A Life Changing Ring

(All characters depicted in any form of sexual activity are 18 years of age or older)

I would like to thank my editor Todger65

Chapter 1: Finding the Ring

It all started because of a simple every day event. You see my mom's birthday was in a few days and I wanted to get her something special. My mom has always loved antiques so I thought I'd go to a few antique stores and see if I can find something she'd like. Plus I figured if I did find something I would show up my siblings who always just bought cheap crap for mom and dad. That's not why I wanted to do it but being the youngest they never passed up a chance to show me up or tease me, so a little revenge would be nice.

Well I looked up a few places in our area online to check out and Saturday spent the day shopping. I found several things that I know mom would like but they wanted so much for them there was no way I could afford them. I was down to the last store and all I had gotten so far was an old metal perfume ad sign. The only reason I got that was mom wears that perfume and the woman in the ad looked a lot like mom.

So this place was my last hope, and based on the name Uncle Bob's Old Stuff and Broken Things I wasn't very hopeful. Despite the name though I was impressed with the selection; they had old clothes with fashions that spanned several decades, all kinds of toys, a large record collection, books and magazines some well over a hundred years old, over a dozen display cases of jewelry, old signs, furniture, and all sort of other odds and ends.

There were all kinds of things I would have loved to buy for myself, but kept telling myself that I could come back I was here for mom. I picked up an old hippie looking dress and a few records from the sixties since mom has always been fascinated by that era. I decided that I'd see if they had some of the old fashion round sunglasses and maybe a necklace or ring from that time period.

I went over to the jewelry section and asked if they had the kind of thing I was looking for, "Excuse me sir I'm looking for something for my mom's birthday. I found this dress and was wondering if you had any jewelry that would go well with it."

The man who was between 50 and 300 stood up and looked over the dress. "Yes I think I know what you want. Follow me young man it's right down here. Oh and I'm the owner of this store, Bob Gorven but everyone just calls me Uncle Bob."

I shook his hand, "I'm Jim Drake. Thank you for the help." He showed me over to a case that was filled with things from the sixties and seventies. I picked out a pair of glasses that I thought mom would love, they had the round lenses and the frames were a bright orangish yellow and had triangles around the frames so it looked like she'd be wearing two suns. I also picked out a matching set of necklace, bracelet, and earrings, the type that are all metal with different designed charms.

"Well Jim you have good taste your mother will love these. Are you planning on getting anything else? If not I can check you out right over here."

"No I think this will be it for today."

We walked over to a register and he added everything up, "Ok it looks like this adds up to $300."

"300? That's a little more than I was expecting. Is there any way I could get it for 250?"

"You know what you are a nice kid and this is for your moms birthday so I'll tell you what you give me 275 and I'll throw in this." He pulled out from under the counter a wooden box that was about six inches long, 3 high and 3 wide with a small lock on the clasp.

"What is it, besides a box?"

"Well that's just it. I don't know. A few months ago a man not much older than you brought in a truck load of things from his grandparents' house after they died and this was with it. When I asked what was in it he told me he didn't know he couldn't find the key and his grandfather always told him as a kid it was a family heirloom."

"If it was a family heirloom wouldn't he want to keep it?"

"That's what I asked."

"And?"

"Oh he laughed and said his grandfather told him the items inside were magic and very special. I asked if he knew more and he just said after hearing that he lost interest and figured it was another thing his grandfather made up and told me he always thought his grandfather was a kook and a bit crazy."

"So did you ever open it?"

"I called a locksmith friend of mine to look at the lock but he never got round to it."

"May I ask then if you don't know what's in it why give it to me?"

"Well I got it for free and won't lose money either way so if I give it to you and it worth something ok and if its junk or empty you can deal with it," he grinned as he said the last part.

I grinned back and pulled out my wallet and gave him the $275, "Ok you have a deal."

He got a box and some tissue paper to pack my things, "Well here you go. Oh one thing if you come back this way let me know what's in the box."

"No problem you have a lot of things here I'd like to buy so I'm sure I'll be back in the future."

"Well then I hope to see you soon and I hope your mom likes her gifts."

"So do I. Thanks for everything, have a good day."

As I drove home all the possibilities of what was in the box ran through my head, though I dismissed the whole magic thing for the most part. It could be anything; jewelry that's been passed from generation to generation that could be hundreds of years old, gold coins, a stamp collection, old family photos, or it could be a box of strings and buttons or just empty.

When I got home dad and my brothers were throwing around a football and inside my mom and sisters were watching some chick flick. "Hi Jim what's in the box?"

"Well it could be your birthday present, school stuff, porn, or none or all of the above," I smiled.

"Well son if it's all of the above I hope the school stuff is yours and the porn is mine," she smiled back.

"Oh well damn mom if you wanted porn why didn't you say so now I have to bring back what I got and hit an adult video store," I teased.

"Jim if you buy me porn I'll put you over my knee like when you were little."

"Mom I'm teasing I know to only get dad and my brothers porn you girls can get your own," I laughed as I ran out of the room dodging thrown pillows. I pulled the wood box out and took a closer look at it; besides the hinges, clasp and lock it was just two pieces of wood, no paint, carvings or any other markings. I shook it like a kid does to a gift at Christmas and something rattled, "Well it's not empty."

I put it in the top drawer of my dresser with my wallet and keys and headed down stairs. I picked up the pillows threw them at my mom and sisters then plopped down on the couch with them.

"Little brother," my oldest sister Meagan said looking at me, "wouldn't you rather go play football with dad and our brothers than watch a chick flick with us?"

"Well let me see, go out in the heat and run around with a bunch of sweaty guys or sit on a comfortable couch in the air conditioned house with three sexy sweet smelling women. Which sounds better to you?"

"Well, It depends on what the sweaty guys plan to do to me when they catch me," my younger sister Pam giggled.

"Ok in that case I most defiantly pick the women," I grinned at her.

"Ok you three cool it off," mom laughed.

***

The next day was mom's birthday and like we've done since we were little us kids made her breakfast in bed. For the whole day we let her just relax and watch TV or read. Dad reserved a table at mom's favorite restaurant for him and mom. Before they left we gave her presents and her cake.

Mom loved what I got her but compared to the crap my siblings bought for her of course mine was what she liked most. Dave and Kevin bought her an apron that says Mom can Cook, Meagan bought box set of a show she loves and mom can barely stand, and Pam got her two pairs of shoes she'll probably borrow every chance she gets. So when she opened my hippie clothes and records she jumped up and hugged me, "Jim these are great thank you."

"Well mom I just got you what I thought you'd like. Oh and there's one more thing," I told her as I gave her the perfume ad.

She hugged me again and this time kissed me too, "This is going on the wall up in our room."

After that we all had a little cake and talked until it was time for them to go. We ordered a pizza and after eating went our separate ways for the night. Dave and Kevin went off to play whatever new sports video game they were into, Meagan and Pam took "mom's" new TV show box set to watch, and I went to find a way to open the mystery box.

I brought it down to the garage to try to see if any of dad's tools could be used to open it. I thought of just taking a hammer and screwdriver to break it open but decided that might break more than the lock. That's when I found his handheld grinder. It took forever but I finally got through the lock and opened it.

Inside were a small cloth bag and a small notebook that looked old. I dumped the bag on the table and a ring was all that was in it. The ring had a gold band and a large stone in it similar to class rings. But instead of class year or school name the band was bare of markings but around the stone itself were small symbols carved into the gold. When I looked closer in the larger red stone a tiny blue stone was embedded, and the large stone turned so that the blue stone acted as a pointer with the symbols. "Well that's strange."

Then I picked up the notebook and started reading. I was expecting a history of who made the ring, where it came from, and who owned and wore the ring over the years, but that's not exactly what I found. With each word I was more and more intrigued not fully believing what I read. "No fucking way is this for real!"

To be continued...