Fire coral (a story about the rewards of good deeds)

Fire coral

1. Melina looked across the clear blue sea as the motorboat coasted to a stop. For good luck, she rubbed her father’s wedding ring, which she wore on a gold chain around her neck. She could never get enough of being on the ocean, so exotic compared to her desert home.
2. She put on her mask and flippers, and bit down on the snorkel’s mouthpiece. The snorkel’s tube extended above her head, so she would be able to breathe as she gazed down at the striking world below the surface.
3. Waving goodbye to Captain Elena, Melina dove in with a few other snorkelers. Everything became dreamy and quiet amid brilliant coral reefs and wiggling, colorful fish.
4. Melina saw a small school of brightly colored fish feeding on a lower part of the reef in deeper water, and she drew a deep breath. As she swam down to investigate, her leg brushed against an outcropping of coral. Melina suddenly felt burning pain shoot up her calf like tongues of fire. As she kicked frantically towards the surface, she felt her fingers catch on her necklace, and the thin chain popped open. She was desperate for air, and had no choice but to swim to the surface, as the ring drifted down and out of sight.
5. She gasped for air as she broke through the surface beside the boat.
6. “Are you ok?” Elena asked, reaching down to pull Melina from the water.
7. “No. I lost my father’s ring.” She took off her mask, tears filling her eyes. “He died last year.”

8. Swimmers are warned to never touch coral. Not only can it harm the tiny creatures, but some of them are fire coral, which burns people’s skin.
9. Melina jumped on Elena’s boat the next day. She had to find that ring.
10. “The fish must’ve been eating fire coral,” Elena explained. As the fish ripped apart the coral, its chemicals were released into the water, stinging Melina.
11. Over the same reefs, Melina leapt into the ocean. She examined the sandy bottom through her mask, looking closely for something shiny. Fish nibbled on the reefs while an eel hovered nearby watching her, its head peeking out of its little cave sanctuary.
12. Once more, she came up for air and dove to the sea floor. Something glinted in the white sand a few feet away, a gold ring. There it is! She grabbed the ring triumphantly.
13. But above the surface, her heart sank. It was a ring, but it wasn’t her father’s.

14. Melina knocked on the door of the small house Elena had pointed out to her, near the island’s main dock. The mailbox said Alvarez.
15. Aboard the boat, Melina and Elena had noticed the ring was engraved on the inside: Love you Alvaro.
16. “I bet it’s Alvaro Alvarez,” Elena had said. He was an old fisherman who had grown ill and died recently.
17. A young woman opened the front door. Melina introduced herself and showed the woman what she had found.
18. The woman clasped her hands over her mouth.
19. “It’s my dad’s wedding ring,” she said, her eyes welling with tears. “He had gotten so thin. One night, he realized his ring was gone. Must have just slipped off his fingers while he was working.”
20. The woman gave Melina a big hug.

21. Each day for the rest of her trip, Melina searched for her father’s ring. Elena took snorkelers out twice a day, and Melina anxiously boarded the tiny vessel each time. But every shiny tidbit turned out to be a little fish or glint of sunlight, and all of her searches came up empty.
22. Nevertheless, she gave Elena her phone number in case someone somehow found it.
23. As her plane took off, Melina watched the light blue sea become dark, until they were above the clouds. Hours later, she watched the brown desert draw closer, cactus after cactus spotting the landscape.
24. Time passed. Holidays, seasons, birthdays, and trips to other tropical islands. Now, Melina couldn’t snorkel without thinking about the ring. She encountered different underwater worlds, jellyfish bloating their bodies nearly in unison, stingrays skirting the sea bottom, massive ocean rocks that were home to whole ecosystems. She always thought about that one island, that one area where she had examined every corner.

25. One night, a picture and a text message from Elena came across Melina’s phone.
26. Melina gasped. It was her father’s ring!
27. “A snorkeler found this stuck on a bed of fire coral,” the text read. “Good thing he didn’t touch it! We used a rake from the boat to bring it up.”
28. Melina noticed something in the picture that puzzled her. She could still feel her hands breaking the necklace underwater.
29. The answer came before she could ask the question.
30. “I replaced the broken chain for your good deed so long ago.”