Chapter 1

The bright light that greeted me contrasted sharply against the black and wintry darkness outside. It was six p.m., closing time, and the displays needed to be put away until morning. On this, my first day on the job, I was entrusted with the task. Feeling transported into a scene from Cinderella or Alice in Wonderland, I picked up the dustbin and broom and began to sweep. The corners into which I reached were not that of a fireplace, nor did I sweep ashes into my dustbin. Even the broom and dustbin were far from ordinary. I peered into the miniature, shoulder-high display window like Alice through the keyhole, with barely enough room for my face in its frame, and gazed in wonderment at the elements of my new life. The intense heat of the close overhead light surprised my skin as I reached with a tiny silver

I felt very much like Cinderella that night, living almost as a pauper among some of the wealthiest people in the world. I had been jobless, homeless, friendless, and without hope in the aftermath of divorce, several family deaths in close succession, and less than perfect health - in short, after much destruction and loss in my life. The job I had been given through kindness as jewelry store clerk was neither glamorous nor well-paid. Most of the sorely-needed sweeping for this job was of the usual mundane variety.