Of Maps And Friends

Looking back on it now, I wish I had never gone into that stupid, old building. What did I gain? Fortune? Fame? A stupid dare on a stupid night; one thing led to another. Before I knew it, the momentum to go forward was too powerful to stop.

Who am I kidding? I wouldn’t have stopped. I had my chances. I could’ve stopped at any time. I have no one to blame but myself. I wonder if Nicole feels the same way?

Nicole moved into my neighborhood two years ago. I remember the first time I saw her. She stood on the sidewalk holding her mom’s hand looking at her new house. She had blond, curly hair that fell softly on her shoulders. As I rode past on my bicycle, she looked over her shoulder at me, tears streaming down her face. She jerked around so I wouldn’t see her, but it was too late. I saw the face of an angel and knew that we would be together forever.

My revelry was cut short by the car honking at me. I swerved to the right and just managed to miss it. I screeched my brakes to stop. I looked back at Nicole, hoping she hadn’t realized how foolish I had just been. No such luck, she stared right at me. As we made eye contact, she smiled and I knew that I would never be the same person again.

On Nicole’s first day of school, Ms. Spritz asked who would show the new student around and make sure that she had someone to play with during recess. My arm shot up before any one else could. Ms. Spritz gawked at me for a moment and several of my friends snickered and pointed their fingers at me, but I paid them no heed. I knew what I was doing and no amount of mockery from my classmates was going to deter me in this endeavor. As no girl raised her hand, Ms. Spritz sighed and agreed to allow me to be Nicole’s chaperone for the first week.

We became best friends after that and were almost inseparable. She referred to me as her evil twin brother. Brother? I didn’t want to be her brother; I wanted to be her husband. I certainly didn’t consider her my sister. I found just the notion of thinking of her as my sister quite troubling. We were going to be together forever though, so I had time to change her views.

It was Halloween. Both being thirteen, we felt too old to go trick or treating. We lived in a small town near the Keys in Florida. I rode my bike over to her house at 6:30 p.m. and knocked on her door. It opened just moments later, accompanied by a loud shrieking howl. I chuckled as her mother came into view. She grinned at me as she stated, “Good evening Tom. Planning on doing a bit of trick or treating this evening? How did you like the howling machine we attached to the door?”

Noticing that she held a bowl of the good kind of Halloween candy, a mixture of several different types of candy bars and not the typical suckers or bubblegum that I always hated, I replied, “I’m only taking candy from close friends this year Mrs. Evans.” I then reached out and snatched a Snickers bar from her bowl. “Is Nicole here?” I queried.

Just as I finished asking, Nicole came bounding down the stairs. She too stole a candy bar from her mother’s bowl as she dashed by, “Just in case I need some quick energy later on mom.”

“Just a second young lady,” her mother stated as she placed the bowl down on a small table next to the door, crossed her arms, and tapped her foot on the ground. “Where are the two of you going tonight and when can I expect you to be back?”

Nicole looked up at her with imploring eyes as she stated, “I told you mom, we’re going to ride our bikes around and look at all of the different costumes people are wearing.”

Her arms still crossed, and a serious tone to her voice, she replied, “You’re not going to get into any mischief are you?” She smiled at me as she continued, “I don’t want you to be getting young Thomas here into trouble.”

Exasperated, Nicole pointed an accusatory finger at me and said, “Mom, he’s the evil twin of the family. I don’t get him into trouble.” For my part, I just shrugged my shoulders as if I had no idea what the girl was talking about.

“Ok, you two. Go out and have a good time.” Making direct eye contact with Nicole she finished, “I want you home by 9:30.”

The ever-so-innocent smile back on her face, Nicole simply said, “Ok.”

Just then, Mrs. Evans saw more children coming up to her door. “You’ve got to leave now so I can close the door before the kids get here. It won’t shriek if it isn’t closed first.”

Without saying another word, we turned around and headed in the other direction. We smiled at the little witches and zombies we passed as we headed towards the back gate where Nicole’s bike was. Mere moments later, we heard the door shrieking followed by the young witches and zombies screaming with delight.

As soon as she had retrieved her bicycle she looked at me and said, “We don’t have much time so we better start pedaling fast.” We raced as fast as we could to our destination. We pulled our bikes up next to the black wrought-iron fence that surrounded the solitary property on the Cliffside. Clouds covered the appearance of any stars and no streetlights existed here.

Dead leaves covered the lawn like a mummy’s wrapping and the now barren trees looked liked giants with twisted outstretched arms. I glanced at Nicole hoping to see the same trepidation in her eyes. I didn’t. I swallowed once and stated, “We’re here.”

She wrapped both of her arms tightly around one of mine and stated, “This is so exciting. I’ve always wanted to go in this house. I was too afraid to knock on the door when old Mrs. Caulkin’s lived there. She gave me the willies.”

Trying to sound brave while adding to the eerie sense of fear the evening, and appearance of the house, gave me I responded, “Some say that her ghost still dwells there. It might have been better to see her when she lived instead of now.”

She took a step back and placed both of her hands on her hips as she asked, “Thomas Arkin, are you telling me that you’re too afraid to go into the house now? We made our plans last month. We’ve talked about this everyday since. You’re not going to back out now, are you?”

She gave me the same imploring look she had given her mother earlier. Sometimes, her mother could resist the look, but I never could. Seeing no other choice, I muttered, “If you don’t believe the ghost stories, why do you believe the stories about pirate’s treasure being in the house?”

“Two simple reasons,” she deadpanned. “First, I don’t believe in ghosts, and second, haven’t you ever seen the Pirates of the Caribbean? It is well known that there were pirates in this area once upon a time. Mrs. Caulkin claimed to be a descendant of Blackbeard. Frankly, I don’t find it hard to believe that she was related to pirates. Did I mention how she used to give me the willies?”

“Yeah, I think you mentioned that,” I replied as I tried to pull my windbreaker tighter around myself. Looking around to make sure that we were alone, I stated, “Well, if we’re going to go through with this, we might as well get started.”

Holding hands, we walked to the small gate that opened up to the sidewalk that led to the front door. The gate squeaked in a loud shrill manner, not too dissimilarly from the way Nicole’s door shrieked when I went to pick her up. She squeezed my hand tighter as we approached the front door. Dead leaves crackled with every step we made, making me feel like I was in some dark forest.

An extended porch swept around the south side of the home. Multiple exterior balconies graced the second story. I couldn’t help but glance up at them every other step, as if I expected to see someone staring back down at me. Each step up the porch creaked as if it would break at any moment. Momentary relief flooded over me as we twisted the door handle and found it locked. I looked at Nicole shrugging my shoulders trying to suggest that we did the best we could, but perhaps we just weren’t meant to enter.

“Come on, Tom. You didn’t really expect the front door to be open did you? Let’s sneak around the side of the house and see if we can find another way in.” Crunching leaves crackled with each step we took. Again, I kept looking over my shoulder up at the balconies. Circling the house, we tested each door and window, only to find them locked as well. We stopped at the house’s storm cellar to consider our next move.

Looking at me once more with her imploring eyes Nicole moaned, “Oh Tom, we’ve just got to find a way to get in. Please. Do you think that you could climb up to one of the second story balconies? I could give you a boost.” Dreading the thought, but being unwilling to give up for Nicole’s sake, I let her try to boost me up. Each attempt met with failure. Likewise, I tried to give her a boost, to no avail.

After several minutes of trying to find a way to get in, I turned to Nicole and said, “Looks like we’ve come all this way for nothing. We can’t get in.” Seeing the look in her eyes, I pleaded, “What else can we do?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered as she stepped into me and put her arms around my shoulders while resting her head on my chest. This was something new and exciting. At least I could go home tonight thinking it had been a success. “I just really wanted to explore the old house and look for treasure and stuff left behind,” she said.

A large rock sat against the house by our feet. With remorse, I broke free from Nicole’s hug and bent over to pick it up. Nicole gasped, “You’re not going to break a window are you?”

“No,” I responded as I stepped away from Nicole next to the storm cellar and bashed the rock with all my might against the rusted padlock that locked the doors. A cacophony of bird shrieks accompanied the wood splintering as several crows leaped off the roof and flew away into the darkness.

Our eyes came back to the storm cellar doors. The rusted lock had not broken but one of the door hinges had. I looked at Nicole wondering what we should do now. She bit her lower lip and just looked back at me with a blank stare. “I think we can get in the storm cellar now.” Bending down I grabbed the door handle, still attached to the doorframe, and pulled with all my might. The door screeched in protest as it opened. Again, we looked around to make sure no one was nearby who could hear us.

Darkness shrouded the cellar as we each pulled out the mini-flashlights we had packed. They weren’t much help. I opened the other storm door and holding hands we cautiously tried the first step, making sure that the wood was strong enough to hold us. Each step groaned and we were certain that anyone within a half-mile could hear us. Reaching the bottom landing, we both took deep breaths and sighed in unison.

Quickly we scanned the cellar with our flashlights. They illuminated just a few feet at a time as we started to explore the room. We missed most of the cobwebs hanging from the rafters and various beams in the cellar. We found boxes stacked in the far corner. Glancing at each other with a gleam in our eyes, we exclaimed in unison, “Jackpot.”

With a rush of exhilaration, we grabbed the boxes on top, making sure there were no spiders skittering across them before we brought them down. Box after box contained nothing more than old clothing and linens. At last, in one of the few remaining boxes, we found what we looked for. There, underneath another assortment of old clothing was a jewelry box. Nicole picked it up delicately and turned the box over to look at all sides before opening it.

We determined it was just a simple jewelry box. She looked at me with a grin going from ear to ear as she flipped the latch. Lying inside the box, folded very crisply, was a yellowed piece of parchment. We exchanged a look of curiosity as I reached in and took it.

I unfolded it as if I were a surgeon performing a delicate operation. Our eyes opened wide as we realized that we stared at a map. Nicole grabbed my arm and pulled trying to get a better look. “What does the writing scrawled in the margin say?” she asked. I held the map closer to my face as she flashed her light on the writing and I read,

For those who seek fortunes untold;
Who dare to go beyond the cold,
and through the night
to find the light,
of jewels and gems and crowns of gold.

Then come along, adventure waits.
You can’t resist, don’t hesitate.
For glory’s call
you’ll give your all,
and dream of wealth that gold creates.

The gold is guarded by Blackbeard’s ghost,
who watches it lie near the coast.
Proceed with care,
if you will dare,
to steal his gold and live to boast.

But

Beware. Take heed of those you trust.
For friendships fail for greed and lust;
And dreams of gold
can make you bold,
and turn one’s heart from pure to rust.

In her exuberance, Nicole punched me in the shoulder as she exulted, “I told you this would be a good idea. I can’t believe it; we’re actually going to go treasure hunting. I can’t wait. I’ll bet we become the richest people in town.”

Without warning she dove right on top of me, pinning me underneath her on the cold cement floor. “What are you going to do with your money, Tom? Can you believe it? We’re going to be rich and famous, you just wait and see. All of our dreams are about to come true.”

Bewildered by what was going on, but knowing that I enjoyed it, I blurted out, “I’m going to buy us the biggest house, no wait, what kind of a house would you like to live in? I’ll hire people to build it, just the way you want. We’re going to be happy forever together.”

I looked up at her with a gaze of complete bliss. She wrinkled her nose up just a bit, but didn’t lose the smile on her face. “I’d like that,” she stated as she crawled off of me and helped me back up. Looking at her watch Nicole exclaimed, “Tom, it’s 9:13. We’ll never make it back home in time, let’s go!”

We dashed up the stairs and out of the storm cellar. Looking around to make sure we were still alone, we closed the doors to try and hide our trespass. We both giggled and raced back to our bikes and then back home.

The next two weeks seemed like an eternity. Being unable to go treasure hunting last weekend because Nicole missed her curfew on Halloween, we both were excited as the sun rose on Saturday morning. We had studied the map intently and felt certain we knew where to look for the buried treasure. Between classes and traveling to and from school we talked about how we would spend our newfound wealth.

I wanted a yacht to go along with the mansion I was going to build. Of course, I would have a butler or two, a few cooks, and a sailing crew to take Nicole and me wherever we wanted to go. Life was about to take a serious turn for the better; I could just feel it in my bones.

When I got to Nicole’s house, I made sure to take the book bag off, which was full of rope, a larger flashlight, two baseball gloves, a spade, and a three pronged pointed thingy that my mom used to weed her garden with. I parked my bike in front of the garage and put the bag next to it. Likewise, when we retrieved Nicole’s bike from the backyard she had planted her own book bag of supplies, including food that we might need for our excursion.

Once again, we pedaled as fast as we could to our destination on the cliff. According to our map, we needed to scale down the cliff right behind the old house. Arriving there, we hid our bikes on the far side of the storm cellar. An early morning layer of fog helped provide some security as well. The back deck hung just over the cliff with stilts for support. I pulled the rope out of my bag. I had tied knots into it every foot to make it easier to climb up and down.

After securely tying it to the center post of the deck, I looked at Nicole for reassurance. “You’re sure that your knots are strong enough to hold us?” she asked a hint of doubt in her voice. I extended the end of the rope to her and together we pulled on it as hard as we could. Satisfied that it would hold, she stated, “You first.”

This was a side of Nicole that I had never thought existed. Smiling, I asked, “Nicole Evans, you’re afraid to climb down this rope aren’t you?”

“I’m not afraid of anything,” she retorted with a smoldering gaze.

“Girls…” I mumbled

Placing her hands on her hips and shifting her weight from one foot to the other, she queried, “Are you just going to stand there all day looking like a dork or are you going to climb down the rope.”

Hurt by her name-calling, and in a moment of anger I retorted, “Fine be that way, but I’m telling you right now, if I’m the only one that climbs down this rope and retrieves the treasure, then I’m going to keep it. I do the work, I get the reward. Who’s the dork now?”

I didn’t even realize that this was the first fight we had ever gotten into as I glared back at her full of indignation. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she said, “You’re a dork, and a jerk. I hate you Thomas Arkin. I never want to see or speak to you again.” Before I could respond in any sensible way, she turned around and ran off the deck. I wondered if I should go after her as I heard her call out, “I hope you fall to your death climbing down the rope.” The next thing I heard was her bike moving fast over the dead leaves covering the old house’s lawn.

Utterly confused, I sat down on the deck. What just happened I asked myself? What did I do, and how do I undo it? I sat there for several minutes before I realized what needed to be done.

With my mind made up, I threw the rope over the back railing. I climbed over myself and started my descent. About twenty feet down I saw a cave in the Cliffside. I swung myself onto the ledge and lost my balance. Falling backwards out of the cave, I lunged for my rope, which swung me first farther away from the cave but then also farther into the mouth’s opening. I let go and landed in a sitting position so that I couldn’t fall back out.

I took a deep breath and felt grateful that I hadn’t fulfilled Nicole’s last wish. I removed my backpack and pulled out a much bigger flashlight than the one I had used two weeks ago.

Scanning the cave once revealed a chest sitting in a back corner. My heart raced as I ran over to it. This would fix everything I just knew it. I flipped up the unlocked latch and threw open the chest. Nothing.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. In frustration, I kicked the chest as hard as I could. Just then I saw movement at the bottom of it. I peered in more carefully and saw another old looking parchment. How many maps did I need to go through I wondered as I retrieved the piece of stained yellow paper. I sat down, resting my back against the cave wall as I illumined the paper with my flashlight. The note read,

For those who seek fortunes untold;
Who dare to go beyond the cold,
And through the night
to find the light,
of jewels and gems and crowns of gold.

Then come along, adventure waits.
You can’t resist, don’t hesitate.
For glory’s call
you’ll give your all,
and dream of wealth that gold creates.

The gold is guarded by Blackbeard’s ghost,
who watches it lie near the coast.
Proceed with care,
if you will dare,
to steal his gold and live to boast.

But

Beware. Take heed of those you trust.
For friendships fail for greed and lust;
And dreams of gold
can make you bold,
and turn one’s heart from pure to rust.

Congratulations. You’ve found my treasure. Though I’m really related to pirates you didn’t really think that they left me any of their treasure did you? Let me tell you what makes a person rich. Friendship. Over the course of my life many people have tried to become my friend simply because they believed I was rich. Everyone else just avoided me. Other than my long departed husband, I don’t think that I’ve ever had a true friend. I treasure his memory and the love we shared. Surround yourself with true friends that you can trust and rely on and then you will be richer than any of my pirate ancestors ever were.

It was signed, Margaret Caulkin.

I sat there dumbfounded. How could I possibly explain this to Nicole? Would she even believe me? She’ll probably just think that I made up this story in order to keep all of the treasure myself, I guessed.

For a week, I called Nicole every day, but she never answered the phone and her mother always seemed sad but told me that Nicole wouldn’t speak to me. At school, if she saw me coming she turned and walked in the other direction.

A month ago, I had the treasure I always wanted, but I gave it away for this scrap of paper, I told myself. I folded Mrs. Caulkin’s note back up and hoped that the next time I called, Nicole would speak to me.