a huge place and was nervous. At the reception he said to the man behind the desk,
“I have some stones that I would like to show you, I need you to tell me if they are any good or not. I want to sell them in the market,” and he lifted up the great sack of gemstones onto the counter.
“Just hang on a moment please Sir, before we can look at your gemstones we need a few details. Name?”
“Isaac” said Isaac.
“What user name would you like?” asked the man behind the desk.
“User name?” Isaac was puzzled.
“Yes, sort of friendly name that we can call you so we feel relaxed and you are happy. How about Ike? No! hang on, already got an Ike. Sak, no we have one of them as well, Zak, no there is no Zak, or better still Zaki. That sounds really great, don’t you agree?”
Isaac, who I will now call Zaki, helped the man fill out his form and the man explained how the Gemstone Warehouse worked. There were many different rooms in the building, each had mentors in, they would look at different aspects of his gemstones and he could visit each in turn. This would give him a fully rounded appreciation of the quality of his stones. He also explained that there were lots of people visiting at the moment with gemstones and this would give him the opportunity to look at the stones of others and also give him the ability to place his stones in the wider context of the gemstone world.
Zaki set off and took the stairs to the first floor and after some friendly help he found room number 1.
He went in and saw a man at a desk. There was a single bright electric light hanging over him. The rest of the room was in darkness. The man wore a green shade over his eyes. He was already looking at some stones so Zaki waited.
“Look at the exquisite faces on these stones,” the man said without looking up, “each one cut into a perfect dodecahedron. Each face a tiny pentagonal mirror and reflecting ones own image thus symbolising the intrinsic worth that is extant in every stone. Do you know what that worth is?” Zaki was about to say that he did not when the man continued, “It’s the value we, ourselves, place on a stone. They are beautiful, cut and polished by Gloworm. He’s one of the G W mentors here. So am I, see, I have a badge.”
Zaki lent over and read his badge; “Dugshiner G W mentor, (facets)”
“Could you tell me if my stones are of any worth, please?” asked Zaki.
“Just hang on their Zaki, I can see straight away, from the ones in your hand there, that they are not polished, they are sort of quaint, but I only deal with polished stones. You need to go to Room Number 17. “Rufntumble, is there, he’s a great guy and he’ll sort you out. Hey, but before you go have a badge!”
“I have a badge, here with my name on, it says Zaki, but my name is really…”, but he was interrupted.
“No, no. I mean one of these; a smiley badge. Now which one would you like, ’big grin’ or ‘thumbs up’. Tell you what, have them both!” And the man lent across the desk, unpeeled the sticky badges and stuck them on Zaki’s jacket.
“How do I get to Room 17, Please? Is it back down the stairs?” asked Zaki.
“Stairs? You could, Zaki but no one bothers with the stairs these days, go by thread, just go into the corridor and look up at the ceiling and there you will see a rope moving along, just wait for the number 17 thread to come along, grab hold, hang on and you’ll be there in no time. Have a nice day now!”
Zaki did as he was told and hung onto the number 17 thread and in no time at all he was in a new office.
“I was sent here. I hoped you would be so kind as to look at my stones..” Said Zaki.
“Sure thing, love to…” said Rufntumble. G W mentor(unpolished).
The telephone rang and the man picked it up.
“Hello. What! Your kidding, No! They’ve done what? Pulled them? Gloworm’s new stones? Who pulled them? GW Bosses? Why? They said what? Home made and radioactive? That’s crazy everyone is using RadActGemstones on the streets these days! Poor old Gloworm. Yes, I’ll phone him straight away!” He put the telephone down and said to Zaki, “Sorry, ah Zaki, do you think you could pop back later we’ve got a bit of a crises here, with poor old Gloworm’s gems being pulled. Why don’t you try Tiara at Displays, Room number 36. She should be free. Hey! Help yourself to a smiley on your way out!”
Zaki said he wasn’t bothered about smileys, but the man insisted, so he took one with a pigeon on its head and a puzzled looking smiley and then he left.
Tiara was in a large office. Zaki could not see her at first. There was just this huge cluster of diamonds, rubies and all sorts of gemstones in the centre of the room. They were piled up in a huge tower that was beginning to lean a bit. Then from behind it came this little old lady.
“Hello there, I’m Tiara G W mentor (displays). What do you think?” She said pointing to the leaning tower.
“It’s big, very big!” said Zaki.
“I started building it when I first came here, years ago, before they made me into a mentor and now I can not stop, not until I get to the end! Isn’t it exciting? I call it Bablestone!” She said.
“Could you look at my stones, please?” Zaki asked and put a few on the table.
“Pretty, but a little too rough. They have promise though. Hang on, there is a shako here” Tiara said. “You really aught to have got rid of shakoes before bringing them in!”
Zaki asked, “What’s a shako?”
“You don’t know? Well a shako is a stone with a shake in it, a flaw, a crack!”
“Are the other stones worth anything,” asked zaki.
“I am sure they are to you, Zaki. Oh, dear Zaki! I see you have not got any friends, no friend badges. That is sad. You poor, poor man.”
Zaki said, “My friends are in my village. Back in the mountains. I have lots there but they are all starv….”
“Tell you what, Zaki, I will be your friend! Here have this badge with my name on it. It says ‘Tiara is my friend!’. There! Now you have a friend. That’s better”
“Could you help me? I want to sell my stones in the market.” Said Zaki.
“Money, money, money! It’s all you people think of these days. You want Room 101 for that, Nomarx G W mentor (Marketing), but you should get your stones polished, and get rid of your shakos. Have you tried Rufntumble?”
“Yes.” Said Zaki.
“Oh, don’t forget your Smileys, Zaki!”
Zaki took a sad one and a teeth grinding smiley and left.
He found the thread to room 101 but it was closed.
It had a notice on it,
“These offices are closed until further notice due to industrial action by the G W Mentors and Allied Trades Union which has called for indefinite industrial action on behalf of our comrade and fellow mentor Gloworm who has had his Gemstones unjustifiably, pulled by the management.”
Zaki left the GW building by the next exit thread. He found his donkey, loaded it up and prepared for the long, sad journey back to the hills. On his way out of the city he had to travel through the market and he saw a stall which was almost empty, just one man with a book and a pencil behind his ear. A small notice on the stall said,
“Stories Bought, Good prices paid.”
Isaac was tired and sat down and told the man what had just happened to him. As Isaac spoke, the man scribbled away as fast as he could. “Very nice,” said the scribbler, “ Here! It is all I can pay!” Isaac looked at the coins in his hand. There were five of them and each was solid gold.
Isaac took the gold down to the grain warehouse and bought ten sacks of corn and started his journey home, back up the mountains. Isaac’s donkey struggled to carry all the corn, especially with the big bag of gemstones as well. The animal would never make it up the mountains back to Isaac’s village. So Isaac took the bag of stones and threw them into a ditch. He looked at them for one last time as they twinkled in the evening sunlight and then he made his way home with the corn.
The people in his village were so pleased to see him and the corn saw them through the winter and the following Spring. Over the next years they had good crops, good harvests and were never hungry again.
And what of Isaac? He has given up working in the quarry. He spends a lot of time at home, sitting in front of his fire. His mantelpiece looks a bit empty these days, apart from his lovely long row of smiley badges.
