The Ring

The front door slammed shut. A man in a black hoody approached the woman sitting on the couch. “Jimmy?” she asked.

He pulled the hood off his head and wiped away the sweat from his forehead and brushed back his hair. Jimmy was breathing heavily but composed himself as he knelt in front of her. “Jenny, do you remember when you told me you’d marry me once I got you a nice ring?”

She nodded without saying a word.

“You said it was not only a symbol of our love but that it would show that I finally got my life together,” he reminded her.

“Yes,” she said.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet covered box. He opened it up and pulled out a ring so dazzling and beautiful, that she gasped. He slid it onto her finger and it fit perfectly. “It’s so beautiful!” she gushed.

“Will you marry me now?” he pleaded.

“Yes!”

She looked at it with a gleam in her eye as it sparkled back at her. When she heard sirens in the distance, and Jimmy flinched before looking at the door, the smile melted away from her face. “Why are there sirens?” she asked.

Jimmy smiled awkwardly. “Because I stole it,” he confessed.

She looked at him sternly.

“I did it for you!” he explained, as three thumps at the door proceeded an order by the police to open up. “How are we going to get out of this?” he whispered anxiously.

She paused for a long moment. “What do you mean ‘we’, Kimosabe?”

Jenny slid the ring off her finger and tossed it back to him through the air. He caught it in both hands as she opened the door and stood back, waving the officers into her house.

***

300 words.