Last week at Borders I couldn't find anything that I went in there for (because it's going out of business) but I did find one of those Eyewitness Books for children on Forensics. I knew that my son would love it - and he does. The best part is that he keeps telling me things that he's learned from it - so I'll be unstoppable when I turn to a life of crime!
Seriously, though, I've been thinking a lot about transfer evidence for a side project I'm working on. Transfer evidence is material that gets passed from one person to another as they come in contact. For example: You chew a piece of gum and throw it in the trash. Your trash is eaten by a neighborhood dog who poops on my neighbor's lawn. My kids, not paying attention, step in the dog poop on their way to the school bus. Isn't it strange how a piece of gum that you chewed and disposed of in your house is now stuck to my daughter's shoe? (Also, disgusting.)
ANYWAY... Today's writing assignment is NOT about dog poop. It is about a ring. I will start the story of the ring and your job is to take the ring on a journey in the comments - using no more than two sentences... okay?
Go.
The package, with the familiar handwriting, had been slipped under the door of her apartment. She appreciated the gesture - she had told him last summer, when they were happy, how much she had loved the ring in that shop on Nantucket - but now she couldn't even bring herself to call him to return it, so she turned to the open window on the 35th floor and threw it as far as she could...
It fell to the ground with a soft clinking sound, startling the beautiful young redhead who was standing on the sidewalk. She bent over and picked up the glittering piece of jewlery, her shapely backside catching the eye of many a passer-by.
Knowing she couldn't just leave this peculiar treasure on the ground, Cassidy slipped it on the ring finger of her left hand. A perfect fit, she thought just as the tears started to flow...
...tears flowing, ring on her finger, she continued her walk to the flower shop...
So beautiful a ring caught the eye of others in the flower shop as they casually asked her where she had purchased it. Suddenly a heavy wave of guilt swept over her, flooding her mind with endless questions: had she done the right thing by taking it, what if someone was looking for it, what should she tell everyone?
Overcome with guilt, she found herself unable to quiet the story pouring forth, and she never noticed the shop owner as he suddenly jerk around to stare at her new ring. The ring he had bought and delivered just this morning.
After he gathered himself, he approached her and said, "Miss, may I ask where you got that ring? I mean if you don't mind saying, I'd really like to know."
She saw the shop owner's face; it MUST be his! She began to tug gently at the ring. Damn! Tug. Pull. Twist. Arggh!! That feeling of claustrophobia ...you know that feeling...when you can't. Get. It. Off!! Whew!!! Oh No!
Jimmy was so nervous. His uncle, the shop owner, had finally let him deliver the flowers, but he wouldn't admit that he didn't know how to drive the standard transmission delivery truck. He wrestled the flowers through the crowded shop, and didn't even notice the soft thunk of the ring as it bounced off his shoulder and onto the soft dirt of the Fragrant Potted Gardenia he was hurrying out the door.
The shop owner and Cassidy frantically searched the crowded floor full of sneakers, heels and flower pots for the glistening ring. Her eyes welled with tears as she realized that the ring she so briefly held was likely gone forever.
Oblivious to the drama following in his wake, Jimmy forged onward, so determined to master the art of driving a standard transmission that he paid scant attention to the fate of the Fragrant Potted Gardenia in his care.
The pot tipped as he sat in the delivery van, and the ring, oh yes my precious, the ring, tumbled gently from its place amongst the fragrant earth and bumped against the floor boards, slipping between them and gently tumbling to the street as Jimmy fought a valiant battle with the transmission, and celebrated his victory with a rousing chorus of "we are the champions" as he drove toward his destination...