The Great North Phoenix Jewelry Heist
By
Gerry Niskern
Suddenly, they were gone! My inter-locking Diamond engagement and wedding rings were not on my finger.
“No worries,” I thought. I always put them on the bathroom counter when I showered and put them back on before I got into bed. But when I forgot they would be there in the morning.
I’d had a hard time going to sleep the night before because I kept hearing little rustling sounds when I started to doze off. So I just decided to go have a cup of tea and watch TV for a while. Of course, the tea called for a cookie too. Mine were hidden away in the freezer; Pepperidge Farm oatmeal and raisin. When TV lulled me back to sleepiness I went back to bed.
The next morning when I went to put my rings on, they were gone! “That can’t be!” I thought. “that’s where I always leave them. This can’t be happening!” I frantically searched the house, over and over and then I remembered something!
A few years ago, at my other house on the mountainside, around the corner, I had a little pack rat carry off one of my hearing aids that I’d left on a low table in the living room. My exterminator found it under the couch, the tiny wire almost chewed into. We’d only had mice occasionally, but as he explained, pack rats are drawn to shiny objects.
So now I just knew my rings had to be in the house, hidden away in some little pack rat’s hideaway.
My son, came over brought traps and did a thorough search of the house and trash container too.My landlady came and checked some special places . After a few days, veryone said you might as well turn the loss into your insurance company.
It was a monetary loss, but more importantly, an intrinsic loss. You see, my mother’s diamond ring and mine had been combined to form a beautiful, meaningful set. And I hated to give up on them. I started to call my insurance, then I decided to console myself with a cookie first and think about it.
I opened the freezer door, took out the Pepperidge Farm bag and started trying to reach down to a cookie past the annoying paper holders they used in those bags. And, felt something, pulled it out, and I was staring at my rings.
So, evidently, they had come off when I had the first cookie a few nights earlier. And when I noticed them gone that night I mistakenly thought, “Oh, they are on the bath counter.”
So the little pack rats in this mountain side neighborhood need to know “You are always guilty until proven innocent!