by stillcrazy

Created on: November 07, 2008

Hobie Flatts visited the dump every Wednesday, looking for treasures to put in his junk shop on Lime Street. Today he found more than he bargained for. It was enough to stop his breath and win the hand of his girl.

Forgetting his search for more treasures, he hurried home and polished his find till it sparkled.

That night, he proposed to Arlene, his girlfriend of ten years, and the best waitress in town.

"I told you, Hobie. No wedding until you can afford a ring."

He whipped out the diamond. "Look what I found today, Arlene. Just what I've prayed for."

Her eyes flared under the false lashes she always wore when they went out. "You're giving me some relic from the dump!"

"You're not happy?" He'd never understand Arlene. "I thought you'd be happy."

"This ring was thrown away by mistake," she snipped. "How could it make me happy! You've got to find its owner, Hobie."

Hobie mulled that over with a deep frown. Surely, this was his darkest nightmare. Arlene flashed him one last disgusted look before bolting.

"You better give that ring back, Hobie or we're through. I won't marry a man who steals."

"I didn't steal it, Arlene. I found it." His explanation was lost in the thick, summer night. Arlene had slammed the trailer's door and stomped back to her place next door.

The next Wednesday, at the dump, Hobie saw a young couple digging around, their voices raised. A sick feeling overwhelmed him. He had talked Arlene into a deal. He'd post notices about the ring. If no one claimed it, they'd swap it for another at Pappy's Pawn shop.

"You folks looking for something?" Hobie nervously inquired as he fingered the ring in his pocket.

The girl spoke first. "We've thrown something precious away, something we shouldn't have." She glared at the man. "He did."

"Not on purpose," the boy/man insisted with a tight voice. Hobie could tell they'd been fighting for some time.

"Mind me asking what it is you're looking for? I come here once a week. Maybe I've seen it."

Both gave hopeless shrugs.

"I doubt you'd see this in this place," the girl said, sweeping her hands around the soured landscape.

"It's something I gave her when we married," the boy explained. The girl spun on her heels and left the men. Hobie could see her shoulders jerk. She was crying.

"It was during a fight," the man continued, regret slurred his words. "I didn't think it meant anything to her anymore so I tossed it out in the garbage."

Hobie's brows lifted. Who would toss out a diamond ring? Youth.

"Describe it for me," Hobie asked. He

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