Salvaging a moment

We didn’t want to miss the sunrise by the beach that day. In our rush to get there, my wife lost her topaz ring. She dropped it accidentally, somewhere between our bedroom on the first floor to the car — a distance of about 200 paces through the long staircase and a patch of lawn and garden path.

She noticed the missing ring while getting into the vehicle. I was about to suggest that we think about the ring later but she looked visibly troubled. So I let the car go and joined her in searching for the ring.

She clearly remembered having picked it up along with her mobile phone and bedroom key from the dressing table thinking she would slip it into her finger on the way. Had she done that, the ring would be there. It was not loose, so it was obvious that the ring had dropped out of her hand.

We searched for it for over half-an-hour, retracing the route she had taken to the car but we were unlucky. However, these 30 or so minutes had worked differently for the both of us. My wife, who looked shattered initially, had meanwhile collected herself. I, on the other hand, who took the loss lightly in the beginning, felt frustrated after the fruitless search. I was also troubled by a thought — what if any of the staff found the expensive ring in our absence and didn’t return it?

“Let’s forget the walk today,” I said to my wife sullenly.

“I am sorry. I should have been more careful but let’s go; it’s not too late”, she said.

“Okay,” I said and we came to the beach.

There, we found the sun already up but the atmosphere was great with a refreshing cold breeze, soft sunlight, wet sand, miles and miles of open space and hundreds of birds feeding upon sea creatures left behind by the receding tide.

We were walking, taking in this beautiful sight, when wife pointed to the thick border of whiteness on the horizon — a flamboyance of flamingos. Suddenly, it stirred and a cloud of white and pink flew across the sky. It sort of wiped off my mind the gloom caused by events in the morning.

While on our way back, wife played her favourite John Lennon song on her mobile phone: Let it be.

“Thanks,” I said to her for not letting the small mishap ruin our beach walk. “I thought, we might still trace the ring or buy a new one but today’s precious morning on the beach, if lost, would be gone forever,” she said.

Eventually, the ring was also found. The staffer who spotted it delivered it duly to my wife.