Find of the Century

Find of the Century

Suzanne Marsh

“Hey, Brendan how about a walk along this ocean this morning, it should be nice and

bracing.”

Brendan Reid, was not a man to tumble out of bed readily, his wife Julia was the early riser.

The mean temperature this morning was minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit. He thought:'where does she get these ideas from? She wanted to move here from Toronto because it is quieter. Quieter, is an understatement. Well, I guess I might as well get up, and go for that walk. When I get home, I am going to have a huge cup of coffee, and sit by the fireplace until I warm up.' Brendan, loved Julia a great deal, however, he was not a cold weather enthusiast. He put on his thermal underwear, thermal socks, T shirt, long sleeve flannel checked shirt, bulky knit sweat, jeans. Julia laughed quietly as he strode into the kitchen of their apartment. The apartment overlooked the Atlantic Ocean, which at the moment was an angry green. That meant at least another foot of snow tonight.

After breakfast they put their boots on, down jackets, hats, mufflers and mittens. They were ready for their walk. Julia, loved Newfoundland, the quiet serenity of the snow falling to the ground. She also loved to walk along the beach. Often she would bring drift wood home and Brendan would carve small ships. She displayed those in a cabinet proudly.

They began their walk along a path they had taken many times. Up a steep cliff and then down onto a break wall. The beauty was breath taking. The snowfall had begun to dwindle it was almost spring. Brendan was ready for slightly warmer weather the mean temperature in the summer was 61 degrees. He preferred Toronto, where the weather was warmer. He trudged along following Julia. She was the explorer, he was the follower, hey it worked.

Julia, picked up several pieces of drift wood, then noticed something glittering in the sun light. She stopped abruptly and bent down. Brendan, knew she was going to bring some sort of strange thing home. He walked over to her, prepared with his normal, we can't take home it is to big. Julia turned to look up at Brendan, she opened her palm to show him, a beautiful diamond and ruby earring set in a gold setting. Brendan, was shocked. Where could such a beautiful piece of jewelry come from. He could see that it was an old setting. Someone must have lost it years ago, he thought.

Brendan and Julia, continued their walk. Once again snow began to fall, so they hurried back to their apartment. Brendan, couldn't wait for a hot cup of coffee, several chocolate filled donuts and oatmeal. Julia, began breakfast, hot cakes and bacon. She began to think about the earring should had found in the snow bank earlier this morning. She wouldn't feel right keeping it, since it did not belong to her. She decided to wait until after they had finished breakfast.

Brendan, had the same thought, they needed to find the owner. He mulled over where they had found it. The snow bank had gone down a little but no one beside the two of them ever walked up and down the path, even if someone did they would have seen them. Puzzled, Brendan munched on the toast that Julia provided for his breakfast. 'Strange', he thought that setting looked old, from a different era.

Once the breakfast dishes were cleared Brendan began:

“Julia, where did you put the earring”

“My jeans pocket” she replied as she fished it out.

“Brendan, that is such an old elegant setting, I have never seen anything like it.

Perhaps we should go back up there and see if we can find the mate to it. That

seems like the next logical step.”

Julia agreed. They had a metal detector, they sometimes used. They dug it out of the hall closet. Scrambled back into their winter gear and left. They searched for several hours before they were

finally rewarded with a buzz from the metal detector. They used the shovel they brought, and buried

in the ice at the bottom of the snowbank was the matching earring. The diamonds were just as flawless as the other. The ruby which was in the center of the earring, was also flawless. Neither of them had ever seen anything so exquisite. They trudged back down the path and headed home. Now, they were prepared to start their hunt for the owner. They couldn't imagine anyone that lost the pair would not have had adds in the newspapers. This did not make any sense to them. Once home, they headed toward the computers.

“Where do we begin this search? The newspapers, or maybe several museums, some one had

to have an idea of whose these belong to.” Brendan exclaimed.

Julia, was already in Google; searching for museums that might be able to help them locate the owner or their family. Julia thought about her great grandmother, she wore that type of earrings just not ones with diamonds and a ruby; but the same type of style. Granny, as she called her had been almost one hundred when she met her in 2000, so that style might have been popular back in the early 1900's. 'Interesting' thought Julia.

They began their search methodically. Brendan, the more he contemplated the idea decided he would contact a jeweler he knew in Toronto. He rummaged around on his desk until he found his cell phone:

“Hello, Cory, this is Brendan MacLeod, Julia and I found a pair of ruby and diamond

earrings this morning in one of the snowbanks. How should I go about finding the

owner.”

“Brendan, did you say a pair of ruby and diamond earrings? I just want to be sure I

heard you correctly.”

“Cory, someone must own them. They have a very unique setting and appear to be

very old. Julia said her granny wore similar ones. She seems to think perhaps the

vintage is early 1900's. Must have been someone wealthy, that is the only thing

that seems like a reasonable assumption.

Cory listened intently:

“give me a few days I will get back to you. Can you send me a picture of them?”

“Yes, Cory, we can do that.”

Cory McCormick waited for R2D2 to sound so he could see what exactly Brendan had described. The moment he saw the earrings he called an old friend of his from Sea City Museum in Southampton, England.

“Roger, Cory McCormick, an old friend of mine just sent me a picture of a pair of

diamond and ruby earrings he found. He and his wife live in Newfoundland. Can you

look into this. It is a very rare setting the diamonds and ruby are flawless.”

“Cory, certainly I would be curious to see them. You say this chap lives in

Newfoundland?”

“Yes, he and his wife found them in a snowbank not far from their flat.”

Roger Smythe gasped as he saw the picture, these could be the missing earrings to a matching necklace that belonged to a Titanic passenger, she had been a beautiful young woman. Roger was the main curator for the Sea City Museum, if he was correct and those earrings matched the necklace, it would indeed be the find of the century. The ruby and diamonds winked back at Roger as if to say: 'you found

our missing earrings.'

Roger phoned Cory:

“Cory, may I please have the phone number for your friend I want to ring him up and

ask him a few more questions.”

Cory scanned his cell, there was Brendan and Julia's phone number. Roger once again waited patiently.

The moment the text appeared; he dialed the number.

“Hello, yes this is Brendan MacLeod.”

“Mr. MacLeod”, he began “my name is Roger Smythe, I am a friend of Cory McCormick. I

believe you have the earrings that match a stunning ruby and diamond necklace worn by

Madeline Force Astor, her husband John Jacob went down with Titanic.”

Brendan stared at the phone; unable to believe what he was hearing.

“Sir, would it be possible for me to fly over and see them in person?”

Brendan, finally regained his composure:

“Yes, we can will meet you at the airport. Madeline Force Astor, how on earth?”

“Roger, smiled to himself, yes Madeline Force Astor, I will be there tomorrow

morning, thank you Mr. MacLeod, this indeed is the find of the century.