It was a warm fall day and Gert was engrossed in a booth with ornately carved boxes. One in particular had caught her attention. It had multicolored tile that faded into vines with two lilies carved into the red-brown wood. She was feeling the groves underneath her fingers when her classmates gathered two stalls down. Tony, the leader of the class proposed the idea. They would leave, tell the teacher that Gert went back to the school early on the train, then they would board the train themselves and leave Gert there. And this is exactly what they did.

Gert looked up from the lilies and noticed no one she knew was around her anymore. She searched and called out, but there was no answer. Abandoned, she went to the booth with the boxes. What else was she supposed to do? However, to her dismay an Old Indian man was putting the boxes away. "No!" She cried and started to weep. The old man was startled by the young girls response. Then the lines around his eyes smiled. He called Gert over and asked her what had made her so upset. After Gert explained that she was constantly sad and that the only difference now was that she was abandoned by her classmates, the old man took pity. He told Gert that he was an old medicine man, and though he couldn’t locate her class he could help her by elevating her sadness. Gert frowned, but shook her head yes.

The Old man took out a small crouching dragon. He crushed up some leaves Gert had never seen before, and put them into the mouth of the dragon. After he lit the dragons mouth on fire she watched the smoke change from a neon green in the dragons neck to a dark purple as if escaped the tale into the mans mouth. He took a deep breath, then with a smile exhaled the smoke, which was now a bright yellow, into the girls face. The smoke entered the girls nostrils and mouth. It tasted of sweet pine. For the first time in Gerts life, she smiled. Not only did she smile, she laughed. A horse laugh, for one whom has never laughed before will have a tendency to sound as an old man would. Gert felt joy. Euphoric for the first time in her life she leapt up and hugged the man as tightly as her little arms could.

"Now," said the man, "What else do you wish?"

"Oh, no sir! You have given me the best gift in the world I could not ask for anything more." The man insisted on granting her two wishes none the less.

"Well I love that box with the lilies and the multicolored tile."

"It’s yours! What would you like this box to do for you?" Given the girls current predicament she responded, "I want anything I desire to appear in the box."

The man reached into his supplies and pulled out the box with the two lilies. After he handed it to the girl he asked what her second wish was.

"To be forever protected." The man thought for a moment, then reached his weathered hand into his pocket and removed a knife with a fine, yet strong blade and a handle carved from the bones of an ocelot.

"This will kill anything you come into contact with that means to harm you. Once they are dead there will be no evidence that they ever where alive." With a kiss on the cheek the old man mid Gert goodbye and she set off into the world.

Gert decided to take her new found items and figured that she would test out there skill. She realized that she needed a metro ticket. After looking around on the ground she realized that she could conjure up her own ticket. She held the box, wished for a ticket, then opened the box to find an unlimited metro pass. She boarded the train and sat at the back. The only other passenger was a man with a raven black coat sitting at the other side of the car. That was it. No one else. The man eyes Gert, then walked over and sat down next to her. He said she has gorgeous eyes them moved his hand from her knee up her thigh. She choked back a scream and remembered the knife. He moved farther up her thigh and started to push his fingers against her. He covered her mouth and forced her to lie down. She let him keep going. It was not time yet. She could taste his nasty sweat as it dripped off his brow into her mouth and it stung her eyes. Now he held her down with his right hand and unzipped his pants with the left. The train jostled and the lights went out. Now. She reached into her pocket and grabbed the boned blade. In a quick movement she slashed at her hips. When the light came back on all that was left of the purv was a pair of bloody jeans and a raven black jacket. Gert Grabbed the jacket and walked off the train. She stepped into Grub Town and she smiled as she realized what she could and would be doing with her newfound joy and knife.

Ten years later, and over two hounded rapist dead and gone, Gert was walking back down a familiar street. This was the street with the market where she met the old man years ago. On a whim she Gert decided she would stop in and she if perchance he was there. The booth was in the same place, but instead of a man there was a young boy. He could not have been more than ten years old. Something about the boy looked strangely familiar. Then Gert realized, the eyes where the same. Only these eyes had no wrinkles. "That knife I gave you," spoke the boy, "makes you live forever young. Give that knife to some one else and you will take on their age. You can start fresh my dear." With a wink the boy turned around and continued to work.

As Gert walked out of the market she bent down to this young girl drawing with innocence on the sidewalk. Gert asked how old she was and the girl held up four fragile fingers. With out pause Gert help out the knife which the small girl took with amusement. Gert continued down the street until a nice looking lady bent down and asked, "Hon, do you need help finding your mama?"

Gert smiled, then laughed. Laughed as a girl of four would.