the usefulness of this uselessness

Gilda listened to her mother explain what they would be doing as she shuffled through the supplies, brain finally ticking over to the challenge that faced her. She needed to make the hole just a little bit bigger, and finally her golden gaze fell on a long straight bit of metal. She placed the narrow tip in the hole and found a rock to smack it down with. A small piece of shell broke away from the hole and the cord slipped straight through.

Unable to contain her enthusiasm, she tried on another shell and broke the thing clean in half, a frown pulling at the corner of her lips as she sighed out her nose. Maybe beads would balance the design out better? She pawed through the offerings, finally settling on a few she liked and started to thread them onto the cord either side of the shell. She thought it was coming together quite nicely.

"speech"