Ben was excited to spend the afternoon exploring the backyard of his grandparent’s house. With his family living in the city, and his world confined to an apartment, he always looked forward to visiting his grandparents in the suburbs, where their backyard seemed endless as the green grass melded into the woods. After giving his grandmother a hug, and receiving a painful handshake from his grandfather, he headed out the back door.
“Hey!”
Ben turned around at the sound of his father’s voice.
“Don’t get too far,” said Ben’s father. “Grandpa and I are picking up a pizza for lunch. Grandma will call for you in less than an hour.”
Ben nodded then turned his attention from his father to the boundless sea of exploration before him. He ran towards his favorite tree, with its limbs grown out as a natural ladder, and found his perch towards the top where he’d nailed in a plank of wood to act as a seat. From his perch he surveyed the lawn as the wind sent crashing waves towards his ship. He steadied himself and shook a branch, pretending to be adjusting the sails of his battle-worn vessel.
“What’s that?” Ben called down to his eager crew. “Look there!” He descended from his perch and leapt onto dry land. He ran towards the wood pile and lifted up a rock, where he found an array of scattering bugs and worms. “Treasure!” He set the rock back down and took a seat, trying to catch his breath as he looked around for his next adventure. As he began to get up something caught his eye, a little beyond the wood pile and into the woods was a small circle of stones.
“Is this real treasure?” he asked his crew, but they all shrugged. “We could use some real treasure.” He ran into the garage and found a shovel with a warn handle and a rusted tip. “Who wants to dig?” His crew all shrugged.
Ben pressed the tip of his shovel into the ground and with baited breath he awaited his treasure. After a few minutes of digging the tip of his shovel hit something. He tossed the shovel to the side and got down on his hands and knees to unearth a mysterious wooden box. He set the box down and filled in the hole, making sure to bury the shovel’s broken tip hoping nobody would find it.
He returned the shovel to the garage and brought his treasure up into his ship. As he began to lift the lid he heard his grandmother’s voice calling out. He leapt back onto dry land, and with the box under his arm, entered the house.
“What’s that dirty thing you’re carrying?” asked his grandmother.
“I found it,” replied Ben. “It’s my buried treasure.”
“Your buried treasure is filthy. Leave it outside until after lunch.”
Ben sat at the kitchen table, wondering what could be in the box between bites of pepperoni pizza.
“What’d you get up to outside, Ben?” asked his father. “I saw you up in the tree and then you ran off towards the woods.”
“I found something,” Ben replied, “back beyond the wood pile. It was buried underneath a circle of stones.”
“Circle of stones, eh?” said his father. “I thought it got all overgrown over there, how’d you find it?”
“We cleaned up back there last week,” said his grandfather. “No sense in having the backyard look like a mess.”
“It’s the woods, Robert,” said his grandmother. “We didn’t have to do that.”
“It’s our property still. We…”
Ben stopped paying attention and turned to the window, where he stared at the box sitting by the tree. He looked up as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“How about we take a look at your treasure together?” said his father. Ben nodded and the two of them put their shoes on and headed out into the backyard.
“What do you think is inside?” asked Ben, rushing towards the box.
“I have a feeling it’s going to be something special.”
Ben sat with his back against the tree and the box in his lap. He nodded to his father. “Ready?” He opened the box, eyes wide, and then frowned. “Letters?”
“Check under the letters,” said his father.
Ben took the letters out of the box and handed them to his father. He then smiled as he reached down and pulled out a handful of colorful polished rocks.
“How’s that for a treasure?” asked his father.
Ben smiled. “What are those letters about? Do you think they’ll lead us to another treasure?”
“I’m afraid not,” replied his father. “I wrote letters to someone back in high school, and these are the replies I got back.”
“Who were they to?”
“A girl I used to date, long before I met your mother.”
“Gross.”
“It gets less gross the older you get. When you’re a teenager in a couple years you’ll understand.”
Ben rolled his eyes and got to his feet. “I doubt it. Let’s go home, I want to show mom the treasure I found.”
At home, Ben watched as his mother and father read over the letters at the kitchen table. He thought his mother would be furious, but instead she was laughing.
“You should contact her,” said his mother. Ben’s jaw dropped. “I’m sure she’d love to see these.”
“I’m friends with her online still,” replied his father. “I can ask.”
Ben joined his parents at the table, hoping to take the attention away from the letters and show off his new collection of rocks.
“Message sent,” said his father.
“Mom, look,” said Ben.
“This is exciting,” said his mother.
“I thought so too,” said Ben, “this one is blue.”
“She responded!” announced his father.
“How wonderful,” said his mother.
“And this one is red,” added Ben.
“She wants to have us over for dinner tomorrow,” said his father. “She has a daughter Ben’s age.”
“Mom, you can have this green one,” said Ben.
The following evening, Ben sat in the backseat of the car with his arms folded and his nose in the air.
“What’s wrong, pal?” asked his father. Ben looked up and they locked eyes in the rear-view mirror.
“I don’t want to go,” replied Ben.
“It’ll be fun,” said his mother. “We’ll have pizza and you can hangout with, what’s her daughter’s name?”
“Lauren.”
“Lauren,” said his mother.
Ben sighed and pulled a rock from his pocket. He turned the blue stone in his fingers as they pulled up into a driveway.
“They have a house outside the city?” asked Ben. He unbuckled his seat-belt and tried to open the door. “Unlock, unlock. Do they have a backyard?”
“Hold on, hold on,” said his father. “Let’s get the introductions out of the way first.”
Ben lead the way as they walked up to the front door. He pressed the doorbell and, noticing his hair in the reflection of the glass door, ruffled his neat hair.
When the main door opened up Ben was swatting away his mother’s spit covered hand as she tried to fix his hair.
“Chuckles!” shouted a woman through the glass door. She opened the second door and ushered them inside.
“It’s Charles now,” replied Ben’s father.
“You’ll always be Chuckles to me,” replied the woman.
Ben didn’t pay any attention as he fought with his shoes to get them off.
“And you must be Ben,” said the woman. Ben looked over and smirked as he nodded. “Lauren! Ben’s here. I showed my daughter a picture of you and she thinks you’re cute.”
“Mom!” shouted a young girl from down the hall. Ben felt his cheeks burning red as she grew closer. “Hi, I’m Lauren. Grab your shoes and put them on at the back of the house. I’d rather be outside while my parents go down memory lane.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Ben, fetching his shoes.
Lauren’s backyard was unlike his grandparents. Instead of being open and leading into an endless woods it was gated off by large white fences.
“My mom grew up here,” said Lauren. “There was a swing-set over here,” she pointed towards the back corner of the yard, “when I was a kid. Now I spend most of my time back here on the swing. Join me?” Ben followed as they made their way to a swing that overlooked a small pond.
“You have one too?” said Ben, getting down on his hands and knees.
“What do you mean?”
“This circle of rocks,” said Ben. “My dad had one at his parents. It’s where he found the letters, and,” he pulled a blue rock from his pocket, “it’s where I found these.”
“What do you think is buried there?” asked Lauren.
“Do you have a shovel?”
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If you’re looking for more reading options, I have a book available on Kindle as well as various serials on Kindle Vella.
The Centennial Courtship on Kindle.
Abigail Bloom's life is thrown into a sweeping romance when a new deputy rolls into the small town of Brooks Landing, but when her ex-husband enters back into her life, she's unsure if she can hold onto her new chance at true love. A break-in in the small town causes Abigail's ex to suspect the new deputy - Can she trust her new love interest or is he using her as an alibi?
Available on Kindle Vella:
John Prince's life in Peak Creek seems perfect. He's been seeing Cassandra Queen for six months and hopes to move in together. However, Cassandra resists the change, putting John's romantic future into question. When an opportunity to advance at work opens up, John feels his luck turning around. Katie Young, a recent transfer at the firm, has other plans. Their rivalry collides when they have to co-present during a company retreat.
The Fantasy of Love: A Romance Story Collection
The Fantasy of Love is a collection of stories all about romance, from first dates to anniversaries.
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