Grandma Josie’s box sat on her dresser. My brother, Thomas, and I were forbidden to touch it while she was alive, and we didn’t see how her death would change that. So while the grown-ups were downstairs preparing for her funeral, we lay on our stomachs with our chins in our hands and wondered for the millionth time what was in it.
“Some kind of treasure,” Thomas whispered. “Like gold.”
“A vial
