She made an elaborate curtsey and held out her hands. A gold chain slithered off her palm and hung from her fingers. Suspended on it was a small dark object. She placed the chain around his neck, and in a solemn commanding voice said, “I pronounce thee Star Man. Use your power wisely,” and she winked at him.

Toby smirked. Lifting the object at the end of the chain, he looked at it closely. “What is it? A shark’s tooth?”

She snorted derisively. “Nothing so mundane. It is mystery encapsulated in the ordinary. A world within a world. A messenger from the depths of time.”

“Could you be a bit more down to earth?”

She laughed happily. “Oh yes, of course. A way out gift that’s now down to Earth.”

“But what is it?”

“A chip off the primordial block, so to speak.” She lowered her voice and said mysteriously, “A fragment of a meteorite.”

“Wow! For real? Where did it come from?”

She said slowly, spacing out the words, “outer…space.”

“Yes, but how did YOU get it?”

“Oh, that!” she said. “Well, your parents sent it to you from Antarctica. They found several of them just lying out there on the ice from a recent fall. Since they are black, it’s hard to miss them on the white surface. It came in a package along with some other things they sent me. The hole in it is natural. Seemed too good to pass up, so I put it on the chain. You can take it off if you want.”

He could see that she looked a little nervous about it. He smiled. “Thanks. It’s great just the way it is.” He let it fall gently against his shirt.

She relaxed. “How was school today?”