Orphan Boy Sells Granny's Ring for Food, Buyer Recognizes It as His Family Heirloom – Story of the Day

Hunger forces Elton, a street kid, to sell his late grandmother's sapphire ring, but the buyer at the pawnshop has a strange reaction to the item. He claims the ring is a family heirloom and tells Elton a shocking story.

Elton's vision blurred as a wave of dizziness swept over him. He stumbled to the wall of the alley and leaned against it. A dull, deep pain in his stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten since yesterday morning when he found a half-eaten burger in a dumpster.

He gingerly pressed a fingertip against the lump in his jacket pocket. He couldn't carry on like this anymore. Elton winced and raised his hand in front of his face. Touching his jacket had agitated the blister on his finger caused by his rare skin condition.

"I'm surely cursed," Elton muttered. "I'll never survive without Granny."

Elton's grandmother had died almost a year ago, leaving him nothing but the sapphire ring he now carried in his pocket. He'd been sent to a shelter but hated it there. He'd finally had the courage to run away a few months back.

He'd gotten by for a while by eating from dumpsters and sleeping in the park, but the last week had been really rough. He needed food and medical supplies, and there was only one way he could get the money to buy those things. Elton slowly made his way to a nearby pawnshop.

"Excuse me, sir," he said to the man behind the counter. "How much can you give me for this ring?"

Elton set the ring down on the glass counter. The buyer gave him a cursory glance and then peered at the ring. He gasped softly, and his eyes went wide as he snatched it from the counter and examined it.

Elton started to smile. The buyer's reaction surely meant that the ring was worth a lot of money. It could be enough to help him buy some new clothes so he could look for a job.

"Where did you get this ring, son?" The buyer asked with a frown.

"It belonged to my granny, sir," Elton replied. "Is it worth a lot of money?"

"Your granny? But this ring has been in my family for generations. It's an heirloom."

The man shook his head and peered at Elton in shock. "It can’t be… Elton? Is that you? We all thought you died 13 years ago."

A few years earlier

Linda scanned her son's house with a critical eye as she marched up to the front door. This was the first time she'd visited him since his divorce four months ago, and she wanted to ensure her grandson wasn't suffering without a woman in the house.

Everything seemed to be in order. Linda quickly peered through the front windows while waiting for her son, Jared, to answer her knock. From the look of the house, she confirmed it was tidy and clean inside, too. Linda was quietly impressed.

The door opened a crack, and Jared peered at her in surprise. "Mom? It's so good to see you! You should've told me you were coming."

"But then it wouldn't have been a surprise," Linda replied as she hugged her son. "I thought I'd come and stay for a few days to help you out but it seems like you have everything under control. Now where's my little angel?"

A muscle twitched in Jared's cheek, and he rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, Elton doesn't live with me anymore, Mom. I gave him up for adoption."

Linda's heart fluttered, and her jaw dropped. "How could you give away your own flesh and blood?"

Jared rolled his eyes and walked back into the house. "His skin condition, Mom, that Epidermolysis Bullosa thing he was born with made life very difficult. It's the reason Megan left."

"Shame on her, but what does that have to do with you giving that precious little boy up for adoption?" Linda asked as she followed Jared inside.

"He was expensive, Mom." Jared flopped into an armchair and lifted a can of beer from the coffee table.

"That boy was costing me a fortune just in bandages and antiseptic lotions! And there wasn't a childcare center in town that'd take him. I tell you, it gets pretty costly to pay for babysitters everyday."

"But why didn't you say something?" Linda snatched the beer can from Jared's hand. "I would've gladly moved in here to help you out."

Jared sighed and shook his head. "It would only have delayed the inevitable. There was no way I could've kept up with Elton's medical bills so I did what I had to do."

"I can't believe you!" Linda turned to leave. "You can't abandon your family just because of a skin condition! Shame on you, Jared. I'm embarrassed to call you my son."

Linda stormed out of Jared's house and called a cab. She was shocked to the core by Jared's selfish behavior. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn't understand how her son, who she'd raised to be a good person, could just throw away his child.

Luckily, she'd come in time to step in and save her grandson. When the cab arrived, she asked the driver to take her to the children's shelter.

When she entered the administrator's office, Linda was still fuming and demanded to see Elton.

"I also want you to provide me with all the necessary paperwork so I can take him home to live with me. I'm his grandmother," she added.

The administrator smiled politely. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't do that. Elton has already found a family. The adoption was finalized two weeks ago."

Linda went cold. "Then I'll need you to provide me with this family's address. I need to see my grandson!"

The administrator grimaced apologetically. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but that information is confidential."

With some clever talking and downright bullheadedness, Linda eventually convinced the administrator to give her the address of Elton's new home. She headed there immediately.

She studied the well-kept lawn and garden surrounding the large home at the address. It seemed like a nice place. Linda rang the doorbell, and soon a woman answered. She gave Linda a friendly smile and asked what she could do for her.

"I believe you recently adopted a young boy called Elton?" Linda asked.

"Yes..." the woman replied uncertainly.

"He's my grandson," Linda said. "My son gave him up for adoption without informing me! I only found out today when I arrived in town to visit. I'd very much like to see Elton, please."

"Of course! Oh my God, that must've been such a shock to you!" The woman stepped aside and gestured for Linda to enter. "Please, come in. Elton should wake up from his nap soon. In the meanwhile, I'll get us something to drink."

The woman introduced herself as Gabi, escorted Linda to the sitting room, and served her lemonade. They were soon joined by Gabi's husband, Justin. They welcomed Linda warmly and were happy to answer her questions about Elton's wellbeing.

"I'm not going to lie, it has been tough," Gabi said. "Elton is so young, and all he wants to do is explore and play, like all toddlers. But with his skin condition..."

"We've taken all the necessary precautions to ensure he doesn't hurt himself but still gets to live as normal a life as possible," Justin added. "The dermatologist we've been taking him to is the best in the city."

Linda was about to speak when the sound of a child crying echoed through the house. Gabi instantly leaped to her feet.

"The little man has good timing!" Gabi smiled as she moved toward the door. "Stay right there and I'll bring Elton to say hello!"

Linda pressed a hand to her heart and stood. When Gabi returned with little Elton in her arms, she rushed forward to see him.

"Oh, my little angel!" Linda muttered as she reached for Elton.

Gabi twisted her body to prevent Linda from taking him. "Sorry, Linda, but we need to be very careful. He has a wound on his back that is only just starting to heal. Hold out your arms and I'll hand him to you, okay?"

Linda held out her arms and carefully took Elton. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here for you," she muttered to the boy. "Your parents are naughty, horrible people for doing this to you, but everything will be okay now I'm here."

Linda turned to Gabi. "I can't thank the pair of you enough for taking such good care of Elton, but now I'm here, I'd like to take him home with me. He belongs with his family."

Gabi's smile dropped, and she stiffly shook her head. "That's not going to happen, Linda. I'm sorry; I know this must be tough for you, but we love Elton with all our hearts! He's our son and we couldn't bear to be parted from him."

"He may be your family by blood, Linda, but we love him like our own." Justin said as he came to stand beside Gabi. "Besides, we've managed to get a great team of medical professionals to help him, and he's about to start on a new gene therapy treatment. You can't take that opportunity from him."

Linda looked down at Elton with a frown. There was a small blister on his cheek and another on his scalp. His hands were wrapped in soft material, but he smiled happily as he reached for her face.

"I don't want to be seperated from him again," Linda said. "It's terrible the way my son and his ex-wife treated him because of this disorder. Perhaps I could work as a nanny to help take care of him? You wouldn't need to pay me a cent."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Gabi replied.

"Don't be so quick to say no, Gabi," Justin said. He took Gabi's hand in his and smiled softly at her. "This could work out perfectly for all of us. Linda was clearly wronged when her son gave Elton up without informing her and I think it could be good for him to spend time with his granny."

"Besides," Justin continued, "you deserve to have some time to pursue your passions. You haven't made any new sculptures since we adopted Elton, and while I understand that you're committed to caring for him, you need some time for yourself."

Gabi frowned and chewed her lower lip. "I suppose we could give it a try."

Linda was over the moon. She took the next plane back to her home city and immediately arranged to sell her house and most of her possessions. Apart from some necessary pieces of furniture, she only kept her most precious and indispensable items.

Once she'd moved and settled into the tiny apartment she was renting in town, she called Jared.

"I thought you should know that I've moved to the city to serve as a nanny for the couple who adopted my grandson. See, unlike you and Megan, I know the value of family and am prepared to do whatever it takes to look after my own."

"You can't do that, Mom!" Jared yelled. "You need to tell those people you changed your mind and go back home. Please, stop meddling in things that are none of your business."

"This is very much my business, Jared, and I didn't call to get your approval."

"You need to leave well enough alone, Mom! Leave those people to raise Elton."

"I won't listen to another word of this nonsense! Goodbye, Jared, and don't bother calling me until you come to your senses!"

When Linda arrived at Gabi and Justin's house to start work, Gabi immediately took her to the main bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet.

"Okay, Linda, I know you're fully aware of Elton's condition, but it's important that we run through all the different medications we're using and the treatment plan we follow, okay?"

Gabi then showed Linda the different antiseptic and antibiotic creams the doctor had prescribed for Elton. She showed her the chest she'd set aside for all the bandages, wound dressings, and the container where she kept the sterile needles to lance Elton's blisters.

"Do not lance his blisters yourself, okay?" Gabi said. "Elton's doctor showed me exactly how to do it and I'd prefer to do it myself."

"Of course, Gabi, whatever you want," Linda replied. Privately, she thought Gabi was being a little overprotective. After all, Linda had grown up on a farm and had often helped her father lance abscesses on their small herd of dairy cattle.

Gabi checked her watch. "I need to leave soon. Come with me so I can show you how to change the dressings on Elton's wounds."

Linda was shocked when she saw the wounds on Elton's feet.

"Believe it or not, but these are actually improving nicely," Gabi said. "Will you take that antibiotic cream over there and place it on his feet? Then I can show you how to apply the dressing."

"You should really try putting a turmeric cream on these wounds," Linda said. "It will leave a peculiar stain but it's very good for skin care and wound treatment."

"I'm sure it is, Linda, but we're going to stick with the antibiotic cream the doctor prescribed, okay?" Gabi said.

"I've got nothing against natural remedies, but Elton's health is fragile. Justin and I agreed that it's in his best interest for us to follow his doctor's advise precisely."

Linda didn't reply. She understood that Gabi had Elton's best interests at heart but felt she was being a little too inflexible. When Gabi left for the art studio, Linda went to the kitchen and searched the cupboards.

She quickly found everything she needed and began making a turmeric cream for Elton. Once it was ready, she poured it into an empty jar she'd seen and set it aside.

When Linda bathed Elton later that day, she found a blister on the back of his knee. It didn't look good, and she was worried it might burst on its own. Linda carefully dried Elton off, then laid him down on a towel to lance the blister.

Unfortunately, Elton moved at a crucial point, so the needle slipped, creating a larger wound than was necessary. Linda fetched the turmeric cream she'd made and applied it liberally before dressing the wound.

"Now Gabi can see for herself how effective this cream is." Linda smiled as she lifted Elton and dressed him. "Now, it's time for you to lie down for your nap, my little angel."

But Elton was too upset to sleep. He writhed on the bed and cried throughout the lullaby Linda sang to him. She assumed he was in pain from the wounds caused by his skin condition and gave him a small amount of brandy to help him sleep.

Elton slept fitfully after that. Gabi arrived home soon after he woke from his nap and cuddled him in her arms. She frowned when Linda told her about the wound she'd lanced behind Elton's knee and immediately examined it.

"I realize you were only trying to help, Linda, but this is exactly what I asked you not to do!" Gabi said as she examined the wound. "Go and fetch Elton's first aid kit from the bathroom, please. And a clean cloth with some warm water so I can get this yellow stuff off him."

"You don't need to remove the turmeric cream, Gabi, it's a natural antiseptic and has many other benefits..."

"Stop second-guessing me and do as I asked," Gabi snapped.

Linda recoiled in shock. She had half a mind to tell Gabi off for being so snippy and rude, but she didn't want to be fired. Instead, she grumpily fetched the items Gabi had asked for.

"Thank you, Linda," Gabi said when she returned. "You may leave now. Elton and I will be fine for the rest of the afternoon."

"I'll see you tomorrow then," Linda replied with a forced smile.

Gabi and Linda butted heads a few more times over the next few days. The tension between them was worsened by the state of the wounds on Elton's feet, which weren't healing as well as Linda would've liked. She was trying to get Elton to be more active (another point she and Gabi disagreed on), but he couldn't do much with injured feet.

Since Gabi wouldn't listen to reason, Linda started treating the wounds with turmeric cream and cleaning them off before Gabi arrived home.

"Once these are better, I'll tell her the truth," Linda muttered to Elton as she slathered turmeric cream onto the soles of his feet. "She won't be able to deny the facts any longer then and you will be free to run around like any other boy your age."

Elton wept and squirmed as Linda tended to his feet. It broke her heart to put him through such pain, but she knew it was necessary. She gave him a bit more brandy and then sat down on the sofa with him to watch educational cartoons.

But Elton did not let up. He cried, screamed, and threw every toy Linda offered onto the floor. She then offered him a snack, which seemed to do the trick. But less than half an hour later, Elton vomited it back up.

Linda picked Elton up so she could change him from his soiled clothes and was shocked when she realized that Elton had a fever. She immediately fetched a damp cloth and covered him with it to bring his temperature down.

When Gabi arrived home, Linda had been forced to transfer Elton to a cold bath because the damp cloth wasn't working. She quickly explained the situation to Gabi, who didn't take it very well.

"Why the hell didn't you call me?" Gabi yelled as she grabbed the thermometer from the first aid kit. "What was his temperature when this first started, and did you give him his medication to help bring the temperature down?"

"I didn't check it; I gave him some ibuprofen to bring the fever down but it isn't working yet."

"What's this?" Gabi adeptly kept the thermometer in position as she leaned over to examine the wounds on Elton's feet.

"You put that freaking yellow stuff on him again! How could you, Linda? Look at how inflamed these wounds are... and the pus..." Gabi shook her head.

The thermometer beeped then. Gabi let out a strangled cry as she examined the reading and pulled her phone from her pocket.

"Get him out of that bathtub immediately. I'm calling an ambulance, and you, Linda... I thought you loved Elton; I thought you wanted the best for him, but instead you keep going behind my back and messing with his treatment plan. Get out of my house, and don't come back!"

Linda watched the ambulance speed off with Elton and Gabi in the back and followed them to the hospital. Nobody would allow her to see Elton or even tell her how he was doing. She eventually sent Gabi a text message and went home.

Justin called her the next day and yelled at Linda for a full ten minutes before she hung up on him. She sat in her kitchen and wept as she realized what a sorry position her poor grandson was now in.

In a flash of clarity, she realized that the real reason why Gabi didn't want her to use turmeric cream and didn't want Elton to run around at all was because she didn't wish Elton to get better. Gabi wanted an unhealthy child for some sick reason, which was probably why she and Justin adopted him in the first place.

Linda knew then that those people would never let poor little Elton live a normal life. Now that she'd been fired, there was nothing she could do to intervene. Linda clenched her jaw and shook her head. She couldn't just give up on her grandson. Elton deserved better than that.

Linda dried her eyes and drove to Gabi and Justin's home. She parked across the street and watched the house. She returned the next day to watch them again and every day after that till, she saw Justin and Gabi arrive home with Elton.

The following day, Linda parked across from the house again and waited for Gabi to leave for the afternoon. She then snuck into the house through the back door. Linda heard the nanny moving around in the kitchen and crept upstairs. She found Elton in his padded playpen in the sitting room.

"Don't you worry my angel," Linda whispered as she lifted the boy. "Granny's here to save you."

Elton cried out loud, and Linda hurriedly carried him out of the house. As she was crossing the lawn, she heard a shout behind her.

"Put that child down right now!"

Linda glanced over her shoulder and saw a woman leap off the house's front step and sprint toward her. Linda ran into the street and was almost flattened by a car. The driver skidded past her back, horn blaring and tires screaming.

Linda dove into her car and started the engine. She sped away just as the nanny rounded the car's hood that had almost hit Linda and Elton. She watched the nanny pull out her cell phone in her rearview mirror as she raced after her car.

The police caught up to her shortly before she reached the freeway. Linda gritted her teeth as she watched the flashing lights from the squad cars gain on her in her rearview mirror.

"Misguided souls," she muttered, "they should be arresting Gabi for mistreating my poor grandson, not chasing me."

But Linda knew the cops wouldn't understand. Unlike in the old days, one couldn't talk to authority figures anymore and expect them to hear your point of view. She placed her foot on the gas and quickly turned onto the next offramp.

Linda wove in and out of traffic as she sped away from the city. Elton wailed from the backseat, and other motorists honked their horns at her, but Linda kept her focus on the cop cars following her. She was so intent on them that she didn't notice the highway patrol car that swerved into traffic ahead of her until it was almost too late.

Linda veered into the oncoming traffic to evade the highway patrol car. She sped up to overtake the vehicle, but it matched her speed. An eighteen-wheeler was speeding toward her. Linda slowed and pulled in behind the highway patrol car just in time to avoid a collision with the big truck.

Linda veered out into the next lane, cutting off a sedan. The driver slammed on the brakes, and chaos ensued. Another car slammed into the sedan's rear, shoving it into the highway patrol car. Several cop cars pursuing her were forced to stop as traffic piled up behind the collision.

Linda made an illegal turn onto an older section of the highway. There was a bridge up ahead, and she had an idea. Elton's grandmother checked in her rearview mirror and counted the cop cars still on her tail. All she needed to do now was keep her lead.

Linda veered onto the shoulder to overtake a hatchback and stayed there. Low-hanging tree branches and overgrown bushes smacked against her car as she sped over the gravel. She reached back with one hand and pulled Elton onto the passenger seat.

"Don't worry, Elton, everything is going to be okay," she reassured the child as she draped her coat over him.

The road narrowed to two lanes just before the bridge. Linda pulled Elton onto her lap as she waited for her moment. There was nothing but a simple chainlink fence on either side of the entrance to the bridge. Linda was headed straight for it, and suddenly, she opened her door and leaped from the car.

The next day, the photo of Linda's car being lifted from the river by a crane appeared on the front page of the local newspaper. Linda read the headline with a frown. The reporter called her a kidnapper and implied that she'd heartlessly taken Elton from a home where he was loved and cared for because she was selfish.

"That Gabi really got to this reporter," she said as she rocked Elton. "But, on the plus side, it says here that they believe we're dead and our bodies were washed away downstream. Isn't that good news, Elton?"

Elton reached up to scratch at the fresh wounds on his face, and Linda set the newspaper aside to stop him. Besides the bruises and scrapes he'd gotten when Linda jumped from the car, he also had fresh blisters from being wrapped in her unlined coat. He practically looked like a mummy from all the bandages Linda had used to dress his wounds.

"You leave those sores alone, Elton," Linda said. "Let the turmeric cream do its job. You'll be right as rain in no time, my angel."

Elton looked up at Linda with tearful eyes and let out a pain-filled sob.

"Oh, you can't have any more ibuprofen yet, Elton," Linda said. "Let's give you a bit of brandy to help you sleep instead, okay?"

Present time

"I saw the story in the papers and didn't want to believe it, but then the police came to my door…" the pawnshop assistant pressed his lips into a tight grimace and stared at Elton with tears in his eyes. "I thought I lost everything that day, but now you're here, alive, and I can't help but wonder if I'm seeing a ghost."

"I'm no ghost, sir," Elton replied with a frown.

The man shook his head. "Please, just call me Jared. I don't expect you to call me 'Dad,' even though everything I did back then was with your best interests in mind. I could never have afforded the medical care you needed… I tried, but it was too much. Giving you up for adoption was the only way to ensure you had a good future."

"I tried to explain that to Mom, but she wouldn't listen. I spent so much time being haunted by regrets, wondering if there was anything I could've said to convince her to leave you alone with the people who adopted you. She never could keep her nose out of other people's business, especially when she thought they were wrong and she was right."

Elton dropped his head into his hands. He vaguely remembered a dark-haired woman who'd sang to him while she dressed his wounds when he was little. Was that his adopted mother, Gabi? Why on earth would Granny have taken him away from that? He could have grown up with the finest doctors and maybe even had a chance to live a normal life.

Instead, there'd been Granny with her homemade salves and stubborn insistence that God didn't give you any burdens you weren't strong enough to bear. He couldn't believe she'd said that to him after she took him away from a home where his struggles might've been considerably lessened.

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