The Lucky Charm

The Ferrari stopped and the tinted window opened to reveal a disappointed face. Activating its hazard lights in the dark-deserted lane, he rushed on the narrow-wooden bridge, expecting it to eventually drift here.

He vividly remembered the day he'd had found it many years ago; a big bright-green gem embedded in a wooden-ring. Jobless for months, while closing his eyes one last time on railway tracks, its green-sparkle had saved him. He'd got a job minutes before selling it. He believed it was his lucky charm that brought him immense luck, with massive wealth over the years.

That evening, as he stood at the balcony of his river-side villa, gratefully admiring his cherished-treasure like before, it accidentally slipped, falling into the swiftly-flowing river below that carried it along. He'd desperately followed its course until here, hoping to find it floating in the marsh below, faintly glimmering under the moon. Nothing. He waited until sunrise, only to leave heartbroken with an inconsolable regret of losing his secret-fortune.

Several kilometers away, a poor farmer trudged to end his life in the polluted local river. A green-gemstone entrenched in its muddy shores caught his eye.