Hello there. My name is Maya Jones. I live in the mountaintops of Chattanooga, Tennessee with my nine siblings, two dogs, forty chickens, three horses, five pigs, twenty six cows, or maybe twenty five (we had burgers last night), oh and four ducks! Every four weeks one of us goes down to the market for our monthly supplies, and this time it is my turn! It's about a full day's journey, but as my mom says "Maya you can either travel for a day or starve for thirty". She's so funny, and she is even giving me an extra five dollars for my tenth birthday! I like being nine though, because then when grandma comes I get the extra candy. Grandma is so nice, but she says I get distracted. Dis-tract-ed that is three whole syllables. I learned about syllables yesterday. Anyways...my journey starts tomorrow, and as soon as the sun goes past the chicken coop my mom is making me go to bed. Which is right about...now! Ok goodnight!
* * *
"The sun is up, the sun is up!," I shouted.
"Put it back down," my brother yelled back. He is such a grumpy-pants.
Forgetting them, I climbed down from the loft because I was so full of exhilaration from my head to my toes. I grabbed my basket we packed yesterday, and I wrote my mom a note in my best handwriting:
On my way! Be back in two days!
Maya

I began my way, and headed North towards town. I loved the breezy, weather as it glided around my feet and the sunshine as it painted my hair a bright, bright yellow. Don't worry, a full days journey is kind of a long time, so I'm just gonna let you know the important stuff. For instance, every time I go, instead of walking around the river as Mama tells me to, there is a 3 inch thick rope hanging from a tree that just calls my name. It was put there two years ago by the Jeffersons to hang their food in order to keep it safe from the bears. However, when they moved, they left the rope. What better way to put a decent rope to use than to fly my away across the river? So, thats exactly what I did. I swung the basket around my arm, grabbing the rope ever so tightly, ran back, then sprinted forward and until my feet hit nothing but air. Looking down below I was soaring across the green streaming river like Tarzan from the story books. The river is about twelve squirrels wide,and land was approaching quickly. Jumping down into a perfect summersault, I congratulated myself for the epic travel to the other side. I would be staying at my cousin's house over night!
* * *
I saw the the tips of the stands from  the market, and dashed towards it. When I arrived at the busy roads, I stopped by the fruits and veggies stands. I grabbed thirty apples, twelve bananas, six peppers, nineteen carrots, exactly forty-two  strawberries, and precisely eight tomatoes. Maybe Mama wouldn't notice I kind of forgot to get broccoli. Then, it was time to pick my present. There it was, glistening in the light. With pink and purple sparkles on the edges, royal palaces painted on the side, and gold legs, it was beautiful. This jewelry box would be the perfect accessory to accompany my antique collection.
"Ma'am," I put on my best young lady voice because after all, I was ten. " How much for this fine box in which jewels are contained?"
Oddly the woman looked back at my hand holding the five dollars, and quickly replied ," Five dollars my dear."
She looked me in the eye and touched my face gently before handing me the box. That was awkward. I handed her the money and was on my way. I couldn't  wait to show Mama!
I grabbed a small bag of flour we needed, and purchased a tiny wagon to help me carry the supplies, and also because Mama needed something to put little Timmy in whenever she took him to the neighbors house. That one year old is almost twenty pounds!
* * *
"Mama, Mama I am back!" I yelled showing her all I got.
"Oh we missed you, but look what you got! And what is this?" She held up the jewelry box.
"It's my present!" When I told her about the weird lady, she looked at a part of the painting I never noticed. The initials E.A were painted beautifully in royal purple. Then, Mama opened the box, and noticed a purple ring that matched the paint color.
"Maya this is beautiful!"
I stared at her confused," Mama I never bought a ring, this isn't mine."
Mama stared and looked thoughtfully at the beautiful accessory. She told me she would send Papa to return it because he would have to go back considering I forgot the broccoli.
Hehe, she noticed.
Papa was back within a day because he moved his feet like a rabbit! But he said he  has interesting news....
"The Lady who sold you this box..." He paused and looked at me with his head tilted, which made me feel uncomfortable..." Nobody has ever heard of her..."
Mama looked at me confused," Maya did you make this up?"
"No mom I promise! The lady sold me this box, but never told me there was a ring in it! I wouldn't lie abou..."
Before I finished my dad interjected, " Wait I did find a man who could take it for research to possibly find out who it belonged to, so we could send it to him and find it's rightful owner. He was at the market because he has family here, but he lives in New York. I heard about him when I was showing Uncle Bo the ring. This was the guy who found the owner to Uncle Bo's gold chain he never ordered."
Mom began," Alrighty I guess it's settled. We better send it before someone gets worried, this ring looks extremely expensive. Maya please go get a small bag for the ring."
Now it was hitting me that the most beautiful jewel I have ever seen is going away. I have owned it for a only few days now and we have already really bonded. "Dad, " I began," are you kidding, couldn't we just keep the ring? Maybe it was just meant to be mine. What if we return the ring not knowing that one day I could be captured and the only way to be set free is to give the capturers a purple ring and then I don't have it? What if they then send me mining to look for jewels? What if I never find the perfect jewel? What if I mine forever? Then I spend me whole life banging away at helpless rocks? What if?  I mean seriously? Wouldn't you want your daughter safe? Huh? Don't you love me anymore?"
I was now stuck in a position with my eyes wide and hands way up in the air. My parents stared at me with the same face they had when they found out my little brother kept a family of frogs in his room. I put my arms down slowly and said," Ok I'm loosing it. Dad let's take it back."
My mom felt my forehead, " Sweetie you go lay down, we will pack the ring."
"Yah...yah that is a good idea," I responded, considering how my cereal did taste a bit odd that morning. "I need to rest."
So my dad sent the ring to the researcher, and we were given a response a week later. Apparently the ring had some history to it and he would like us to come see his research before he sent the ring to a  museum for further observations. After long talks with my parents, and a little extra work and bargaining at the market, we managed three plane tickets to New York.
My first plane ride was long and tiring, and the boy sitting next to me kept trying to slowly hold my hand. I have nine siblings, five of who are boys, so I automatically slapped it. He looked at me shocked, but he was fine.
So, we caught our taxi went to the hotel and Lord have mercy these people acted like they needed an interpreter to understand us.
"We have a reservation for a room this week," My mom said slowly and loudly to the man at the front desk.
"You have good observation and a leak?"
"Man y'all aren't from town for sure," said a gorgeous, lovely, amazing, brilliant, SOUTHERN, brunette around 20. She worked at the desk and knew precisely what we were saying; never had I been so happy.
"Ma'am" she continued," I will surely set y'all up with a room, just hold tight."
My mom let out such a sigh of relief she could have pumped our tractor's tires.
After that experience we checked in, unpacked our bags, caught another taxi, and met up with the smarty pants, Mr. Keswick, who was going to take my ring to it's rightful owner. He worked in a huge building that smelled of avocados.  
"Good afternoon, fine people," said Smarty-Pants.
"Howdy," replied my father.
"So how long will the process take?" Mom asked.
"The sun will set and rise in an orderly fashion, yet when it happens three times you see that I could then determine the solution to the inquiry that troubles your hardworking minds. Then they shall be relieved."
"What the heck did that guy just say?" I whispered to my mom.
"No clue, just smile and nod."
"What?!" my father said.
"Three days, I need three days for research." Smarty-Pants declared.
I looked at him dead in the eye. I  had a long day and he wanted to put the words "three days" into a poem. "Lord have mercy you could have said that!"
My mom smirked, and Smarty-Pants simply walked away without a word. I wore a proud smile on my face.
* * *
I loved vacations and it was so sweet for my parents to pull a trip together, but the three days took forever and infinity. Overall in the city,  Dad hated pizza, and was tired of all the honking going around. He said he had nightmares every night that our cows began beeping instead of mooing. Poor guy. My mamma complained in every taxi, and cried while eating ice cream and repeating "I miss the kids, but this stuff is so good."
I loved new places and NYC was cool at first, but honestly, I just hated that fact that I could only see three inches of the sky! However, the day did come. We packed the car up. Checked out, and decided Smarty- Pants would be out last stop of the trip. When we were in the car, and it hit me," Mom, do you think the owner is worried about the ring?"
She laughed," Honey, there's a lot of important things in life to worry about and I don't know how close this person was to the ring. But yes, I think this ring it important to whoever owns it. "     
" I hope that they understand that I never meant to steal it." A small tear had formed under my eye as I felt selfish for wanting the ring.
Momma kissed my head," Me too."
The cab stopped, and we all got out. Entering the building, the same avocado smell entered my nostrils as I wiped my tears and tried to look tough. We sat down after the small talk.
"Sir, let's get straight to business," I said trying to sound professional.
He chuckled a little," I was thinking the same thing."
I smiled a tad, but then went back to my business face.
" So, I tested the paint on the box to get a basic understanding of the history as I usually do with art, and I found that it was from the 1600s. I have had historical art before, but it is not my expertise so I sent it to my co-worker. He told me that this paint was only used by the Royal, making it a bit of an artifact. But, he said that he would take it to his manager who had a bit more knowledge on the subject. After the manager studied it for a day he noticed the beautiful art, and royal purples and the initials," Smarty-Pants pointed to the initials EA," there is no evidence that this could have been owned by someone unless purchased from a pawn shop. My job along with my co - workers was to check our data bases for any 1600s art or jewelry sold, and found none. Leading us to believe that this ring, as well as the box somehow," he put it into my hands and took a deep breath," is a historical artifact from Queen Elizabeth Anne I. "