After five days of surf and sand and pool, Eva, Mark and I, along with Connor and Rose, boarded a private jet and headed for Asheville. Some of the other kids wanted to come, but the plane only had space for eight passengers and Mark didn’t want to be responsible for too many kids at once.
I’d only been on a regular plane a few times in my entire life and I’d never thought that I’d fly on a private jet. It was even better than I’d imagined. We drove right up to the plane and got on. There were no security checkpoints to go through and no line-ups of any sort. Our luggage was loaded into a closet at the front of the plane and we went in the back to sit in large, plush, leather chairs.
“You’ve spoiled me, Mark. I can’t ever go back to economy flights.”, Eva said as she tilted her seat back and melted into the chair.
Mark laughed and said, “I know what you mean. It’s very hard to take regular flights after going on a private flight. Grandpa got it about fifteen years ago, when taking regular flights became too restrictive. He travels all over the world to visit our mines and with this plane, he doesn’t have to deal with the airlines. Even with all the hassles, Grandma still had to talk him into it. He’s old school and felt that it was too much like pampering himself. She told him that even Sam Walton from Walmart eventually got his own plane and that seemed to settle the matter.”
Minutes after we settled in, the plane took off and we were in the air less than an hour before we were on the ground again. Wow. With a regular airline that trip would have taken two or three times as long, if you consider that we’d have had to show up at least an hour early for the flight and that we would have had to wait to exit the plane and go get our luggage. On this flight, the pilot opened the door, passed down our luggage to an attendant and we took a few stairs down to the ground, where Grandpa Jake was waiting for us.
At around 5’9”, Jake wasn’t a tall man, but he had the broad shoulders and powerful build of a man who’d spent a lot of his years working hard. Despite being in his early seventies, he moved with the ease of someone at least a decade younger. He had grey hair, blue eyes, strong features, and it was easy to see his resemblance to Mark.
Grandpa Jake hugged his grandchildren and shook mine and Eva’s hands in greeting and we all piled into his truck. It was a bit of a tight fit with four of us on the back bench, but Rose was small, and the trip was short.
We arrived at Jake’s house and unloaded our luggage. Jake showed us to our room and had us change into our mining clothes. Mark had told us to bring clothes that we didn’t need to ever wear again. We’d be panning in creeks and getting all muddy. Once we’d changed, Jake showed us a selection of high rain boots that we’d bring with us and had us each grab a shovel and a pick. The rest of the equipment would be provided by the operators of the gem mine.
At the mine, Jake greeted the couple that ran the place like old friends, which they were. The couple, Steven and Susan Manning, had both worked for Jake in his early mining days and they’d eventually bought this land and started a mine when they retired.
“We just opened up a new area for you to try out. It’s a bit farther out than normal and higher up on the creek. I did some panning there last week and got some good quality stones. With the team you’ve brought, I image that you’ll do better.” Steven told Jake.
“They’d better or they’ll get no supper tonight.” Jake responded with mock seriousness.
“That sounds about right. Let’s get you all geared up, Susan will give her standard speech for the new ones, and we’ll get going.”
Steven took us to a shed where he gave us each a sifting pan and a bucket and he pulled out small hand cart with extra large rugged-terrain wheels. We loaded all our gear onto it and Mark took the handle while Susan started explaining how it all worked.
“Now Steven’s going to take you out to the new mining area. For those of you who know the drill, the rules are the same as last time. For those that don’t, the rules are simple. If you’re digging, make sure that you’re at least three feet from anyone else so as not to smash them with your shovel. Also, make sure that you don’t toss your dirt onto anyone nearby. If you see a rock that looks interesting, put it in your bucket and we’ll verify it for you here. Better to take it and have it be nothing, than to toss away a 10 carat emerald. You can dig anywhere you want in the area but avoid hitting trees or tree roots. Anything that you find is yours to keep. Two weeks ago, a lady from up in Vermont was here and she took home a fifty-carat emerald. That’s not the largest find we’ve had here, but it’s the biggest find this year. Before you head out, take two minutes to come to the shop and I’ll show you the most likely rocks that you’ll find today.”
Eva and I went into the shop to look at the stones and I scanned them with my field. They were similar enough to ones that I’d scanned in the Roark Geology Center that I would have recognized them easily. We rejoined the group and headed up into the mountain. On the way, Connor and Rose talked excitedly about the gems they’d found in prior years and about what they’d find this time. Jake told a story of how excited he’d been when he was just starting in mining and he’d thought he’d found gold. He’d been crushed when he was told that it was only iron pyrite, fool’s gold. He’d almost gave up mining after than, but he’d already invested all his money in his mine, and he had no choice but to continue.
Steven led us into a clearing next to a wooded area with a stream running through it. A newly installed sign proclaimed it this area to be “Mining Area #17”. Rose immediately headed to the stream with her sifting pan and Eva joined her. Mark and Conner grabbed some shovels and some pans and followed Jake as he picked a spot to start digging, deferring to his greater experience. I just stood there for a moment and asked, “Steven, are we limited to this clearing and stream or can we dig anywhere?”
He replied, “You can go wherever you’d like on this side of the mountain, but I wouldn’t want you to get lost and there are some wild animals that still roam around these mountains. This being a newly opened area means that some of them won’t know to stay away.”
“Ok. Thanks. I’ll see what I can find here first.” I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. In my mind, I superimposed a mental grid over the clearing and started following my imaginary grid with my field stretched out five feet wide in front of me and going five feet deep. As I walked, I scanned the ground for gemstones and noted the areas with the largest ones. It only took about ten minutes to cover the clearing and I attracted the attention of all three of the McKenzie men by the time I was done.
Jake was the first to speak. “Abby, what are you doing?”.
“I’m looking for gemstones. Same as you.”
“You do know that they’re usually found in the ground and that you’ve got to dig to find them?”, he asked.
“Yup. But the trick is knowing where to dig and you can’t know that unless you walk around a bit and get a feel for where the gemstones are.”, I answered him as if I had done this thousands of times and I was an expert in gem finding. I made sure to say it like I was imparting great wisdom.
“Have you done this before?”, he asked with a grin on his face.
“Not even once. However, my grandfather’s grandfather once met a swami high up in the mountains of Tibet and the swami taught him a few things. One of them was how to feel the earth. That’s what I’m doing now.”
“I thought swamis were from India.” Jake replied.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“People move around you know. Anyways, I’m going to dig here.” I marked the spot with a big x and went to get my shovel, pickax and pan. My field had shown me a very large ruby about three feet down, surrounded by two slightly smaller rubies that had broken off of the big one. It wasn’t the largest gemstone in the clearing, but the three stones together made for a nice dramatic flourish. I could always go for the other emerald afterwards.
Digging down three feet was a lot of work, but I kept at it. Mark called out an offer to help, but I told him that I was fine. Every little while, I would sift through what I had dug up, just for show. There wasn’t anything but dirt and a few smaller gemstones above the rubies.
While I toiled, Rose and Eva each found small pieces of quartz and Connor found a sapphire stone big enough to be worked into a piece of jewelry. Mark and Jake each had nice mini emeralds to show for their effort. I was the only one with nothing to show for my work and Jake kept looking over at me with a look on his face that said that he questioned my ability to reason. However, he kept his thoughts to himself and didn’t say a word. Mark, on the other hand, was looking for payback for my getting his entire family to tease him about his use of outdated words.
“Are you sure that your grandfather got the right instructions from the swami?”, he teased from the sidelines.
“Gramps was a very careful man, Mark. A real ‘measure twice, cut once’ type of guy. He got it right.”
“Maybe the swami’s trick doesn’t work?”, he suggested.
“Never doubt the swami, Mark. The swami is never wrong.”
I kept digging and I could hear Jake ask about the swami and Connor told him all about the magic tricks that I did and how they were taught to me by my grandfather who learned them from a swami.
A few minutes later I reached the rubies and collected them in my bucket. I put the bucket outside the hole and climbed out and stretched my back and my arms, making a big show of it. Then, without a word, I filled in the hole and took my bucket over to the stream where Eva and Rose were.
“How are you guys doing?”, I asked. They each showed me their finds and showed me how they used their pans to find gems.
“So. Did you find anything? Was the all-knowing swami right?”, Eva asked sarcastically.
“Of course he was. Why does everyone doubt the swami?”.
“Let’s see then.”, she said and I passed the bucket over to her.
“She looked inside and looked up at me. “What are those?”.
“Rubies.”
“They’re awfully big. Are you sure?”, she asked. By this time, Rose had scooted over to have a look and before I could answer, she squealed.
“OMG! Grandpa Jake. Grandpa Jake. Look at what Abby found!”. She picked up one of the stones and gaped at it, totally stunned.
Jake came over, followed by Mark and Connor. Rose handed the stone to Jake and took the other two out as well. Jake examined the largest ruby and then the other two as well.
“This is the biggest ruby that I’ve seen outside of a museum. How did you manage to find this on your first hole?” he asked in awe.
“Well, you see, my grandfather’s grandfather was in Tibet one time and he met this swami, who taught him all sorts of stuff and he taught my grandfather, who taught me. But I had to promise to never reveal how I did any of the things that he taught me.”, I replied, as Mark facepalmed and Eva groaned.
Connor laughed out loud and said, “Never doubt the swami!”.
Jake looked at me curiously and asked, “Do you have any idea how much this is worth?”
“No. I don’t know much about the value of gemstones. Mark showed me some at the geology center and told me that they were shiny. I like shiny things, so he invited me to come here.” I liked playing the ditzy teenage girl.
“Mark told you they were shiny, huh? I’m going to have some words with that boy later. In the meantime, do you mind if I take these over to Steven to examine and measure them?”
“No. Go right ahead. I’ll go find more. Maybe I’ll find a shiny green one this time.”
As he walked away, mumbling ‘I’ll go find more’ and ‘shiny green one’, I turned to Rose and Eva and said, “Do you want me to help you find some nice stones or are you still doubting the swami?”.
They both jumped at the chance and I put my boots on and scanned the stream. This area had a lot of one to five carat stones, but after a few minutes of looking I found a 15-carat moonstone and an eight carat peridot stone. I did a whole bunch of hand waving and pretend chanting and other hocus pocus, because it made Rose laugh, and then I led Rose to the moonstone and told her to dig down a bit. While she dug with enthusiasm, I quietly led Eva to the peridot and gave her similar instruction.
“How are you doing this Abby? Seriously. Don’t give me any more of that swami shit, either.”, Eva said quietly, so that only I could hear her. “If I have to hear about that damned swami one more time, I’m going to hit you.”
“Remember how I told you that I could tell if a piece of metal had impurities in it?”, I asked her.
“Yeah, when you showed up that hottie Tyler.”
“This is kind of similar to that. Oh, dig a bit to your right. Perfect.”
After Rose found the moonstone, I had to help Connor find a similar sized topaz and even Mark asked me for some help. I made him say, “I shall never doubt the swami again” three times before I gave him directions to his own sapphire.
For my own part, I finished off the day digging up the large emerald. I didn’t bother showing it to anyone. I might have overdone it just a bit with the rubies already. I quietly unshifted my R1 backpack when no one was watching, and I placed it in there before shifting the whole thing back to R1. So that the others wouldn’t start doubting swami, I dug a bit deeper and pulled out another emerald about the same size as the smaller of the rubies that I found. It was very shiny when I got it wet.
Jake came to get us at the end of the day, and he gave me a look that I didn’t understand. He definitely had something on his mind. He didn’t say anything right away and Rose ran up to him to show him her moonstone. When Connor showed him emerald, Jake looked at me again. I just shrugged my shoulders and mouthed the word, “Swami” to him. He smiled and shook his head.
When we got back to the shop, Steven and Susan were there and they looked a bit shell shocked. When they saw me, the got up and congratulated me on my find. They were so excited for me, and I found myself at a bit of a loss. I looked over to Jake for help.
“Abby, the ruby set that you found is huge. The last set like that found in the area was in 1990 and once it was all cleaned up, it sold at auction for over $90 million dollars. Yours aren’t as big and we don’t know if they’re going to be as special, but they’re worth at least a five million dollars. If they’re as special as I think they’ll be, you’ll get a lot more for them and you’ll probably have to name the rubies. Steven and Susan are excited because when word gets out about this, their mine is going to be flooded with customers. Your find will put this place on the map. At the very least, they’ll be able to sell this place for ten times what they paid for it.” Jake explained.
Now it was my turn to be shell-shocked. With Len’s money, I’d started to get used to bigger numbers, but that was money that I had to hide and couldn’t use directly for the Hannah Foundation. This money, more than five million dollars of it, could be declared and used out in the open. It was also ten times the amount that Len had ‘donated’ to me. When the gemstones sold, I’d be able to truly start up the foundation. I had no idea that my playing around with the field could do something like this.
“I can start my foundation.” I still couldn’t believe it and I didn’t realize that I’d said it out loud until Mark answered me.
“So now there’s no chance of me changing your mind about college is there?” Mark gave me a despairing look and I glanced over at Eva. She had happy tears in her eyes.
“No. Not for awhile at least. I’ll be too busy.”
“What’s this about a foundation and what does it have to do with college?”, Jake asked.
I ignored his question and pulled out my smaller emerald. “I also found this shiny emerald. Is it worth a lot too?”
It turned out that all the stones that I’d helped find that day were worth more than I’d thought. Eva’s peridot could probably be sold for around seven thousand dollars, while the other stones were each worth around five thousand dollars. My shiny green emerald would need to be appraised, but it was also worth in the millions. Not bad for a day’s work.
Steven gave me claim voucher for my gemstones and promised to get them appraised for me. When I explained that I had plans to start my own charitable foundation, Jake suggested to Steven that he keep my name confidential for now, as there might be tax advantages to having the foundation own the gems, rather than me. He was going to ask his tax attorneys and let me know. The rest of the group decided to hold on to their gems for now, rather than selling them right away.
One the way back to Jake’s place, as Connor and Rose filled the car with their talk about their plans for their stones, Mark whispered to me, “You know that you’ve ruined future gemstone hunting for them? For me too, I guess. Any trips back there will be a disappointment compared to this.” He was smiling when he said it, so I knew he was teasing.
“I suppose that you’ll just have to invite me along from now on.”, I answered with a contented grin on my face.
“Not a bad idea, Abby, but after those two finish telling their cousins about this trip, everyone else will want to come on the next trip and you won’t have time to find your own gemstones.” He laughed out loud at the look of dawning horror on my face.
“I’ll be happy to come and help everyone out.”, I started, “Unless I’m too busy doing my nails or my hair. I think I might even be coming down with a cough whenever you invite me again. Alas, my frailty and ill health may preclude me from enjoying your company on future such adventures.”
Mark scowled and muttered, “Frailty! What a load of…” I didn’t choose to make out the rest of it.