The Turquoise Bead

Twelve-year-old Pip visits an ancestral site on her neighbor Betty’ s land in New Mexico and has intriguing visions. She steals a turquoise bead from an anthill, convinced it will bring her good luck and improve her miserable life, which she attributes to her “ curse” — a facial port wine birthmark. When she befriends elderly Betty and attends archeology camp, she realizes she needs to return the bead but resists doing so. The bead seems to bring friends, self-esteem, and courage to face strangers, despite her “ curse.” She steals yet another bead, promising to return both beads— eventually. A nagging vision of a sad girl seems to plead for Pip to return her beads and Betty’ s hidden stash, but the girl may have another message that could change everything about Pip’ s miserable life, if Pip can open her heart to the possibilities.

Terry Nichols spent most of her National Park Service career in the American Southwest, caring for and interpreting ancestral sites and consulting and working with the indigenous descendants of these places. After retiring, she began writing about her experiences among the creatures and landscapes of the high mesa deserts. Forever a world traveler, she’ s shared her adventures on her travel blog, and her essays have appeared in regional anthologies. She lives and writes from her cozy straw bale home in northwest New Mexico.