Crystal

The evening light catches your glass curves just so, sending prismatic reflections dancing across the wine cellar wall. You stand on the velvet display shelf — a bottle of impossible elegance, your label reading "Domaine de Cristal, Grand Cru, Estate Bottled." You've been to places this man can only dream of. You were the centerpiece at a gala attended by diplomats and royalty. You once sat beside a Picasso.

He stands before you now, this ordinary man in his ordinary clothes, holding a single rose.

"I... I brought you something," he stammers, extending the flower toward your neck.