This story was originally poublished in Positive Words magazine January 2016
I was dug out of the ground at Lightning Ridge with great excitement. My colours are very vibrant with lots of green and red highlights. After several days I was taken with some more opal rocks to a dealer who was very impressed with me and placed in a safe. Many buyers came to admire me but I remained unsold for quite some time. Eventually I was purchased along with some more stones of various hues and put in a case and taken on a flight to Melbourne. There I met the jeweller who cut and shaped me into a beautiful solid stone, the fires in me were very bright and shown to full advantage. I was then set in a white gold ring all by myself and put in a fancy box. Before too long I was displayed in a window of a very prominent Melbourne jewellery store. I was there for only a very short time when a lovely young couple came in looking for an engagement ring and loved me on sight. I was a little more expensive than they wanted but they managed to borrow some money to be able to purchase me. I fitted on the third finger left hand perfectly and I then went on my new adventure.
Everyone loved me, and my new owner was very proud of me and showed me off with great
enthusiasm. After about six months my owners were married and I was joined by a plain white gold ring on the same finger as me. We suited each other very well. I came off her finger every night and was returned every morning and life was good.
The family built a new home and we moved in. After a couple of years my owner became pregnant and her hand swelled up so I was put in my box until after the baby boy was born It was good to be back on the finger where I belonged.
My owner started swimming in the morning at the local pool and I usually stayed home, however one day she forgot and took me on her hand. I was left in the changing rooms and a very young girl stole me from my owners bag. I was devastated My loss was reported to both the pool management and the Police. The teenager took me to school and showed me off to her friends and then she hid me in the back of a drawer where she left me for six months. Then the unexpected happened, she took me back to the swimming pool and pushed me under a big heavy wooden seat in the foyer where I remained for a very long time. The pool was undergoing renovations and the seat was moved and I was discovered by a workman, I was taken to the Police Station and my owner notified and she came and collected me. I was overjoyed to be reunited with my owner.
Life was most uneventful until one day my family went to the ballet. my owner looked very glamorous in a beautiful blue dress, She was adjusting her dress to sit down and I came away from the claw setting and fell on the floor. This went unnoticed all through the ballet and my owner left to return home leaving me on the floor under the seat. I stayed there for what seemed a very long time when a usherette with a torch found me and was once again returned to my owner who was thrilled to have me back. I was taken to a jeweller to be put back in my setting.
My owner turned 40 and her husband purchased her another ring, this one was a sapphire with diamonds surrounding it and I was moved to the third finger of the right hand. I went back to another jeweller who took me out of my original setting and made a new one which also had a diamond each side. I did not like leaving my wedding ring but soon got used to being on my own on the right hand.
Nothing very exciting happened in the next few years until it was my owners 50th birthday.
We all went to the theatre to see Phantom of the Opera at a matinee and to stay overnight in the city.
The musical was fabulous and the stars very good. We had a drink at interval and went back to see the dramatic finale. I got caught on the edge of the seat and I and the diamond setting fell to the floor. My owner and her husband left still talking and laughing about the play not knowing that I was all by myself in an empty theatre
They left to walk down to a coffee shop to have a coffee and then browse in a delightful bookshop and proceeded to stroll leisurely down Collins Street. It was a couple of hours since I had been abandoned. Suddenly she looked at her hand to see that the opal was not where it should have been, where could it be? They retraced their steps eventually returning to the coffee shop where the waiter was very sympathetic but I was not there. They ran back to the theatre just as the evening crowds were arriving and an attendant took them back to the seats that they had been sitting in and there I was. Bliss. Losing me was becoming more frequent, and I was not happy,
Things settled down for a very long time then one evening my owner was making dim sum and took me off her hand along with the other two rings and put me on the bench as she needed to put her hands into the mixture to make the filling. I was inadvertently caught up with the plastic wrap and put in the cupboard under the sink with the paper towels, foil and lunch wraps. I sat there very quietly for several weeks whilst my owner hunted high and low all through the house for me. She was sure I had been on her finger when she returned from work the day that I was missed. The cupboard was opened many times but no one saw me even though I was shining brightly in the corner, I was becoming very dejected. The insurance company was approached, photographs of me were shown and a sum decided on my value and the compensation was calculated. My distraught owner had chosen to take a lesser amount and have her own manufacturing jeweller recreate me and was planning to give the insurance company the go ahead the next Monday. On Saturday morning she opened the cupboard to use the cling wrap and there I was. I had been hiding for weeks and no-one had discovered me. I was eager to be found.
I have had so many adventures since my life in Lightning Ridge over such a long time, I just want to live my retirement on the right hand of my owner in a happy household. I feel my life has had so many thrills I deserve a nice relaxed and quiet life.