Page 92 of The Holy Grail

Homework for Malcom

Jules and Evan waited until they all got into the car after Malcom’s session to start asking questions.

“How did it go?” Jules asked.

“Did you lay on a couch like they do in the movies?” Evan wanted to know.

Malcom buckled his seatbelt before responding. “It was fine, and no, I didn’t lay on a couch. She did give me some homework, though.”

“What kind of homework?” Evan asked.

Pulling the crystal out of his pocket, then holding it up so they could both see it, Malcom said, “I have to get more of these.”

Evan blinked at it. “Rocks?”

Jules took it to get a closer look. “ Crystals ,” she corrected Evan. “I should know what this is because of Paige, but I don’t. It’s cool as hell, though.”

“It’s tourmalated quartz.”

“Right. The black stuff is tourmaline.”

“Yes.”

She handed the stone back. “Okay, well, I know where the shop is that Paige goes to get crystals, so we can go there tomorrow, if you want.”

Malcom had been sort of expecting to get some shit thrown at him, but apparently none was coming. “That would be great.” As he settled back in his seat, and Jules started the car, he tacked on, “I also need to make a special room in my house for, uh, journaling purposes.”

Evan, from the backseat, clapped a hand on Malcom’s shoulder. “Sounds like we’re going to be busy this weekend.”

And they were.

On Saturday morning, they went to Groovy Crystals and spent almost two hours in it.

There were so many things to look at, because crystals were sold in many forms: spheres, towers, points, flames, wands, worry stones, pyramids, hearts, and a multitude of carved figurines.

There were also small, tumbled crystals, raw crystals, jewelry, incense, sage bundles, lotions, soaps, salt lamps, tarot cards, books, and even clothing.

From the moment he walked into the store, Malcom felt himself … settle. It was like a blanket of peace enveloped him, and as he wandered from display case to display case, he started to feel like a kid at Christmas, and decided to get whatever appealed to him.

He found a stunning tourmalated quartz sphere the size of a softball, and even though the price tag was north of two hundred dollars, he didn’t hesitate to put it in his little shopping basket.

He also found other pieces—most of which he didn’t know the names of until he read the labels on the shelves—and by the time he was done, he had quite a haul.

A blue apatite tower, a rose quartz Merkaba star, an amethyst heart, a tiger’s eye pyramid, several worry stones, and three other, smaller spheres of clear quartz, smoky quartz, and howlite.

The lady at the cash register, who also turned out to be the owner of the store, gave him a smile as she started ringing up his purchases. “Were these crystals chosen specifically, or did you intuitively pick them out?”

“What do you mean by ‘intuitively’?”

“Did they call to you?”

He pointed to the tourmalated quartz sphere. “That was specifically chosen, but the rest just called to me. ”

“That’s the best way to do it,” she told him.

A few moments later, when Jules and Evan joined him at the register, Jules had a black, leather cord necklace with a mini-point, red pendant in her hand. “I don’t know what this is, but I’m getting it, because I like the color.”

The cashier smiled. “It’s carnelian.”

“Carnelian,” Jules repeated, looking at it from all angles. “Is it a good crystal?”

“Well, it’s for stamina and sexual energy, so you’d have to be the judge of that.”

“Hmm,” Evan murmured, then asked Jules in an aside, “Where did you find that?”

She pointed to a large display with hundreds of crystal pendants of all colors and shapes hanging from black leather cords.

“I’ll be right back,” Evan said with a grin.

Malcom put a hand on Evan’s arm. “Get me one, too.”

“I’ll get us matching ones, so we can wear them with our matching Pink Floyd T-shirts.”

“Oh, Jesus, no, don’t you dare,” Malcom warned, but all Evan did was grin even more and dart away. To Jules, Malcom begged, “Please go make sure he doesn’t do that.”

“I think it would be cute.”

“ Jules. ”

“Fine,” she agreed with a pat to his cheek. “I’ll do my best.”

At Malcom’s place, all three of them agreed the den adjacent to the formal living room would be perfect for his space. It wasn’t too small, it wasn’t too big, and would fit a comfortable chair nicely.

After deciding it also needed to be painted, they all went to a nearby Lowe’s and searched through a million paint options until finding a soothing cornflower blue and getting a gallon of it, along with all the necessary painting supplies.

Jules also grabbed a handful of sample paint chips for the rest of the rooms in the house .

The next stop was at the same furniture store where he had gotten his sectional at, and after sitting in practically every chair on display, he finally found one that suited him.

He also found a small bookshelf, a matching side table, and a thick, borderline shag rug, and as they were looking around for an available sales associate (because for the first time in the history of furniture stores, there wasn’t one in sight), Malcom stopped in front of a large mirror with a beautiful wrought iron frame, displayed leaning against a wall.

“What do you think?” he asked Jules and Evan.

“That’s a big fucking mirror,” Evan replied.

“It’s beautiful,” Jules said, only to immediately point out, “But it seems like a bit much for your new room, if that’s what you were thinking.”

“I was actually thinking it could go in the master bedroom. Maybe hang it on the wall on Evan’s side of the bed. You know … the long way.”

Evan and Jules exchanged a quick glance. “You want to be able to see us in it, when we’re engaging in … fuckery?” she surmised.

Malcom feigned surprise. “I hadn’t even thought of that, but what a good idea.”

“Bullshit, you hadn’t thought of that.”

Malcom looked from Jules to Evan. “So what do you say?”

“I say do it,” Evan said.

Jules nodded. “Do it.”

After finding a sales associate and getting all of the items paid for, delivery was arranged for Monday afternoon, with the added service of having the mirror hung.

“I’d like to have it hung lengthwise on the wall, and if possible, have it on a bracket so that it could be tilted, like a big screen TV,” Malcom said, and to his credit, only appeared mildly self-conscious during the exchange.

The sales associate looked at them all for a moment and then said, “Good enough. I’ll let the delivery guys know because that’s a little more complicated than a standard hanging.”

With that done, they went out for a quick lunch, then returned to Malcom’s house, where they spent the rest of the afternoon rolling two coats of paint on the walls of the den. When it was completed, they admired their handiwork in the empty room.

“This looks great,” Malcom said approvingly, picturing how it would look with his new furniture in it.

“It does.” Jules agreed. “And I can’t wait to start painting the rest of the house.”