I adopted an air of irritation, hoping to throw him off the scent of my failure. "Forgot? No!"
Briggs said nothing.
Scrambling for inspiration, I glanced around the room. I spotted a pile of newspaper on the edge of the breakfast table; trapped beneath it, I could see a stack of colorful sales circulars.
"We're going ... shopping!"
"For?"
I leaned left, straining to see more of the circulars. "Um, jewelry. No -- rings. We're going shopping for rings."
Briggs raised an eyebrow. "We're getting rings?"
"Yes. I've already been thinking about styles. And I don't want white gold -- it's too easy to mistake for silver. I want yellow gold. Something substantial, but not too flashy." I leaned further left, trying to make out the name of the store in the ad. "And I know right where to go for 'em."
Briggs leaned to his right and straightened the stack of newspaper, obscuring the circulars. "And where would that be?"
I snapped up straight, my mind whirling. Having no other choice, I took a leap of faith. "Capitol City Jewelers?"
Briggs rummaged under the pile of paper, extracting the jewelry store circular. He studied it a moment, smiled to himself, and passed the circular -- from a store named Capitol City Jewelers -- to me. "Good choice," he said. "They're even having a two for one sale."
I beamed. "That's why I picked 'em, baby. That ... and their convenient location."
* * * * *
We live in extreme northeast Jackson, Mississippi -- about as far north as you can go in Jackson, actually, before you have to start claiming to live in Madison.
Capitol City Jewelers, it turns out, is about as far from our house as a jewelry store can be. In fact, on the way there, we pass at least a dozen bright, inviting jewelry stores, including one flying a rainbow flag.
[pause]
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