Spot Finds the Treasure

We had Paul and Cindy’s wedding at my parent’s cabin on Lake Sparrow. Lake Sparrow is really more of a pond. It’s small body of water, nestled amongst trees in the mountains.

It was a beautiful day for the ceremony. The end of summer was fast approaching, and the late afternoon sun was starting to have that early fall glow. It was the kind of day that was not too hot, but also not too cold. The guests arrived, eager, with their smiling faces, and gifts for the happy couple. There was not a hint that a tragedy would be occurring later that very day.

I watched them from behind the cabin, where we were taking the groomsmen pictures. Our cousin Stacey was directing people where were to be seated, and my Uncle Joe was standing up at the alter, where he would be officiating the wedding.

Paul was also, surprisingly, not at all nervous. At least he didn’t give any outward appearance of being nervous. I had expected him to be jittery, and concerned about things not working out as planned, but he was just glowing, and I knew he was just so happy. I also suspected that on the other side of the cabin, where Cindy was doing her pictures with the bridesmaids, that there was an equivalent amount of excitement and happiness.

Once everyone was seated, Stacey ran over to us, and said, “Everything’s good to go!”

Us, groomsmen, proceeded up the aisle with Paul, and positioned ourselves at one side of the alter. They decided that the groomsmen should come down the aisle separate from the bridesmaids, because one of the bridesmaids had a family emergency and couldn’t make it. This meant the numbers were different.

To everyone’s delight, Spot proceeded down the aisle, carrying a basket in his teeth. In the basket, were the wedding rings!

I heard Cindy’s grandma whisper to someone, “My, that’s an adorable ring bearer isn’t it!”

Once Spot made it to the alter, he came and sat beside me. Stacey’s twin daughters then walked up the aisle, sprinkling flowers on the ground. Behind them, were the bridesmaids, and then came Cindy with her dad. She made her way up to the aisle and stood beside Paul.

Once the ceremony was over, we had to do more pictures with Cindy and Paul. Finally, the two of them went off with the photographer to do more pictures, and we went back to join the others for drinks before the reception. Paul had this great idea for pictures, where he and Cindy would get in a canoe, and have pictures taken on the pond as the sun was starting to set. I could see the two of them in the canoe out on the pond, with the photographer standing on a nearby dock. With the warm sun, and the mountains, it was a beautiful background for their picture.

An hour later, they entered the reception to lots of clapping, whistling, and cheers, but I could tell something was wrong. Cindy’s eyes were a bit puffy, and Paul looked stressed. When they took their seats beside us on the head table, Paul looked at me and whispered, “When we were rowing the canoe back after our pictures, the oar caught on Cindy’s engagement ring, and pulled it, and the wedding ring, right off. They fell into the water. The photographer, jumped in and tried to find them, but he wasn’t able to. Cindy is just devastated.”

The next day, Dad and I donned our goggles, and went out to wear Paul and Cindy said the canoe had been when the rings fell off. It was a shallow enough area that we were able to dive down to sift through the silt at the bottom and come back up for air. However, despite hours of searching, the rings couldn’t be found.

Cindy was, of course, beside herself. Paul hadn’t taken any insurance out on her ring, so to get a new one was going to cost them thousands. Plus, they wouldn’t be the rings she had worn to her wedding. However, after a few months, she finally agreed to get new rings. She and Paul went to the jewelry store where he had boughten her engagement ring in the first place, only to discover that that specific style of ring had been discontinued. The jeweller was very sympathetic to their story, and gave the name of another store a few hours away, that had stocked that same ring. He suggested Paul give them a call, and see if they had sold all of theirs.

Paul called them, but got their answering machine. He left a message explaining the story, and asked them to please call him back as soon as possible.

Three months later…

The jewelry store didn’t call Paul back, despite the fact that he called back several times, and left many messages. He just didn’t get a response. Based on the reviews for the store on the internet, they were one of the busiest jewelry stores in the state, which I thought, was probably why he hadn’t heard anything yet. I also suspected maybe the store just didn’t have that style of ring anymore, and couldn’t bring themselves to break the bad news.

Instead of looking at different engagement rings, or new wedding bands, I think Paul and Cindy, just decided to put the rings out of their minds. In the meantime, we had decided that, as a family, we would all spend Christmas at the cabin. I drove up with Dad, Mom, and Spot. Paul and Cindy were planning on driving up the next day.

When we arrived, we deposited our stuff at the cabin, and Mom insisted on immediately putting up the Christmas decorations. Dad was trying to help, by putting ornaments on the tree, but had them all clustered in one area. I was also trying to help, by pulling the stockings out of the boxes, but I accidentally tore a hole in one of them when it got caught on a stocking hanger at the bottom of a box. Frustrated, Mom eventually just banished us outside until the decorating was complete.

Dad and I weren’t just going to sit outside in the cold, so we went to the shed, and got the equipment for ice fishing. We dragged it down the the lake, and started the set up. No sooner had the tip of the auger hit the ice, when Spot emerged from the cabin, and came bounding down the side of the hill, kicking up snow as he went. I ran to grab him, took a leash from my pocket, and clipped it to his collar. Based on the icing on his face, I suspected he may have been banished after eating some Christmas cookies.

Dad finished drilling, and pulled the auger up from the hole in the ice. It came out along with some ice that stuck between the large threads. We put up the tent, and cast our lines down the hole. The fish weren’t really biting much. It would have been boring, except for Spot’s sudden fascination with the auger. It lay, still covered in ice, in the corner of the tent. Spot kept trying to bite it, but was not able to get a good grip.

I didn’t want him to break a tooth or something, so I yelled, “Stop it Spot!”

Annoyed, he looked back at me, and then back at the auger. Then he just started barking at it. It was really strange, so I got up, and went over to take a closer look. I crouched down, and stared at it. Spot came and put his head near mine, then leaned forward and touched his nose to a section of ice in the auger. This area was darker than the other areas. It looked like maybe the auger had brought a rock or something up. Whatever it was, Spot was not giving up on it. He leaned forward, and touched his nose to the area again. Then he sat back and barked.

I used my glove to start scrapping some of the ice off the auger, until I could discern the object that was embedded in the ice. I sat back in shock. It was not one object, but two, and one of them had a glistening diamond: Cindy’s wedding and engagement rings!

“Dad come here, you’ve got to see this!” I called.

He came over, and we both stared at the rings in utter amazement. Dad took out his phone, and took a picture, because he didn’t think anyone would believe it when we told them what happened.

The next day, when Paul and Cindy arrived, we told them that Spot had an early Christmas gift for them, and told the story about him finding the rings in the ice on the fishing auger.

Cindy sat down on the floor with Spot, and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you Spot, you are the best treasure hunter out there!” Spot just sat there, tail wagging, with a little smile on his face.