Wishes, Gems, and Disasters by Martha Wickham (books to read this summer .txt) 📕

passed and we had declared mom legally dead.
Then it was time for the reading of the will. A strange man in a black suit entered and read the will. I waited for my part but heard nothing. Then it ended. I was just left and I knew Mom didn’t expect to die yet and hadn’t finished her will. It was an accident. All I had was the money I made in my jobs, our house, and a paid for college tuition. I would go up northern Arizona to go to school and stay in a dorm. At least that gave me enough time to think of what I would do for a living.
I went home thinking I hope Alicia had something prepared for dinner but she didn’t. In fact she never came back again. I was scared nights. The stupid, big, charming house made noises and I wanted out. The noises had logical explanations but they were still scary to me. I was glad to get out when I did. Yeah I loved Mom but the undead was one of my biggest fears and I couldn’t wait to get out. The house gave me a very sad feeling. Memories of Mom were everywhere. I didn’t want to touch anything.
I immediately began packing everything I owned. In three weeks I was done packing and almost at school. I loaded up my car with everything and went to a hotel as I waited to finish my high school education and move into a dorm.

By the time I graduated from school I was almost finished grieving my mother’s disappearance. The dorm I moved into was a different place. I was glad to be there. The next two years of my life I studied, drew, and painted. When I graduated I was qualified to work as a legal assistant and I had beautiful paintings that were selling well and I had saved up enough money to move to the south, Alabama actually. I left and said goodbye to the desert.

When I first arrived in Alabama I noticed everything beautiful about it, the houses, the scenery, and the people. It was so convenient and I was so poor. At that point I had to keep drawing and painting pictures and selling them. There was a nearby art gallery where I have sold some paintings.
Not owning much of anything my small house was practically empty. So in a week I was in the gallery selling paintings. In about six months I had met a young not so attractive nice guy who wanted to go out with me so I accepted. I knew if I didn’t get married, or didn’t work hard I would have to move back to my mother’s house in Arizona. Now anyone could consider me poor.

Just like usual at the end of my finances something good happens for me and I got a job working in a law office as an assistant and sold all but two paintings. Dating that guy led me to love which led me to pregnant but before I gave birth he had to move to Indiana. The next four months of my pregnancy were heartbroken because I could not go with him. We only got engaged but didn’t get married.
My daughter is now growing up and she has sold my painting for ten thousand dollars to her friends parents. I gave her ten percent of that for finding the sellers. I think things by artists can be worth more when the artist is dead and I can say I’ll die a wealthy woman like I always wanted. I can do anything if I really put my mind to it and try hard enough.


Gem Discovery


Lori loved her life. Everything was going perfect as she had planned but one day something made her unhappy. “I don’t have a husband,” she told her best friend Andrea. Andrea listened with interest. “All I want is a husband to plan a future with. One who will bring me expensive rings and jewelry but I don’t know who that could be.” Andrea didn’t know either. Lori sighed.
“I know what we’ll do. We’ll get our own jewelry. Isn’t that better?” Lori asked.
“Yes but I don’t have the extra money to buy it,” Andrea responded.
“We’ll either get credit cards or go on a mining trip to find them outside. I don’t know where they would be but I’ll try to find it out. I’ll be back later when I know.”
Andrea got up and started walking out the door of Lori’s house.
“Okay, I’ll call you.”

“I really don’t want to make a big deal out of this,” Lori said to Andrea. She was talking about looking for gems like diamonds, sapphires, amethysts, or emeralds and any other pretty rocks of that type. They had both gotten a map of the area where they could look for those types of things.
“We won’t make a big deal out of this. We’ll just drive down there a few hours then come back,” Andrea pointed out.
Immediately they left in the same car to get it over with. When they arrived they saw nothing but hills and trees with yellow leaves. When they saw a person sized hole in the side of the mountain they assumed it was a mine and when Andrea looked at her map it looked like the mine that was supposed to be around there. It was. “We could just go in there,” Andrea said turning on her flash light. I’ll keep my eyes open for anything shiny in any nearby rocks.”
She began walking into the mine and Lori followed her in until they couldn’t see without the flash light. “I wonder if this mine has a name,” Andrea said.
“This is stupid. We’re not going to find anything here. I wonder where the jewelers get them,” Lori said. Just then something in the side rock sparkled in Andrea’s flash light. What was it? Lori took a drink of her juice. They ran over to it and found the side of a rock had just developed a sparkle shine.
They began walking more and more. Walking thirty minutes into the mine and then back. That’s all they would do and collect anything they wanted. In thirty minutes all they had found was turquoise and fake gold in rocks. They put those in their basket so they could leave. “I love diamonds. Now I know what I want to do. I want to become a licensed jeweler like you Andrea.”
“What’s as fun as wearing jewelry Lori?”
“I don’t know. What?” Lori asked Andrea.
“Selling it. You should come work with me.”
Right when they decided to turn around and leave. Then they heard voices. The voices belonged to men who worked in the mine sometimes. They were drinking alcohol and one of them was drunk. A bottle dropped and broke on the ground shattering at the entry way of the mine.
The two women stood still hiding around a corner from the men. Andrea turned off her flashlight.
One by one the men wandered into the mine, sitting in the shade, trying to get out of the heat. “I’m going to go back and see if I forgot one of my tools back there.” The man stood ready to walk to the back of the cave. The two women hid in the darkness trying to fight their fear they didn’t want to feel.
It was so dark they couldn’t be seen at all. They could hear the man’s foot steps coming closer. Soon they could see him but he couldn’t see them. The man looked over at what he could see to see if he had forgotten anything then kept walking through the cave and passed them up. Both women wanted to leave the small mine so badly they went running out and passed the men up. They ran to their car and drove away as fast as possible. The men stared at them the whole time.
Lori pulled over to the side of the road after driving down it a while.
“What are you doing?”
“Just taking a break,” Lori answered. The truth was they were out in the middle of nowhere and tired of driving and practically out of gas. Lori started driving again and they quietly went down the road.

Lori stood by herself in her kitchen one morning pouring coffee for breakfast. Since she had a subscription to a newspaper the cover page laid open on her table. She breathed in at what she saw as a shock. There was a picture of the miner men they saw that day they were in the mine. Headlines read, Miners Killed in Terrible Accident in Their Car on Way Home.
As she read the story it told how they were at the mine that same day and on their way home they crashed into a tree and there were no survivors. There were five of them and the funeral was open to the public. It was the next weekend.
Lori had her mind made up. She would go to that funeral, and then return to the area where they died and the mine out of curiosity and respect for them, even though they did give her the creeps. She felt a little sad the whole thing was so tragic and a little eerie.
She wondered; what caused them to crash? And what were they doing there? If they would have stopped running what would the men have done to them? Should they have stopped running and asked the men if they needed help or a ride home since they could have been drinking and drunk?
Immediately she called her friend Andrea, the same one she went there with, and told her about the newspaper and what she was going to do. “Do you still want me to work with you?”
Andrea didn’t appear to want that since she stopped talking about it. “No let’s just forget it. But I want you to do whatever makes you happy,” Andrea said softly.