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Pharoah's Ring - continued.

by Prema Sastri
(Bangalore)

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At last in despair Mrs.Gomes thought of consulting the parish priest. Father Colaco came to their house within a few hours of her call. Once he was seated ,and the rites of hospitality over,Mrs. Gomes launched into her story.

Father Colaco looked at her in shock.

“This is a serious matter. You should have called me earlier. I would like to speak to the whole family.”

The family assembled. Father Colaco turned to Rita.

“Give me the ring.”

Rita reluctantly did so.

“Is there a magnifying glass in the house?”

Jerry being a stamp collector,there was. Father Colaco studied the inscriptions. He asked for a pen and paper.

“Just as I expected. This is the writing on the ring.” He wrote on the paper and held it up.

It read ‘Made in Birmingham.’

“You have been the victim of your own superstition. It means you have no faith in God. No commonsense, either.”

Father Colaco made for the door, showing every sign of displeasure.

After he left a shamefaced family gathered together.

Mrs. Gomes remembered she had left the kitchen door ajar, giving easy access to Blacky who was always hanging around. Later, in the drawing room she had heard the wind bang the door shut. Also, the electricity had failed giving the impression that the oven was off. Once it came on it had done its damage to the pudding.

Victor recalled that there was building activity going on in the street. A snake hole had

been dug up. Deprived of its habitation the snake had chosen to enter his.

Mr. Gomes thought of his doctor, who had repeatedly warned him not to forget to take his blood pressure tablets. The supply had been over for a week without being replenished.

Jerry thought it better not to tell anyone that his sports master had forbidden him to use the jumping pit, as the area had not yet been prepared to the correct specifications. Taking a chance Jerry had made a practice jump, and landed on hard ground.

As for Rita, she seemed a scatterbrain but was intelligent and determined. She had sat up studying late into the night, when everyone else was asleep. She needed no magic to get her a place in any institution.
Seeing them looking at her Rita blushed.

“I was silly to believe the old woman, even though she spun a good tale. I am sorry for the worry I caused.” She paused, and looked around.” Still, it is strange that so many horrible things happened at the same time.”

“So what?” replied Victor.

“Huhh,” was Jerry’s remark.

Rita took off the ring and threw it at them. She aimed too high. The ring went through the window. A crow, sitting on the garden wall, swooped down and flew away with it in its beak.

Victor looked at the receding bird.

“That’s Rameses, come back to take his ring.”

“Yes!” added Jerry. “Made in Birmingham.”

End

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Comments for Pharoah's Ring - continued.

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Jul 05, 2011
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Nice presentation. Very nice. But...
by: Anonymous

The style is excellent and u were able to keep the interest till the very end. But I felt that the ending was rude. There are people who believe in stuff like that and we should respect that. We have our belief which we cannot prove. They also have their belief which they cant prove. So we should respect their belief even when we think that they are wrong.
Other than that I enjoyed it.

Jul 04, 2011
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tale of...
by: isabel

Enjoyed reading this tale about Pharoah's ring and superstition...watched every documentary shown on T.V. about Egypt's ruler and its mysteries.

Hoping for more tale like this... I'm like an excited child!

Thanks...

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