A Good Deed

  Thursday a few weeks ago I left the office early. It was pouring rain, and I was about to get on my scooter home to pick up my car, wife and three-year old, and then head off to the clinic where Son Number Two would be born shortly. My ring finger had swollen a bit recently, so I was wearing my wedding ring on my pinky. As I was juggling my briefcase, helmet, rain suit and keys, all of a sudden the ring popped off and rolled somewhere down Avenue Kleber. And it was dark out. I hunted around for 15 minutes, hearing my wife calling three times on the portable, but not wanting to pick up and tell her what as delaying me. I spotted a security guard at a nearby Gap store, and explained to him that I had a huge problem: I could keep hunting for the ring, or I could take my wife to the hospital. I chose the latter, and asked him if he would please keep an eye out for anybody turning it in. Pas de probleme, Monsieur. He said he would be there the next day, and I told him I would come by and hunt for the ring. So I went off to get my son and my justifiably stressed wife and drove off to the clinic in the rain, all the while covering up my ring finger whenever I remembered, so that my wife wouldn’t spot anything wrong. I told my wife that something really important had delayed me, and that I would try and get it sorted out in the next couple of days. I assume that the ring was gone for good, and so was setting things in place for the explanation later. Marcus was born at 7:21 in the morning (his brother had been born at 7:21pm) on 12/12. At least with a birthday like this he won’t have to remember if it is the month that comes first (on his US passport) or the day (on his European passport). My wife still hadn’t spotted the missing ring, but asked me what in the world had been so important to delay me. I told her I would tell her the next day if I hadn’t fixed it. Off to the Gap that afternoon, Alain was there, spotted me coming in, and gave me a big thumbs-up sign. He handed me the ring much worse for wear. Quite a few cars must have rolled over it, but there it was, engraved 12 September 1997, Vallery, France. I got the impression that Alain must have hunted around quite a bit to find the ring, although he denied it. I showed him a picture of the newborn, and he gave me a big smile and a congratulations. Later, I went returned to give him an early Christmas present, and then went back to the clinic to see my own. —Ciaran Quinn, originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, has lived in Paris and worked in Europe for the past 11 years. He is currently VP & GM Europe for Entriq, inc. and is married to Nair Senghor-Quinn. Thomas and Marcus’ parents and grandparents were each born in a different country (Brazil, USA, Ireland, England, Senegal, France), giving them a truly international flavor and, their parents hope, an international outlook on life.