Another story inspired by things my sisters and I did in real-life. In 1985, my family lived in a mid-20th Century-built cottage on the north side of Cape May. At the time, the high porch had an area under it that could be easily accessed by anyone, including inquisitive five and six year olds. Inspired by The Goonies and the Indiana Jones series, as well as the stories of real pirates and treasure that abound in the Jersey Shore area, Rose and I used to dig under the porch, hoping to find treasure. The only thing we ever found besides broken pipes and glass was a thick concrete brick with letters on it. We never found out what those letters stood for, but that didn't stop us speculating about them. We thought we were on our way to finding a great treasure. Alas, the porch was repaired and the gap closed a little over a year later, ending our treasure hunting for good...but I never forgot all the fun we had in that speculation.
Treasure Hunt
By Emma Redmer
“Come on, sis!”
It was a bright, sunny day, with a little bit of wind. Perfect for an adventure.
“I'm coming! You don't have to go so fast!”
Lissa is my big sister. I wish she wasn't so slow sometimes. Mom says she's growing. I think she's just a slowpoke. “Do you have your shovel?”
“Yeah!” She held out the yellow plastic bucket and the red shovel. “Do you have yours?”
I held out my blue scoop and the bright pink fish sand mold. “Of course!”
I lead Lissa under the porch. It's dark and kind of scary under there. There's all kinds of things there – grass, sand, pieces of glass, old pipes, rocks. We live in a really old beach town, one of the oldest in the US. Mom says our house dates to at least the 1920's. That was a long time ago. Surely someone left some kind of treasure there.
“Violet, look!” Lissa crouches down by our find. “It's still here!”
The big concrete brick is as thick as a tree, and as long as my arm up to the elbow. It's half-stuck in the sand. We wanted to get it out today. We think it might be the clue to a treasure!
Lissa starts digging first. She tugs at the sand around the edges. “Wow, it's stuck!”
I started at the other end. “How long do you think this has been here?”
“Who knows?” Lissa shrugged. “A really long time. Years. Maybe even centuries. Maybe since the town started.” She grinned at me. “Maybe since the pirates were here!”
Everyone in town has heard the stories about the pirates that used to travel up and down the East Coast many, many years ago. Pirates always buried their treasures.
Lissa pushed hard at her shovel. “Do you think pirates hid their treasure here?”
“Who knows?” Crunch! I hit something solid. “I got it, Lis!” I pushed more sand aside. “I think I got it!”
We both reached in at the same time. The thick concrete block was really, really heavy! It was much bigger than we thought it was. I looked like it came off of an old building.
“It can't be from our house,” I said. “Our house is made out of wood.”
Lissa nodded. “And the walls aren't this thick.”
I ran my finger along the pebbly sides. As I did, I saw something scratched into the solid mud. “Lissie, look!” I turned up the stone as well as I could to show her the letters – BL.
“BL?” She looked excited. “What do you think it means?”
“It could be anything?” I tried to really search my brain. “Maybe Blackbeard? Or Blake? Or Barry Lane, that really narrow road downtown where all the old houses are?”
Lissa was bouncing up and down as well as she could under the low, dusty wood. “Maybe it was the name of the first owner of our house.”
“The people who own our house live in the city.” I made a face. “It probably isn't them.”
She shrugged. “Maybe it's their great-great-grandparents.”
“Girls?” Mom poked her head in. She was smiling. “What are you two up to?”
“Treasure hunting!” I said quickly.
“We found a clue!' Lissa added.
Mom waved towards the house. “Tell me about it inside. It's time to get cleaned up for dinner.”
We followed Mom in the house. “Mom,” I said, “we found a concrete block.”
“It has letters on it,” Lissa went on. “They say BL.”
“Do you think it might mean Blackbeard the Pirate?” Now I was really excited. Maybe we found something that could lead us to fame and fortune! Like Indiana Jones!
Mom just smiled. “Honey, there were lots of pirates here, but I don't think Blackbeard ever left any treasure. At least, that I've heard.”
“But it could be him.” I looked at Lissa. “Or some great lady who was running away from the pirates She had to hide her jewels somewhere.”
“Or an explorer!” Lissa kept going, even as the door shut. “He found the treasure, but had to hide it so no one would steal it, and he left clues!”
We kept going, even as the front door shut. “Or...”
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