Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Light at the End of the Tunnel (01/23/14)
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TITLE: The Necklace | Previous Challenge Entry
By Sandra Hartman
01/30/14 -
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Sometimes, you think you see the light at the end of the tunnel, only to realize that it’s really a train heading your way.
That is how Angela felt after the day she’d experienced at work. She took a seat on the bus, and seeking an escape from her thoughts, she reached into her purse and withdrew a paperback
As she read, she shifted in her seat. Something felt uncomfortable. She felt around on the seat and felt a sharp poke. She froze. Was it a druggie’s needle? She slid over and looked fearfully down. A sliver of silver glimmered from between the seats. It was a jewelry clasp! She reached down, gently pulled, and a beautiful silver chain unfolded revealing a large red ruby surrounded by diamonds.
Angela gasped. Not only was it beautiful but there was no doubt that this was the real deal.
A host of question marks danced in Angela’s brain. “Who? What? Where?” The most she’d ever found , or ever hoped to find, on a mass transit bus was a stray quarter.
She glanced around at her fellow travelers. They were all absorbed nose down in there high tech world.
Angela curled the necklace up in the palm of her hand and felt its smooth caress.
She stared out the window, unseeing, a memory flooding in.
She was sitting next to her beloved grandmother on the couch in her quaint little living room. She was 16 and was worrying out loud about the upcoming prom. She wanted to be stunning for her boyfriend. Suddenly her grandmother had risen and went over to small wooden box and lifted out a beautiful necklace.
“This is just what you need to wear to the prom.” She had said. “ Maybe it will bring you luck. It sure did for me,” she said with a smile and a wink. “I was wearing it the night I met your grandfather.”
Angela’s grandmother had died 2 summers ago and not a day went by that she didn’t miss her.
The bus stopped and Angela descended the steps her mind miles away.
It was only as the bus pulled away into traffic that it dawned on her that she should have said something to the bus driver about her find. He might remember who had been sitting in that seat today.
Once she entered her tiny foyer and removed her jacket she picked up the necklace and held it up to her neck. It shimmered beautifully making her instantly feel elegant.
It would be nice to keep it. There was going to be an office party soon and the necklace would be just the pizzazz her outfit needed. She gently laid it down on the table and went to fix her supper.
As she ate she mulled the situation. She could keep the necklace. But her grandmother’s disapproving face appeared before her shaking her head and pointing a finger. “You must always be honest Angela.”
No, she knew if she kept it she would never enjoy wearing it,
She could give it to the bus driver—but? How could she be sure that he wouldn’t keep it? Something this valuable, once out of her possession, risked being lost forever to its owner.
By the time supper was over she had formed a plan. She would run an add in the paper. It would state only that she had found a piece of jewelry on bus 331.
Over the next few days she was inundated with a flood of hopeful callers, none of which could describe the necklace.
Then one night, her phone rang as she was doing the dishes.
When she picked it up a woman’s warbly voice answered.
“I think you found my necklace,” she said. “It is a ruby pendant surrounded by diamonds.”
Angela did a little happy dance. She was jubilant to have finally found the owner of the necklace.
The next day Angela knocked on the apartment door of the woman, and was greeted by a genteel elderly woman.
“Come in my dear. I’m so glad you found me and my necklace.” She took it lovingly from Angela’s hand. “This was given to my by late husband.”
“ Come, let’s celebrate. I’ve made some raison and chocolate chip cookies!”
“Those are the same cookies my grandma used to make!” Angela exclaimed.
“Really-----Some how I had a feeling you’d like them,” the lady said with a wink and a smile.
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