The Rainbow’s End
“You know it’s there,” he said. “Let’s go and find it.”
This was unknown territory for me, and I wasn’t sure hunting down the end of the rainbow was such a good idea.
But in front of us, what looked to be a clear path leading through some trees, was that beautiful arc of a rainbow in all its colors.
“I don’t know,” I said, “based on my knowledge of folktales, rainbows and tricksters can lead to very dangerous situations.”
“I’m sure it is safe; rainbows always have a spot where they end. How hard could it be, you can see it right there. And if we find one of those leprething people, we will get their pot of gold. What could possibly go wrong?”
After years of being friends with Ronald, you would think that I would have learned not to listen to his ideas. However, I’m a slow learner when it comes to Ronald.
So I agreed, and we set off down the path toward the other side of the rainbow. “By the way,” I said to him, “they are called leprechauns.”
Ronald had me lead the way. He stayed far enough back. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you,” he said, “I’m just setting up my camera to take pictures of our success.”
We walked to the end of the path and slowly made our way through the wooded area beyond. As we entered the clearing, the rainbow was in full view; believe it or not, a small man was standing right at the base of it.
I should have been suspicious, as rainbows, in my experience, usually fade away over time, and this one seemed pretty fixed in position. And something was wrong with the colors. I expected an order of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. The colors were there, but they were not in the correct order.
“THERE HE IS!” screamed Ronald, “the Leprodoodle guy. Quick, go catch him.”
“Why don’t you catch him?” I replied.
“Because I’m taking the pictures. Don’t worry, I’ll be right back here,” was his response.
Throwing caution to the wind, I snuck up to the little man as his back was to me. He hadn’t heard Ronald’s scream. The closer I got, the less little he looked. When I reached him, he was about an inch taller than me. He was dressed in green, had a red beard, and wore gloves. He was putting a fake bush in front of a machine, which appeared to be generating the rainbow.
Having heard me, the man turned quickly and placed a big cauldron on the ground.
“Who are you?” I asked, “And what do you think you are doing?”
That’s when I heard the sirens. Without saying a word, the man picked up the cauldron, put it in my hands, pulled it away, placed it back on the ground, and handed me a stack of papers and a key. He then turned and ran off into the woods in the opposite direction.
I stood there wondering what had just happened. I turned to see where Ronald was; he was nowhere in sight. I did see several individuals rushing at me with guns drawn, screaming, “Drop whatever is in your hands, get down on the ground, and put your hands behind your back.
I was arrested and charged with larceny, fraud, trespass, and other crimes. The man who ran away was running a rainbow phishing scam. He had stolen the rainbow generator and posed as a pot of gold agent for leprechauns. He would offer to those gullible end-of-rainbow seekers guaranteed full pots of gold without having to catch a leprechaun and dealing with all their trickery. His contract stated that the pot of gold would be worth millions. It only cost those who signed up a mere $3,000 in cash. The pot of gold would be delivered anonymously to their homes.
Of course, once he had the money, the rainbow and the agent would disappear, moving on to show up in another town.
It didn’t help my case that I was the only one standing there when I was arrested, with both the contracts and the key to the rainbow generator in my hand. There were also my fingerprints on the cauldron. As for Ronald, he didn’t come forward to attest to my innocence. Which was probably for the best, as his credibility was not rated highly by the police. He told me later that his camera battery had died, and he went to get it recharged.
A lawyer and the capture of the real crook got my release, and the charges were dropped.
So be wary of trying to find the gold at the rainbow’s end. At least make sure the colors are in the right order before you try.
