The Ring

"It must have belonged to someone very rich."

"Maybe even a Queen!"

Two boys, barefoot and in tattered overalls stood in the middle of a dirt road, staring down at the ground. A ring glittered gaudily up at them, a big red stone set in a thick gold band with much smaller sparkly-white stones set all around it.

"Stupid. There aren't any Queens in America."

One dusty toe reached out to nudge the ring before jerking back.

"Dunno. Maybe it was a Princess instead."

The other boy seemed to accept this with a nod. "Maybe."

Quiet reigned over the pair, two heads bumping against each other, one orangey-red and the other dirty blonde.

It was a bright summer day but neither of them were even thinking about the cool swimming hole waiting for their visit. The idea of digging for worms and heading to the fishing haunt didn't even enter their minds.

"My momma would love to have a pretty bauble like that."

"Any girlie would. But we'd have to tell her where we got it."

"Hm. Yeah. Nobody'll believe us if we tell them we found it."

One grubby hand reached down and touched the band hesitantly.

"What're we gonna do?"