Opal Smuggling

April 1, 2024

The thing about opal smuggling is nobody takes you seriously. The rocks are so gaudy that they seem fake, like nature can’t have taste that bad. So it’s easy, I fill my pockets and run their smooth shapes through my fingers when I talk to strangers. Sounds weird, and maybe it is, but I can’t see the harm.

Skibbutz changed all that. Sitting next to Hermann on a long haul flight was an experience I’ll never forget. But when I showed him the opals, he let me see them, in that instant, in a whole new way, and honestly, I never looked back.