Good Ring Karma

Ed told me that he hardly ever gets a call from men after they lose their wedding bands — no, it’s their wives, he said, who track him down to see if there’s any way he can turn the beach upside down to bring the lost ring back.  I stopped asking questions for a moment and then the friendly carpenter, who lets his ladder idle as often as possible to search for a needle in a “wet haystack,” asked me how many men I knew who are willing to drive to a gas station for directions after they made the wrong turn?  And, yes, he’d helped several wives surprise their spouses with rediscovered gold.

But Ed doesn’t wait around for frantic calls — he takes his detector machine and his scoop along the ocean edge waiting for the beeps that signal that he’s on to a precious find. The first step to ultimate reunification. I wondered briefly which was harder: finding the washed up gold (or maybe platinum) or making his way to the reunion finish line.  Clearly, the beach hunt — especially when another detector pal was within chatting distance and the breeze was just right — has lots more appeal.

Treasure hunters have long made history — like his San Francisco cousins who who scoured mines for precious ore.  And when they hit the jackpot, Wells Fargo was the next stop and the exalted ride home.

That was long before Craig’s List.

Home from  the beach,  Ed crawls through a chain of emails,  past the greedy gold-diggers to reach the real McCoy.  Right size, right thickness, reasonable proof and just about ready for the ring’s return trip… unless –like just last week, when the trail oddly dried up before the final exchange.  Second thoughts and no thanks.

So I asked about his success stories — and he had some great ones. Tears in their eyes and often $100 bills in view.  Or if he was on the beach after someone swam back ringless  …and he found it  after the waves  calmed, they’d ask  him if he’d stick around.  No — he told them and now told me proudly: “I like the good ring karma lots more than cash.”  Really, I asked.  Maybe you can collect both?  “I want the Good Ring Karma, ” he repeated.  I  tilted my head  — and finally he admitted that if the person had the vibes of a really rich person who didn’t need the money at all — well in that case, it was okay.