They Called Me a Thief for 25 Years Over a Missing Ring—Then My Niece Opened Her Time Capsule — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00For 25 years, my husband's family called
2. 0:02me a thief. At Christmas in the year
3. 0:042000, my mother-in-law's sapphire ring
4. 0:08disappeared from her jewelry box, and my
5. 0:10sister-in-law told everyone she saw me
6. 0:13coming out of that bedroom. I never got
7. 0:15another Christmas invitation, not one in
8. 0:1825 years. But that same spring, the
9. 0:21children of our family buried a time
10. 0:23capsule under the old oak tree in the
11. 0:25backyard. Seven little treasures in a
12. 0:27metal toolbox to be opened in 25 years,
13. 0:31and I was the one who kept the map. Last
14. 0:33May, I walked into my mother-in-law's
15. 0:35backyard with a shovel, and when my
16. 0:37niece opened her own envelope, the one
17. 0:39she wrote when she was 7 years old, my
18. 0:42sister-in-law went as white as a sheet.
19. 0:44Before I tell you what was in that
20. 0:46envelope, if you love stories where the
21. 0:48truth finally comes out, no matter how
22. 0:51long it takes, please subscribe to
23. 0:53Shadow Revenge. It really helps me keep
24. 0:55sharing these stories. Now, let me tell
25. 0:58you how it started. My name is Joanne.
26. 1:01I'm 61 years old, and I live in a small
27. 1:04town in Michigan with my husband Tom. I
28. 1:06was a kindergarten teacher for 34 years.
29. 1:10I've been retired for two now, and I
30. 1:12still can't walk past a box of crayons
31. 1:14without wanting to sharpen them. When I
32. 1:16married Tom, his mother Dorothy welcomed
33. 1:19me like a daughter. That's the part
34. 1:21people don't believe when I tell this
35. 1:23story. Dorothy and I were close at
36. 1:25first. She taught me to make her pot
37. 1:27roast. I helped her plant her roses. She
38. 1:30used to call me her extra daughter.
39. 1:32Dorothy already had a daughter. Her name
40. 1:35is Kimberly. Kimberly is Tom's younger
41. 1:38sister, and from the very first day, I
42. 1:40could tell she didn't like how much time
43. 1:42her mother spent with me. If Dorothy
44. 1:44praised my pie, Kimberly said it was
45. 1:46dry. If Dorothy asked me to sit next to
46. 1:49her at dinner, Kimberly would come over
47. 1:51and squeeze in between us. I thought
48. 1:53she'd grow out of it. She was a grown
49. 1:56woman with a daughter of her own. Her
50. 1:58little girl Megan was a sweet, shy thing
51. 2:00with big glasses and a lisp. Dorothy had
52. 2:03one treasure in this world, a sapphire
53. 2:05ring. Her husband, Tom's father, gave it
54. 2:08to her on their wedding day in 1959.
55. 2:11He worked double shifts at the auto
56. 2:13plant for a whole year to afford it. He
57. 2:15died when Tom was 19, and Dorothy never
58. 2:18took that ring off except at night when
59. 2:21she put it in a little velvet pouch in
60. 2:23her jewelry box. Christmas 2000, the
61. 2:26whole family was at Dorothy's house.
62. 2:29Kids everywhere, wrapping paper
63. 2:31everywhere. In the middle of the
64. 2:32afternoon, I went upstairs to use the
65. 2:35bathroom because the downstairs one was
66. 2:37occupied, as usual. That night, after
67. 2:40everyone had opened their gifts, Dorothy
68. 2:42went up to get ready for bed, and she
69. 2:44came back down the stairs with her hand
70. 2:47over her mouth. The ring was gone.
71. 2:49Everybody started searching under the
72. 2:51bed, in the laundry. Tom even took apart
73. 2:54the bathroom sink drain, and then
74. 2:56Kimberly said it. She said it very
75. 2:59quietly, like she didn't want to. She
76. 3:01said, "Mom, I don't want to say
77. 3:03anything, but I saw Joanne coming out of
78. 3:05your bedroom this afternoon." The room
79. 3:07went silent. I said, "I was never in her
80. 3:10bedroom. I used the upstairs bathroom.
81. 3:13It's right next door." Kimberly said,
82. 3:15"I'm just telling you what I saw."
83. 3:17Dorothy looked at me, and I watched her
84. 3:20face change. Something in it closed like
85. 3:22a door. She didn't call the police. I
86. 3:25almost wish she had. Instead, she just
87. 3:27said, "I think you should go home,
88. 3:29Joanne." Tom believed me. I want you to
89. 3:32know that. He never doubted me for one
90. 3:34second. He said to his mother, "Mom,
91. 3:37Joanne would never do that." And Dorothy
92. 3:39said, "Then where is my ring, Tom?"
93. 3:41Nobody had an answer. From that day on,
94. 3:44I wasn't welcome in Dorothy's house. Tom
95. 3:47still went to Christmas with our son
96. 3:49Ethan because I insisted. I said, "She's
97. 3:52your mother, and she's old, and you go."
98. 3:54But I stayed home every single Christmas
99. 3:57for 25 years. I sat in my kitchen and
100. 4:00baked cookies for nobody while my
101. 4:02husband and my son ate pot roast without
102. 4:05me. At church people whispered. At the
103. 4:07grocery store Kimberly's friends looked
104. 4:10at me a certain way. It's a small town.
105. 4:13Stories travel. And the story was Joanne
106. 4:16stole her mother-in-law's wedding ring
107. 4:18and got away with it. But there was one
108. 4:20more thing that happened that year and I
109. 4:22almost forgot about it. The next spring
110. 4:25in 2001 my kindergarten class did a time
111. 4:28capsule project. And I loved it so much
112. 4:31that I offered to do one for the family
113. 4:33kids, too. Dorothy still let me come to
114. 4:36the Easter egg hunt that year because
115. 4:38Tom insisted. Seven children from 4 to
116. 4:4110 years old each one wrote a letter to
117. 4:43their grown-up self and put in one
118. 4:45treasure. My son Ethan put in his
119. 4:47favorite baseball card. Megan put in an
120. 4:50envelope sealed with about a hundred
121. 4:52stickers and she wouldn't show anybody
122. 4:54what was inside. She said, "It's a
123. 4:56secret for when I'm big." We put
124. 4:59everything in an old metal toolbox. We
125. 5:01buried it under the big oak tree in
126. 5:03Dorothy's backyard. And the kids made me
127. 5:05promise, pinky promise, that in 25 years
128. 5:09I would make sure we dug it up. I drew a
129. 5:11little map with steps from the tree and
130. 5:13an X. And I put it in my recipe box
131. 5:16where it stayed for 25 years. Now,
132. 5:19here's the part I'm proud of. This past
133. 5:21spring Dorothy was turning 85. Kimberly
134. 5:24planned a big party in the backyard. I
135. 5:26wasn't invited, of course, but I looked
136. 5:29at the calendar and I realized the date.
137. 5:31The party was in May and it had been 25
138. 5:34years, almost to the week, since we'd
139. 5:37buried that box. I took out the map. I
140. 5:40sat with it at my kitchen table for a
141. 5:42long time and I thought, "I made a
142. 5:44promise to seven children and I have
143. 5:46never broken a promise to a child in my
144. 5:48life." So I called my son Ethan. He's 35
145. 5:52now with two kids of his own. And I
146. 5:55said, "Ethan, do you remember the time
147. 5:57capsule?" And there was a long silence.
148. 5:59And then he laughed and said, "Mom, are
149. 6:01you serious? Is it really 25 years?" I
150. 6:05said it's Saturday. At Grandma's party,
151. 6:08Ethan called his cousins, all of them,
152. 6:11every single one of those seven
153. 6:12children, grown up now, said the same
154. 6:15thing. We're not opening it without Aunt
155. 6:17Joanne. She's the one who has the map.
156. 6:20So, on Saturday, I put on my good blue
157. 6:22blouse, and I put a shovel in the trunk
158. 6:24of my car, and Tom drove me to his
159. 6:27mother's house. My hands were shaking
160. 6:29the whole way. The backyard was full of
161. 6:31people, balloons, folding tables, a big
162. 6:34cake. Dorothy was sitting in a lawn
163. 6:36chair under the oak tree in a lavender
164. 6:38sweater. She looked so small. She saw me
165. 6:41walk through the gate, and her face went
166. 6:43very still. Kimberly saw me, too. She
167. 6:46marched straight over and said, "Joanne,
168. 6:48you were not invited." And Ethan stepped
169. 6:50up behind me with all six of his
170. 6:52cousins, and he said, "Aunt Kim, she's
171. 6:55with us. We have a time capsule to dig
172. 6:57up. She has the map." Kimberly's face
173. 7:00changed, just for a second. She said,
174. 7:03"Oh, that old thing. It's probably all
175. 7:05rotted by now. Let's not ruin Mom's
176. 7:08party." And I thought that was strange,
177. 7:10but I didn't say anything. I took out
178. 7:12the map, and I paced it out, 12 steps
179. 7:15from the oak tree toward the garden
180. 7:17shed, and Ethan and his cousins took
181. 7:20turns with the shovel, while the whole
182. 7:22party gathered around to watch. Even
183. 7:24Dorothy got up out of her chair. About 2
184. 7:26ft down, the shovel hit metal. The
185. 7:29toolbox was rusty, but the inside was
186. 7:31dry. We'd wrapped everything in plastic
187. 7:34bags, thank goodness. And one by one,
188. 7:37the grown-up children took out their
189. 7:38treasures and read their letters out
190. 7:40loud, and everybody laughed and cried.
191. 7:43Ethan's baseball card, a plastic
192. 7:46dinosaur, a letter from a 9-year-old
193. 7:48saying, "Dear future me, I hope you are
194. 7:51an astronaut." She's an accountant. And
195. 7:53then, there was only one envelope left,
196. 7:56covered in faded stickers, Megan's.
197. 7:59Megan is 32 now. She's a nurse, and she
198. 8:02still wears big glasses. She picked up
199. 8:04that envelope and laughed. She said, "I
200. 8:07have no idea what I put in here. I don't
201. 8:09remember this at all." And then she
202. 8:11glanced at her mother. And Kimberly had
203. 8:14gone completely still. Megan peeled off
204. 8:16the stickers. And inside the envelope
205. 8:18was a folded piece of notebook paper and
206. 8:21a little lump wrapped in a tissue. She
207. 8:23unfolded the letter and started to read
208. 8:25out loud in her grown-up voice the words
209. 8:28she'd written in her 7-year-old
210. 8:30handwriting. "Dear Big Megan, I have a
211. 8:33secret and it is a bad one. At
212. 8:35Christmas, I saw Mommy go into Grandma's
213. 8:37room and take Grandma's blue ring. Then
214. 8:40she put it in Aunt Joanne's coat pocket
215. 8:42on the bed. I don't know why. Aunt
216. 8:45Joanne is nice to me and she lets me
217. 8:47hold the class hamster. So I took the
218. 8:49ring out of the coat when nobody was
219. 8:51looking. But then everybody was yelling
220. 8:54and Grandma was crying and I got too
221. 8:56scared to give it back. So I am putting
222. 8:58it here where it will be safe. Please
223. 9:00give it back to Grandma when you are
224. 9:02big. I am sorry. Love, Megan, age 7."
225. 9:06Megan's voice broke on the last line.
226. 9:08Her hands were shaking. She unwrapped
227. 9:10the tissue. And there in the sunshine
228. 9:13under the oak tree was a sapphire ring.
229. 9:15Nobody said a word. Not one person in
230. 9:18that whole backyard. Dorothy made a
231. 9:20sound I will never forget. A small high
232. 9:23sound like something tearing. She
233. 9:25reached out and Megan put the ring in
234. 9:27her hand. Dorothy held it up close to
235. 9:30her face. She turned it over and she
236. 9:32whispered, "It's his. It's my ring."
237. 9:35Then, very slowly, she turned around and
238. 9:38looked at her daughter. Kimberly was
239. 9:40standing by the cake table. Her mouth
240. 9:42was open but nothing came out. And then
241. 9:44she said, "Mom, she was seven. She was
242. 9:47confused. She must have, she didn't
243. 9:49she?" And Megan, her own daughter, said,
244. 9:51"Mom, stop. I remember now. I remember
245. 9:55all of it. I remember standing in the
246. 9:57hallway. I remember you putting it in
247. 9:59the coat. I've had a bad feeling about
248. 10:02that Christmas my whole life and I never
249. 10:04knew why." Kimberly sat down on a
250. 10:06folding chair and she put her face in
251. 10:09her hands. And she said, "I just wanted
252. 10:11her to love me best. That's all. Joanne
253. 10:14came along and Mom loved her so much,
254. 10:17and I thought if Joanne was gone, it
255. 10:19would be just me again. I thought
256. 10:21someone would find the ring in the coat
257. 10:22that day, and Joanne would be in trouble
258. 10:25for a little while, and that would be
259. 10:27the end of it. But then the ring was
260. 10:29just gone, and I didn't know where it
261. 10:31went. And by then, I couldn't take it
262. 10:33back." Dorothy didn't look at Kimberly.
263. 10:36She looked at me. She walked across that
264. 10:38lawn, 85 years old, holding her ring in
265. 10:41her fist. She stood in front of me, and
266. 10:44she said, "Joanne, 25 Christmases." And
267. 10:47then she couldn't say anything else. She
268. 10:49just put her arms around me and held on,
269. 10:51and we both cried under the oak tree
270. 10:54while the balloons bumped together in
271. 10:56the wind. Here's what happened after.
272. 10:58Dorothy wanted to put the ring back on,
273. 11:00right there, but her fingers had gotten
274. 11:03too knotty with arthritis, and it
275. 11:05wouldn't go past her knuckle. So, she
276. 11:07held it out to me. She said, "I want you
277. 11:09to have it. You've earned it more than
278. 11:11anyone." I said, "Dorothy, no. Give it
279. 11:14to the little girl who kept it safe for
280. 11:1625 years." So, Dorothy gave it to Megan.
281. 11:19She wears it on a chain around her neck
282. 11:21under her nurse's scrubs. Kimberly moved
283. 11:24to Arizona in the summer. She and
284. 11:26Dorothy talk on the phone sometimes now.
285. 11:29It's hard, but it's honest. Kimberly
286. 11:31wrote me a letter, a real letter, three
287. 11:33pages long. I read it twice, and I put
288. 11:36it in my recipe box next to the map. I
289. 11:39haven't answered it yet. I will one day.
290. 11:42Maybe. People at church still whisper
291. 11:45about me, but it's a different story
292. 11:47now. And this Christmas, for the first
293. 11:49time in 25 years, I'll be at Dorothy's
294. 11:52table. She called me herself to invite
295. 11:54me. She asked if I'd make the pot roast,
296. 11:57her recipe. She said, "You always made
297. 12:00it better than me anyway." Oh, and one
298. 12:02more thing. Last week, Megan's little
299. 12:04boy, who's six, asked me if we could
300. 12:07make a new time capsule. So, we did. We
301. 12:10buried it under the same oak tree.
302. 12:12Dorothy put in a letter, too. She
303. 12:14wouldn't show anybody what it said. She
304. 12:16said, "It's a secret for when you're all
305. 12:18big." I kept the map. If this story
306. 12:21touched your heart, please subscribe to
307. 12:23Shadow Revenge. There's a new story
308. 12:25every day, and I'd love for you to be
309. 12:27part of it. So, let me ask you, if your
310. 12:30family had called you a thief for 25
311. 12:32years, would you have shown up at that
312. 12:34party with a shovel like I did or stayed
313. 12:37home? Tell me in the comments.