Ring A Ding Ding

Last Monday, I was getting ready for work. The last step is usually to put on all my rings before I head out the door. I love rings—I wear them on five different fingers and both thumbs (great for drumming along to songs on my steering wheel) and I’d like to wear them on all my fingers but I think we all agree that would be overkill. Most of them are sterling silver bands of different types, and over the years, Ken has treated me to a couple of Tiffany’s sterling bands, which are my pride and joy. So I was putting on my rings, and I fumbled the last one. It fell, hit the edge of the cupboard, landed on the floor and rolled towards the kitchen island. “Ah damn!” I muttered as I dropped to my knees, just as the ring disappeared under the edge of the island. But the island has skirting board surrounding it, so I wasn’t too concerned—just scoop it back up and put it on, right? But when I peered under the edge of the island, it was nowhere to be seen. I was perplexed—had it careened off the skirting board and ended up somewhere else? Time was getting tight—I never leave for work a second before I have to, and any delay will make me very late. So I did what any normal person would do—I yelled for Ken:

Me: I need help!
Ken (loping down from upstairs): What’s wrong?
Me: My ring—the one that looks like a laurel wreath—rolled under the island and now it’s gone. Can you help me look?

He looked under the island and couldn’t see it either. Then he scoured the kitchen with me, shaking out rugs, moving aside furniture—no ring. He pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight to look under the island again.

Ken: There’s a hole under here from when we moved the sink to the other end.
Me: THAT hole? No way it’s big enough for a ring to fall down. I mean what are the chances that a ring could roll across the floor in a perfect line towards that hole and then manage to fall down it without getting stuck? (Puts finger in hole) See, my finger barely fits and I’m doing it on purpose. A ghost took it. That’s the only explanation. I have to go to work—can you stand in the middle of the kitchen and yell “Give it back!” for me?
Ken: The hole goes down into the basement. I’ll take a look and call you if I see it.

On the drive to work, I was pretty distraught. It was one of my favourite rings and fairly expensive, and after about ten minutes, I pre-emptively called Ken.

Me: Did you find it?
Ken: Maybe…
Me: Where are you?
Ken: The basement. You know the old cistern down there? I think I see something glinting in the far corner of it.
Me: Oh no! How can we get it out?
Ken: The only thing I can do is climb up over the wall and crawl into the cistern.
Me: What?! Wait until I get home.
Ken: No, it’s okay. Give me a minute—I need a broom to sweep away all the cobwebs and then I’ll get the ladder. I’ll call you back.
Me: I’m not hanging up until you’re out of the cistern!

And then he put the phone in his pocket. I could hear the muffled sounds of him moving around, the ladder being brought into the house, and then a lot of clanging and grunting. Then “I got it!”

Me: It WAS my ring?! OMG. Wait, are you out of the cistern yet?
Ken: No, I put my phone on the ledge. I must have been in here before because there’s a milk crate by the wall that I can stand on to get out. Give me a sec…sh*t, I’m stuck!
Me: What?!! Hang on honey, I’m turning around and coming home!
Ken (laughing): Just kidding. I’m out. And I have your ring. I can’t believe it fell through that tiny hole and ended up in the cistern. Good job it was dry.

Good job, indeed. And now, I can never get mad at him again. I mean, he CRAWLED INTO A COBWEBBY BASEMENT CISTERN for me.

In other news, since Ken and I both got so invested in the miniatures show I told you about last week, for Valentine’s Day, Ken got me one of those Book Nook kits and let me tell you—it’s the best thing ever. This one is a little bookstore, and we just finished building it. It’s quite addictive–in fact, I’ve already ordered another one, and if things go well, I might be auditioning for Best In Miniature Season 4.

52 thoughts on “Ring A Ding Ding”

  1. Well, THAT story didn’t end like I thought it would! Given the improbable string of tragi-comic events that is your life, I was sure Ken was going to report that a mouse had run across his field of vision while down there, and only later a stray cat came to your door and dropped a mouse on the welcome mat and stood back a respectful distance while you examined it to find that there was a ring in its mouth. But it was still on OK story.

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  2. The space underneath my computer desk is only an inch high off the floor. And yet no matter what I might drop while I’m sitting here…. a pencil, an M&M, a bowling ball… it will bounce off the carpet and make a beeline for that extremely narrow slot and be hopelessly stuck forever because I am not moving this 800 pound desk with five hundred things balanced on the top shelf. I’m sure there has to be a rule for that… a dropped object will always wind up in the most inconvenient place possible.

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  5. I’m surprised Ken doesn’t remember going down there before. It also sounds like he was really excited about the adventure. Are you sure he didn’t palm the ring just so he could climb down into the cistern? I don’t like to think of Ken being so sneaky but it can be fun exploring those remote parts of the house. On the other hand (which currently doesn’t have any rings on it) I know how small things have an almost supernatural tendency to go for the worst places. Just under our kitchen floor there’s a whole drugstore’s worth of pills.

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    • I guess I’m lucky that it ended up in the cistern and not under the kitchen floor; otherwise that whole floor was getting ripped up lol. We’ve lived here almost 20 years and I think he went in it once right after we first moved in. Never had to do it again until last week!

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  6. Holy smokes, Ken climbing into a creepy basement cistern makes him hubby of the year! I love rings too, and have quite a collection as well. So, I understand your fear of losing one Ken gave you, and even more if it’s from Tiffany’s. I absolutely love that mini book nook kit! I had no idea they even existed! I think I’ll look into getting one, but after I get myself some better reinforced bookshelves. Kens such a good guy, your so lucky my friend.

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  10. There are two too many cats in your diorama, where’s the curled up Labrador? I wonder if there are Poe-themed nooks…
    Rings, huh? Get into many bar fights?
    Time to get Ken crawling around squirting expanding goo in all your ghost cracks. That sounded dirty, didn’t it?

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  11. I am going backwards……that miniature bookstore is Super Cool!!!!! I think you are destined for the next season of the show for sure! Yep, Ken is a keeper!!!! What I was immediately reminded of as I began to read……I had a teacher when I was 7, Mrs. Petrulis, who rolled her pencil between ringed fingers when she spoke to the class and I Loved her! I couldn’t wait to be grown up and be able to wear rings so I could make that glorious sound!!!!!!! 

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  12. Glad Ken found and was able to retrieve your ring. This, however, is not where this tale ends. But since I don’t write scary stories, at least not on purpose, hopefully, you’ll be able to re-work this into a proper ghost story because this is definitely the beginning of a ghost story. 🤩 NEVER CRAWL INTO THE OLD CISTERN, KEN! Who knows what entity has now been disturbed. Okay, now I’ve got a bad case of the heebie jeebies, Suzanne! Glad everyone’s okay…so far. Oh, and the man with the gangrene should be in the story as well! 😳 Hugs, Mona

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  13. Wow! Amazing that the ring found its way down that little hole. So glad you/Ken found it.
    My dad has been building 3D miniature metal models. He’s done a semi-truck, a lighthouse, a tractor and more. The pieces are so small he has to use a magnifying glass to put them together. I’m not sure why he does it (it would only frustrate me) but at 80 I’m sure it’s therapeutic in some ways for him.

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  17. Whoa, Suzanne. I think Ken really adores you. No WAY would my husband deal with cobwebs to climb into a cistern. He’d make me do it for his ring! Lol. And that Book Nook is adorable. I’ve never seen one of those. I’m heading over to Amazon to do a little shopping! Thanks.

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  23. Catherine's avatar Catherine says:

    So good you have your ring back thanks to your hero Ken! I lost 2 rings in the winter. Probably when I took my gloves off outside. One I had made in school. The other was a Celtic ring that was hand crafted by local artists. *sigh*. I still like my rings that I have left, but those were special. Rings give me confidence.

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