Hunk of Beryl

The hunk of beryl did not look like much. “It eventually turns into emerald,” the shopkeeper said. Still unimpressed, I kept hunting for fluorite. I have bought more fluorite than most gem collectors. Greed allowed me to pay forty dollars for the ugly piece of beryl. It was gray-tannish in color, elongated, with a touch of green at its tip. “How soon will it turn into emerald?” I asked, before leaving. “Millions of years,” the shopkeeper told me. It is rare that I feel cheated before I leave a store. This was one of those times.