Shaheen woke up the next day feeling excited, something he had rarely felt in his whole life. This strange thing he had discovered was going to help him start a new life. It might even help him establish himself in the rare towns that had survived the Blast, where people were well off enough to stay in one place and make a living for themselves.
He turned on the floor to look at the box-bag that lay next to him. Shaheen had been worried that something would happen to the Thing while he was sleeping, so he had placed it right next to him, falling asleep with an arm wrapped about it. He opened it up again, wanting to hear the sounds that the object had made once more. The boy knew that he should probably get a start on finding a collector. It was never good to stay in one place for very long, but he wanted to savour his find a little more before he sold it. He decided he would spend the day playing around with the Thing.
Once again, he began to pluck the strings, enjoying each sound that they made. He wondered how they could all sound different when they all looked the same. Using one finger to drag across all the strings, his eyes widened at the sounds that the motion made. Over and over again he dragged his finger across the string, delighting in how the action sounded. After he was satisfied with that, he lay on his back, trying to make the same noises with his voice. He laughed at his feeble attempts to sound as beautiful as the Thing. There was nothing like it in the world. Perhaps the people before the Blast really had made buildings that could house hundreds of people. They must have been able to do something like that if they had also created something that could sound as beautiful as the magical object.
Shaheen turned over onto his belly, gazing at the object. He had reverently placed in back in the hole that was made to fit its shape perfectly, stroking the soft fabric that covered the inside of the box-bag. That was when he noticed the strange thing that laid right next to the object He crawled over to it - how had he not noticed it before? Was he so blind that he couldn't see something right in front of him? He cursed himself silently for missing something so important. He had been so caught up in the thing that he had not done what everyone knew you had to do if you didn't want to die - check everything.
Slowly, his fingers grasped the long stick that he had not seen before. It was made of the same shiny and smooth wood that the Thing was made of. It also had strings, but these were soft and thin and there were more than he could count, all packed tightly together. He wondered what it was for, lifting it up to have a better look at it. Shaheen grinned at how the stick swooshed in the air as he waved it about. Perhaps it was some sort of weapon, to help the owner of the thing defend himself. The object was certainly worth killing for. No, the stick must have something to do with the Thing if it was made of the same wood.
He tried rapping the stick against the body of the Thing. It made a sound, but not like the ones made by the strings. Something about it wasn't right. He put the stick back in its pocket and sat cross-legged, staring at the box-bag, trying to figure out why the stick was there. Then he cursed himself again, this time out loud, because he had noticed something that he had failed to see yet again. He was really going to get himself killed soon if he kept on missing things that he shouldn't have missed. Shaheen leant forward and pulled on a small piece of fabric that stuck out at the edge of the side of the box-bag that didn't hold the Thing and the stick. How clever of the pre-Blast people to hide things like this! Pulling on the small piece of fabric, the inner part of the box-bag fell away.
At first, Shaheen almost cried, thinking that he had broken the box-bag. But crying was a waste of water, and it turned out that the inner part was still connected at the place where it met the other half of the box-bag. Shaheen down at what lay before him, and almost cried again, this time, from happiness.
What lay before him was a book. A real book. A book made out of real paper with words on it. He couldn't read the words, but that didn't matter because books in the post-Blast world were worth a lot. As in a lot, a lot. As in definitely worth enough to settle down in a town for life, a lot. If the Thing wasn't going to make him rich, the book would.
It was after he got a hold on his emotions that he realised what exactly he was looking at. The front of the book had the image of someone holding the Thing, and the stick. The person on the book had placed the Thing settled beneath their chin and shoulder, holding the stick part of the Thing in one hand, and the actual stick in the other. The stick was placed along the strings of the Thing.
That was it! The stick was meant to make the sounds come out of the Thing! In his excitement he almost dropped the Thing after hurriedly picking it up again. He really was going to get himself killed at some point with all these mistakes he was making. Trembling, he placed the Thing between his chin and shoulder, like the person on the book. He discovered that the little black part that was underneath the Thing was there to make it more comfortable when holding it in place. Still trembling, Shaheen took in a deep breath, and then pulled the stick along the strings of the Thing, imagining that it was like his finger dragging along the strings this morning.
He almost dropped the Thing a second time out of shock. The sound that the Thing produced was...there were no words to describe it. It was sweeter and more beautiful than he had ever imagined; he never thought that sounds more amazing than the ones made by plucking the strings could have existed.
That was when he knew that he couldn't sell the Thing. It was too precious. There was no price that would ever make him part with it. Sure, he would be giving up a stable town life, but the Thing was worth it.