Hiding And Finding
Her heart was jumping out of her chest. Not only was she in hiding, but she was also in the midst of finding something that could only be seen to be believed.
She dug her nails into the dirt and pulled out a piece of mud. She rubbed the dirt off and looked to her son in complete and utter amazement.
Mary Hannaby
Mary Hannaby was preparing her day for another walk through the fields. As a retired kitchen worker, she found herself with more time on her hands than ever before.
In her retirement, she rediscovered her love for the outdoors and longed for her daily strolls and even took up an interesting new hobby - metal detecting. But then one day, Mary’s world turned upside down. And nothing was ever the same again.
Fields Of Secrets
Mary took her metal detector and called her son, Michael, on the way to her newest field. She asked Michael to join her and meet her in the field she had been searching through recently.
Although Michael found his mother's new hobby peculiar, he loved seeing her out exercising, and being excited about something. But when he arrived, he realized his mother had been keeping secrets.
Arriving At The Field
Although Michael found his mother's new hobby peculiar, he loved nothing more than seeing her out and about exercising, and being passionate about something. He hadn’t seen her this excited for years! He was happy for her.
But when he arrived at the field to find his enthusiastic mother, he soon realized his mother had been keeping secrets.
Metal Detecting Pro
It was no secret that Mary was serious about metal detecting, but no one knew just how serious she took it until this fateful day, especially not her son, Michael.
As they walked through the lush green field of crops, the steal on Mary’s metal detector reflected the light of the evening sun. The soil was dry beneath their feet and the air smelt sweet in the summer breeze. But something felt off.
Their First Discovery
Just before Michael could turn around, Mary exclaimed in excitement. Her scream jolted Michael to his bones. They were stood on a patch of dirt and her detector kept beeping and beeping.
Michael looked at his mother who had a smile plastered across her face. He got down on his knees and searched through the ground, not knowing what exactly he would uncover.
Trashy Finds
“It’s just a bottle cap,” he said, watching his mother’s gleaming smile turn upside down in an instant. But the mother and son duo had no idea more secrets were to be uncovered.
She told him to keep the cap and not to worry. Cleaning the environment was also an added perk to her enjoyment. She was in great spirits but her son couldn’t shrug this bad feeling. Was his mother lying to him? If so, why?
A Point In The Right Direction
He felt like his mother was hiding something, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He wondered if he should ask her. In the meantime, Mary was pointing out different areas of ground where the detector picked up something.
Each time, Michael would get down to his knees to help her reveal the different types of trash. But that’s not all he revealed.
Something Strange
Micheal got down on his knees and let out a sigh. But before he could look in the dirt, he noticed something strange. He saw boots walking in the distance.
He instantly jerked up, panic brewing inside like tea in a pot, but he couldn’t see anybody. Nobody was there. He thought maybe he imagined it. But he was so wrong.
Tight-Lipped
Mary noticed her son's panicked reaction but decided to act like she saw nothing. She swiftly turned herself around and hummed while she walked along the dirty path, carrying on with her search.
She kept mysteriously quiet, oddly quiet actually. Why was she doing this? It was as if she knew exactly what had happened.
Saved By The Beep
Michael looked at his mother, quietly studying her behaviour. But she gave nothing away. Giving up, he asked her what was wrong? He knew she was hiding something.
Mary asked her son to lower his voice but just as she was about to explain, her metal detector started beeping loudly. In a mixture of panic and excitement, she turned it off and knelt down to get a closer look.
A Muddy Realization
Michael laughed out loud at her funny confused reaction. She told him to quieten up again and lightly pulled him down to the ground.
She told him where the beep came from and asked him to help her dig up the soil. Using their hands, they dug deep into the ground. Huddled tightly beside each other, it clicked. Suddenly Michael understood why his mother had been acting so strange.
Rule Breakers
His mother wasn’t the only one hiding. He was too. They both were. They weren’t allowed to be roaming through this field at all. They were trespassing on private property.
The boots that Michael saw must have been the farmer looking after the land. His mother knew he was out and about, that’s why she kept asking him to be quiet. But Michael didn’t have time to question her. Because something much, much bigger was happening.
Sunlight Reflection
As Mary was digging through the soil, her heart was pounding. All she found so far were bottle caps and dentures, but this was different. She knew there was something in here.
She could already see something catch the sunlight in the ground. There was a bright shine dotted in the pile of mud she held in her hands, and a terrible feeling hit the pit of her stomach.
Gut Feeling
She looked at the pile of mud for a brief moment and knew something was inside of it. She couldn’t explain how she knew, but she did. Her gut was telling her.
She carefully rubbed the dirt off the artifact and looked to her son in complete and utter amazement. And right there and then, their world turned upside down.
Finding Gold
Mary found a small, gold, stamp-like object that had been buried underground for 500 years. The artifact depicted a religious image on its face and was most likely a fragment belonging to a larger pendant of the 1500’s.
The image appeared to be of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. However, that’s not all this find had to offer.
Hitting The Jackpot!
This relic was estimated to be one of only three in the whole entire world! This helped increased its value exponentially, valuing it at at least $300,000 dollars! Mary’s eye’s filled with dollar signs when she heard the amount.
But unfortunately for Mary things were not going to be as plain sailing as she thought.
Reporting It
However, as Mary lives in the UK, she was legally tied to reporting her valuable discovery to the government. She didn’t mind though. After all, she was going to recover some sort of payment as a reward for finding it, right?
But reporting her discovery also meant she had to be honest about where exactly she found it.
A Friendly Dispute
As she found the relic on private property, she decided to do the right thing and offer 50 percent of her winnings to the farm land owner. But his response shocked her.
He refused the offer of 50 percent and instead asked for 30 percent. He argued that if it weren’t for Mary’s efforts, he would have never found the relic. Now, all they had to do was wait for interest.
A Hobby To Keep!
Before long, Mary auctioned the piece and collected the sum of her winning offer. Her son reflected on their find saying, “It popped up all of a sudden. You can literally miss things by inches. We couldn't believe it. We always dreamed of finding treasure”.
Looks like metal detecting is a hobby very worth trying out! Let’s hope her luck continues!