At the bead store

When you go in they have trays with compartments for beads at penny, nickel, dime, twenty, fifty, sixty, seventy-five, ninety cents and more. In front of one counter a sign says, “Pictures 90 cents. Letters 75 cents.” The display included little ceramic carrots, fishes and bunnies. I asked the woman at the counter (owner it turned out), “What’s a carrot?” Her reply was, “A carrot’s a letter.” Dragon beads. Glass, wood, polished metal. She counted them out of the various little compartments with a little silver shovel, counting them with surprising accuracy. She said it was like learning to speed-read.