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Elena looked at the real pearls, then back at the single plastic bead she’d kept in her pocket—the one that was perfectly round, perfectly smooth, and had done the one thing a real pearl never could: made a loud enough noise to lead everyone home. How to Tell if Pearls are Real - Diamond Nexus

Elena smiled, thinking of the "tooth test" she’d read about. Real pearls are gritty, like fine sandpaper, because they are built layer by layer from an irritant. Fake ones are smooth and glassy. "They’re consistent," Elena replied smoothly.

Elena stood in the drafty aisle of the "Everything for a Dollar" shop, her fingers hovering over a strand of plastic pearls. They were aggressively white, perfectly spherical, and held together by a flimsy thread that looked like it would snap if she breathed too hard. They cost three dollars. She bought them anyway.

Later that evening, the lights flickered and died. A transformer had blown three blocks away, plunging the marble hall into pitch blackness. In the scramble for phone flashlights, a frantic cry went up. Mrs. Sterling had tripped, and the silk thread of her $20,000 heirloom had snagged on a stray nail.

"Don't move!" Elena called out. She began tossing her fake pearls toward the sound of Mrs. Sterling’s gasping. "Follow the sound of the plastic!"

"Those are lovely, Elena," purred Mrs. Sterling, whose own necklace likely cost more than Elena’s car. Mrs. Sterling reached out, her eyes narrowing as she inspected the "luster." "They’re so... uniform."