Cooper hesitates.

You don't wear a piece of jewelry every day, in every circumstance, without it meaning something very personal.

(There's a gold ring on his little finger; it belonged to his mother; it has disappeared, and reappeared, in dreams, more than once.)

"It isn't typical," he says finally. "It will draw some attention. But not the dangerous kind. At worst I expect you'd be regarded as a little eccentric -- no more so than several other people who've lived in town all their lives."