Back in the 1980's my Mom and I went to the Family Reunion, and stayed a few days with my Aunt Ruth in Marshville, North Carolina. After the big meal and family get together on Saturday, we were invited to visit another of Mom' s sisters, my Aunt Cora and her husband Uncle Charlie. Everybody should have an Uncle Charlie. He has a shirt sleeve full of practical jokes, although this was the only one I ever experienced.
So we went to visit them. And they took us to visit Mom's brother my Uncle Ben and his wife. We didn't stay at Uncle Ben's because he already had house guests. They were people he had met in California and had said if you're ever in my neighborhood, drop by for a visit. Well, they dropped by for over three weeks. They even finagled a way to come to the reunion, long lost relatives from California, how embarrassing to Uncle Ben. He was too kind to turn them away.
So Aunt Cora, Mom, Uncle Ben and Uncle Ben's Wife asked all of us including the Californians if we wanted to go to Hiddenite Gem Mine and dig for Emeralds.
I was all for it. They were too. But I had my thoughts about them digging that day. It seems he was recovering from a "so called" heart attack. His wife wasn't a driver, so how did they get from California to North Carolina driving. He was recovering from a heart attack! Maybe that's why they seemed to just move in with Uncle Ben.
Anyway we all went to the Mine. The Californians and I were the only ones to dig. The rest of them went to Aunt Cora's house. They just left us there, digging in all that dirt. I watched the Californians shovel and dig for hours. I kept thinking about his so called heart attack recovery. I was much younger than they were and I was having trouble digging. I was in much better shape than they were, but they kept digging and bagging, huffing and puffing. Burlap bag after bag we filled to take to the sluice. I managed to did out two great big rocks. I took them up to the sluice too. I gave the Californians all the huge burlap bags full of dirt, and I kept my two big rocks. Bug always told me when I go somewhere to always bring back a rock, so I was taking my two rocks home. They sluiced all their bags of dirt. There wasn't any Gems. The manager told us this is not unusual, and that we should come back tomorrow. Not me, I was so sun burned from being out there digging all day, my mining days were over.
They finally came back to get us and Uncle Charlie said he was taking all of us out to dinner. So Uncle Ben, his wife and their friends went to their place to clean up and meet us at the restaurant.
They took me home and I showered and cleaned up, gosh almighty I was coated with that North Carolina red dirt. I had sweated so bad that the dirt was crusted on me. Then I thought about gold miners, they must have been a grungy lot.
Well, we met them at the restaurant and had a wonderful meal, that Southern Cooking is marvelous. Anyway I excused myself and went to the bathroom.
Uncle Charlie manifested his scheme. He asked the Californians if they had any success in the dig? Knowing all along that they didn't and knowing all along that I had my two rocks.
They answered him with a flat No, and laughed about it. Then Uncle Charlie said quietly like he didn't want me to hear, but how could I, I was in the bathroom, "You know her sister works at the Smithsonian Museum in D.C." They looked at Uncle Charlie with all kinds of question marks on their faces. "She kept those two rocks, I bet she's going to take them to her sister when she gets home. she knows about rocks."
Those two people didn't have anything else to say the rest of the meal. Uncle Charlie, Aunt Cora, Mom and I laughed all the way home, because they thought I was swindling them!!!
Aunt Cora said later that those people went back to Uncle Ben's packed up and left the next day, as if they had never been there.
I don't know anything about rocks, but I did take them home. I've kept them for the last 25 years and I still didn't brake them open. And I didn't take them to the museum either. .
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