RegCubit
8th August 2007, 07:26 PM
A New York woman is on a desperate hunt for a large ceramic turtle she sold for just 25 pence at a jumble sale in her hometown - after she realised that the groovy reptile giveaway actually contained the ashes of her husband's first wife. Anita Lewis was taking part in the giveaway on Grove Street, in her home town of Elmira, and began trading as her husband Terrence slept on. The family have a large collection of souvenir turtles and Mrs Lewis opted to take a few of these outside for sale, with one particularly fetching example quickly attracting interest and being sold for 50 cents, with the buyer reporting that she planned to use the item as a cookie jar. When Mr Lewis came out, however, the pair immediately realised that the turtle containing the ashes of his first wife Marcia had been among the green giveaway - leaving Mrs Lewis to launch a frantic hunt for the lost animal. "We have lots of turtles," Mrs Lewis said. "It didn't even register that this was the one (containing the ashes)."