She wanted to buy a stone table like the one her neighbor had in her garden. She envied her because her neighbor always had very nice things, but she could not afford them with her scant widow's pension. That’s why she decided to pawn her engagement ring. It had a good diamond, so she could be given a good pinch for it.
While she was going to take the underground to go to the gold buyer's shop, she stopped in front of the shop window of the appliances store. She could see her reflection on the window of the shop. She was still young and appetizing, she thought. She had plenty of time to hunt another man. She looked at her hand. Her engagement ring could have been a beautiful memory, but why would she pretend to herself? That ring had been nothing more than a dirty trick so that her boyfriend managed to lock her in that tiger cage, it had become her married home. He had put the ring under her nose like someone who puts a carrot for a rabbit. As soon as they had arrived aboard the cruise ship, where they had spent their honeymoon, he started behaving like a crow that wanted to take her eyes out. When they came back to their house, the screams began, louder and louder each time. Later he started using his filthy hands.
Occasionally she had to wear her sunglasses. Sometimes to hide a bruise. Others to hide the embarrassment before the villagers’ gossiping. He was the culprit, who forced her to explode. There came a time when she could not take it anymore. That's why she had to kill him. But she was sure that no one would ever find him out, buried there under the stone table in her neighbor's garden.
Going down the escalator she took out her ring to clean it by rubbing it against her woolen coat. The jewel dropped into one of the metal slits of the escalator. She started screaming - Stop them, stop them, they've swallowed my ring!
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