WorldWide Drilling Resource

52 JUNE 2016 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® I Stole the Hope Diamond and Caught Leprosy How far has your imagination taken you? During college, my girlfriend asked me if I had ever stolen anything. She had just told me, as a little girl, she took some- thing from a gift shop without paying for it, and her parents severely scolded her. I shook my head, denying I had, and she persisted. Susan was so disappointed, it was apparent she wanted a story; and immediately my imagi- nation kicked in. So I replied, “Well, never intentionally.” I told her when I was 12 years old, I accidentally stole something, and I probably shouldn’t have been talking about it because I could still get in trouble for it. I explained it was something really big, and the owners still wanted it back. “Enough,” she said, “Just tell me what you stole!” So I told her, “I stole the Hope Diamond.” I explained how I had gone to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., on a school trip. We stopped at the gift store to buy something for our parents. I looked around and selected an imitation Hope Diamond for my mother. After paying for it, I put it into the side pocket of my suit jacket. I knew Susan had never been to the Smithsonian, which is the only way the story had a chance of working. (It was also 1978, you couldn’t just look anything up on a smartphone.) I told her when we got to the gem and mineral section, one of the curators was conducting a laser light show with several crystals including many of the world’s most famous gemstones. In addition to the Hope Diamond, there was the Star of India, the Red Ruby of Russia, the Irish Emerald, and others whose names I didn’t recall. On the other side of the table, the man would place one of the gems in a metal holder on a stand, shoot the laser beam through it, and explain how it refracted the light. I pushed through the crowd to see better and when I got up to the velvet rope, I saw the Hope Diamond right in front of me. I was curious how close my imitation looked to the real thing, so I pulled it out of my pocket and held it out in front of me, but I needed to see them side by side to know for sure. So, I picked up the Hope and held them in front of me, one in each hand. I couldn’t tell any difference. The imitation was really good. I told Susan how each was big enough to fill my fist and they seemed to weigh about the same. As I reached out to drop the Hope back on the table, I opened my other hand and gently tossed the imitation one in the air. The movement caught the eye of the security guard who was standing nearby. He snatched the imitation out of my hand, and yelled, “Hey, no touching the gems!” He grabbed me by the shoulder and started shoving me toward the door. I tried to tell him he had gotten the wrong stone, but he cut me off. He was so rough and mean to me, I shoved the real Hope Diamond in my jacket pocket and walked out. So I didn’t mean to steal it. It was an accident. “Where is it now?” Susan asked. I told her it was in a desk drawer with a bunch of broken crayons, marbles, plastic soldiers, and Matchbox cars back in my room at my parents’ house. “You put the Hope Diamond in a junk drawer with old toys?” I told her I didn’t know where else to put, and besides, Billy and I would sometimes spin it like a top. (He was my childhood best friend, and also my roommate, so Susan knew him.) “Billy knows you stole the Hope Diamond?” She didn’t believe a word of my story, so I needed something else; a final proof. Then inspiration struck, and I asked if she remembered why I didn’t take a job offer at UPS. She said it was because they wanted to take fingerprints and file them with the FBI. I nodded, then just looked at her. It only took a minute, but she cried out, “You didn’t want the FBI to have your fingerprints because your fingerprints are on the imitation Hope Diamond. You did steal it!” Just then, the front door opened and Billy walked in. Susan turned around and asked him point blank, “Did Bobby really steal the Hope diamond?” Now Billy and I had been telling each other tall tales for years, so I hoped he’d help me out. Behind Susan’s back, I made a motion with my hand like I was spinning a top. He understood and confirmed we used to spin it like a top on his bedroom floor. That cinched it. Susan completely bought the story. The next morning, I confessed it was all a tall tale. She was furious! She couldn’t believe I had convinced her I stole the Hope Diamond. She said she was going to get even with me. I didn’t give it another thought. Two weeks passed, and I was talking with Susan on the phone when she told me a girl on her hall in the dorm had been sent home with some rare illness (a girl Billy had tutored). The next day, she told me the girl had been diagnosed with leprosy. She explained the girl had once lived on an island in the Caribbean near a leper colony; and the disease had been dormant in her body for years. Meanwhile, I was keeping Billy up to date on the story. The following day, she told me anyone exposed to the girl, was going to have to get tested, and, they should be on the lookout for any unusual rashes on their extremities. Susan knew Billy had a rash on his ankles his doctor couldn’t diagnose; he had been given two different creams, and neither worked. The day after, when she knew I was at work, she called the apartment knowing Billy would answer the phone. She was crying as she asked to speak to me, but Billy told her I wasn’t home, then asked why she was crying. At first she wouldn’t say, but he insisted. She said she tested positive and would be sent away to a special hospital. Billy hung up and called me at work. “Bobby, Susan called; she tested positive. If she’s got it, then I’ve got it.” I thought I must have it too. Susan said there was a Leprosy Task Force set up at the school clinic, and it was where we needed to go. I left work immediately to pick him up so we could go to the clinic together. I was a nervous wreck as I entered the clinic. Billy was worse. We ran to the receptionist and asked, “Where do we go for the Leprosy Task Force?” She looked at us like we were crazy, and said she didn’t know what we were talking about. Suddenly, behind us, we heard peals of feminine laughter. We turned around to see Susan and several of her dormitory mates. She cried out, “You guys are so gullible!” We had both used our imaginations to concoct fun tall tales. Imagination is the heart of creative thinking. It’s not just for stories. It’s where we combine and connect diverse pieces of knowledge from our own minds into something bright, new, and useful. Invention starts with imagination. How far have you allowed your imagination to go? Robert Robert is an author, humorist, and innovation consultant. He works with companies that want to be more competitive and with people who want to think like innovators. For more information on Robert, visit www.jumpstartyourmeeting.com or contact him via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com The Un-Comfort Zone II by Robert Evans Wilson, Jr.