I couldn’t believe I was named in my rich Uncle Harvey’s will. When I received the invite from the executor, I was excited to find out how much he had left me. Several of the relatives and I were waiting with anticipation as the will was read.

To my disappointment, the lawyer said, “And to my favorite niece, Wendy, I leave my metal detector because she is always looking for something. I couldn’t believe it, but I accepted the verdict with grace and took it home where I stuck the detector in the closet.

I thought I had meant a lot to my uncle. I took him places when he couldn’t drive, I fixed his dinners when no one else did, and I also planned his dinner parties.

One day several months later, my daughter came into the house crying.

“What is it sweetie?” I asked.

“I lost my ring that you gave me outside in the backyard,” she whimpered.

A light bulb flashed in my mind.

“You are in luck, we have Uncle Harvey’s metal detector. We’ll go outside right now and find your ring.”

Once outside I switched on the detector and couldn’t understand why it wouldn’t work.

“Let mommy check this out,” I assured my tear stained daughter’s face. I unscrewed the part where the batteries should be and saw in the dark chamber something loose inside.

When I turned it upside down, beautiful stones came tumbling out into my hand. They looked like diamonds.

“Don’t worry honey, we can get you a new ring.”

©A. Nation 2016