Short Story from News Headline

What they thought was a rusty box in their backyard was a safe with $52,000 worth of treasure

We turned the sharp corner and made our way down the street labeled “Maple Lane”. Our car then slowly approached the grey stone building, that we can now call our home. Pulling into our long driveway, the two, yellow moving trucks pulled in behind us. My parents and sister stepped out of our car, and my dog was there to quickly follow. His furry, yellow tail whipped back and forth as he excitedly smelled the perimeter. I, for one, stayed in the car, arms crossed and everything. Why did we have to move? This fall, I will be a senior in high school, and starting at a new school is not on my list of wants. I had to leave behind all of my friends, the school I have attended since Kindergarten, and all of the memories I made growing up. None of this mattered to my sister. She was out of high school; she had all of her fun, and made all of her childhood memories. Plus, she is away at college for a majority of the year, so living in a strange town for a few weeks here and there didn’t seem to bother her. My parents keep telling me it will be ok, as I have the whole summer to make new friends for a better senior year. Maybe they’re right; but I don’t want to admit that they’re right, so I mumble under my breath and walk away whenever this topic comes up in conversation. Coming back to terms with reality, I finally decide to make my way out of the car. Pulling the handle, the door swings open and I slowly step out. Standing still with my arms crossed, I scan the house and it’s large yard. My eye catches my 100-something pound Yellow Lab digging in the backyard near a tree, and I decide to make my way over to what he is furiously unearthing. As I got closer, a small, rusty metal box reflected the sunlight and nearly blinded me with its intense glare. Curiosity filled me, and I decided to further investigate what my dog was so intrigued in. The brown, steel box was still ¾ of the way into the ground, but I came to the assumption that it was an electrical box for my new house. I pull my pup away from the box so his mischief does not get him electrocuted, and together we run towards the front where my family is all gathered. Oh how I was wrong about that box. Now, it’s about eight years later, and I know the truth to the box I deemed as electrical storage when I was only 16. I found the box again two days ago, and ever since my life had changed for good. I was home for a long weekend to visit my parents; and one morning as I was drinking my 8 am coffee, I noticed the box peeking out much farther than I saw it when I was a teenager. I curiously asked my parents what they knew about it, but their only answer was that the “deers were eating the shrub that surrounded the house’s electrical box”. I nodded, believing their statements, but the box continued to stay in my head for the duration of the day, and so I took a stroll over to it. The steel that faced my approaching body continued to resemble an electrical storage unit still, but I managed to walk towards the back; and that’s when I found it. Dirt and rust covered the entirety, but I knelt down and noticed tiny numbers engraved into the metal. Along with the numbers, came a small knob, one that could be found on a small safe. With this information, I hustled to my dad’s shed to grab a gardening shovel. With the help of the shovel, I managed to unearth the entire box, which I now know to be a safe. I brought it inside and set it on the kitchen table to show my parents. As I pried the little door open, treasures of all kinds flooded the tan, wooden table. We counted everything that once was crammed together, and found hundred dollar bills, tons of jewelry, diamonds, an engagement ring, and many more expensive rings, altogether accounting for about $52,000. Along with the treasure was a note with faded writing of a familiar address: the home of our neighbors. We hurried over, and knocked on their door to ask them what they knew about the mystery treasure. The revealed they were robbed on the 26th of December in 2011, losing all of these valuable items. Most of the items lost were belonged to their Grandmother who passed away the previous summer, and for this reason they gave us some of the found treasure to keep for our kind act. After this day, my family and I continued to be close to our neighbors, whom we rarely saw before this encounter. The new possession of treasure and a new friendship changed my perspective on life’s mysteries. Sometimes curiosity leads to things that are better than just answers.