The Turquoise Pebble

The pebble was from Grandma. A smooth piece of turquoise, no bigger than a thumb, always slightly warm in the palm.

“This is my calming stone,” Grandma once said. “When I was little, I was scared to go far too. So I carried it everywhere.”

Jing tucked it deep inside her suitcase before her first trip abroad. When she got lost in a foreign subway station, or couldn’t find her stay in the rain, she’d hold the stone tight — and slowly, the panic would ease.

One night, it slipped from her hand as she slept in a hostel. In the morning, it was there again — resting quietly beside her pillow.

She never questioned how.
Years later, she gave it to her daughter and whispered, “It knows when you need it.”