Short Story

The Beachcomber

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

I guessed that something was wrong as soon as I saw the look of shocked disbelief on my husband David’s face. 

“Babe, what’s wrong?”

With tears in his eyes David whispered “I lost my wedding ring!”  

It was our last night in Cape Cod. After dinner we went for a walk on the beach. There was a lot of seaweed in the ocean from a storm a few days before. We walked along the shore, teasing each other with clumps of seaweed; that’s when the ring must have slipped off his finger. But exactly where we had no idea. We crawled around searching but it was dark and we couldn’t see anything. David was devastated. 

“Hon, I know your wedding ring means the world to you but we can always replace it.”   

“I know, Jess, but it just won’t be the same.” 

Dejected, we returned to our room and went to bed. After hours of trying to get to sleep, I grabbed my laptop and Googled “Will a ring wash ashore after falling in the ocean?” 

Almost immediately there was a *ding* on my laptop … a response from “TheRingFinders.com”. It read: “We can help find any lost metallic object on the beach or in the water. Enter your zip code and we’ll get back to you ASAP .” 

I entered the zip code for Cape Cod and 10 minutes later I heard from Rick at “RingFinders”. After explaining our situation, Rick said he’d be at our B&B at 7:00 AM to start his search. Thank God for the Internet! 

True to his word, Rick was already on the beach at 7:00. We ate breakfast on the veranda, never taking our eyes off Rick as he searched everywhere with no luck. It was almost checkout time when he trudged up to the B&B.   

“No luck, folks. You’re gonna get socked in traffic if you don’t leave now. I’m sorry to disappoint you but I’m not giving up. I’ll keep in touch with you either way.” 

Disheartened, we checked out and loaded up the car. Taking one last look at Rick, we waved goodbye when we realized he wasn’t waving goodbye … he was waving in excitement. He ran up the beach with his arm in the air, hand clenched in a fist.    

“I found it, folks! I found your ring” he shouted. 

We ran to meet him and he grinned as he placed a wet, sandy ring in David’s hand.

The ring was under 11 inches of water and seaweed!

Overjoyed, David hugged Rick and we asked how much we owed him. 

“This is a free service we provide but we gladly accept donations” Rick explained. “Its very rewarding to see the joy on people’s faces when they’re reunited with their precious lost items.” 

I don’t remember how much we gave Rick … that’s not important. What I do remember is David glancing at his ring all the way home and smiling. 

What an experience and certainly an incredible act of kindness. Thanks, Rick!

NAR©2024

Authors Note: Every word of this story is true. David is my son and Jess is my daughter-in-law. Theringfinders.com is a real organization and Rick, a stranger to David and Jess, did them a service they will remember for the rest of their lives. Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction!

This is Acker Bilk with “Stranger On The Shore”

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and is not for use by anyone without permission. NAR © 2017-present.

40 thoughts on “The Beachcomber”

    1. Keith, I’m sure my daughter-in-law never imagined they existed either and was blown away when her google search actually generated a response. What a fantastic service! And done out of the kindness of their hearts; people pay whatever they can afford or think the service is worth. Now that’s unheard of these days!

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    1. It really was a bummer for David.

      I misplaced my engagement ring not long ago and was going crazy looking for it. I never take my rings off unless I’m doing something ‘messy’. The other day I glanced up at a shelf in the bathroom and there was my ring! I had taken it off while giving my hair a conditioning treatment and promptly forgot about it. You’ll find your earring, Cindy. 🫶🏼

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      1. OMG I can only imagine. Such a fortunate thing or I might be reading a murder mystery here.. lol. At least you remember. I do too, thanks. I have about 4 missing of different ones. Most things I could care less about.. but the wedding ring? Def grounds for a murder 😂🥹❤️

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    1. When Dave & Jess told us about losing his ring, Jess was holding his hand and I couldn’t see anything. It wasn’t until they told us the whole story and I was feeling so bad for Dave that he held up his hand and showed me the found ring on his finger! I was so surprised and incredibly happy for them …. and annoyed that they tricked me into believing the ring was lost forever!

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      1. Yeah, I bet. I was beside myself when I lost my blue diamond Mick bought me from St. Thomas. I found it, after panicking. I must have removed it and put it in the front pocket of my jeans (maybe I was making something messy?) and forgot and when I put the pants over the railing of my bed, the ring popped out and landed in a fold of the bedcovers! Ca-ray-zeeeee.

        Meanwhile, I’ve stopped wearing it because a claw broke and I lost one of the diamonds. Beyond sad, right now and the jeweller that made it bigger for me to wear on the right hand – I don’t trust him because I asked that he add white gold to the band and not just stretch it out so it becomes so thin… I changed to yellow after a few months. Grrrr.

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        1. OMG Dale! That has happened to me and I was beside myself trying to find my ring. I found it days later when I glanced up on a shelf in the bathroom and there it was! I must have taken it off while putting a conditioner in my hair or something like that and forgot about it. My rings fit so comfortably I can’t even feel them sometimes.

          If you don’t trust the jeweler, find another one. We’ve been using the same one for more than 35 years.

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              1. Well, guess what? I just spoke to my sister, who leaves March 2 on her cruise and she IS stopping in St.Thomas and will take my ring with her. George will take care of it. Man… I did try to get on her cruise but it’s sold out.

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  10. What an amazing service! Maybe I should give them a call, mine is lost in the house somewhere 🙈 Thankfully, I bought myself a placeholder ring to wear day-to-day and only wear my actual rings on special occasions so they don’t get lost/ damaged and my real ones are safely tucked away.

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  12. Years ago, when I was living in New Jersey and working in Manhattan I used to commute via train, parking my car at our town’s train station. One evening I arrived at the train station. It had been snowing all day and when I got to my car I had to clean all of the accumulated snow from my car’s windows. When I was done, I got int my car and noticed that my wedding ring was not on my finger. I panicked. I spent the next almost two hours frantically searching and sifting through the snow all around my car. To no avail. I know how David must have been feeling when he lost his ring. But at least his ring was recovered. Unfortunately, my story did not have a happy ending like David’s did. I never did find that ring and ultimately had to buy a replacement.

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