Xandra's Treasure

Note: A mysterious, spirited girl named Xandra hides a box full of precious items that only she knows about. She has what she believes to be an old treasure map and has only discovered part of her treasure. The rest exists in a place far from home. With the help of some close, trustworthy friends, she goes searching for what may be millions of dollars but there is a traitor in their midst !

“People say I am small but to that ant I am a giant…A GIANT !”—Shiro (or White as he is called in the English version), Tekkonkinkreet

Chapter 1—She Who Holds the Key

Xandra had been known for looking in the most unusual places for treasure. With her metal detector, she found coins ranging from recently minted to old, ancient coins no one even knew about. She had also found jewelry, and with her eagle-eyes, she had found gems that couldn’t have been traced with the detector.

She had never told any of her friends about where she had hidden the treasure, nor that she even had one to begin with, but she was rather trustworthy. She was going to set off on a new expedition, like the pirates of old (but without the looting, plundering and rum swilling), to find treasure that would make the life she had as well as that of her beloved friends so much easier and what better place to look for urban legends of buried booty than the World Wide Web ?

According to the Web, Xandra had discovered there was undiscovered loot in the dumps outside the outskirts of the city. It was located in sort-of a bad neighborhood so she would have to be careful, but she was going with her friends. She would have her right hand lady, Patricia as her navigator, her faithful dog, Tippy, her ‘boyfriend’ Dale, and her diggers, Faith, Hope and Charity. Little did she know that her closest friend was about to turn into her bitterest foe. But as far as she was concerned, nothing could blight her attitude nor her drive and passion to find this bounty and claim it for herself and her friends.

Chapter 2—The Excavation

Xandra, along with her friends, had ridden their bikes to the dump. The friends stuck close together staying away from strangers and avoiding stray animals unless they looked benevolent. As soon as they parked their bicycles, Patricia was following the directions on the map and Xandra let her metal detector do the “talking” as they began their search for treasures unmatched by anything by the human imagination.

In a matter of moments, the metal detector had stumbled across the mother-load of unknown “stuff”.

“Alright, diggers, get your shovels ready ! I’ll help too !”, Xandra said as she and her friends each grabbed a shovel and began digging. No sooner did they start digging did they find a plethora of lost coins, jewelry and even discarded change that no one had even thought of sorting. There were old rings, earrings, pendants, necklaces, cabochons, cameos, and small Faberge eggs…items that could all amass to a fortune. Luckily, for her there was an appraiser in their group. It was Patricia, who was a numismatist and expert on the prices of all items old, archaic and ancient. She would be glad to take the items and see what their value was. But what Xandra didn’t know was that Patricia had her own ideas for what she would do with the treasure after discovering what its true value was. Tippy, the faithful chocolate lab, who was usually docile, was bristling and grumbling a little at Patricia, and still Xandra hadn’t picked up on the negative vibrations around her. Thinking Tippy was in a foul mood, she simply reprimanded him with a light paddle on the backside.

“Tippy, what is your problem ? Patricia isn’t doing anything to you, stop that !”, Xandra said, her violet eyes expressing her shock and upset at her faithful lab. Tippy put her tail between her legs and ducked down beside her.

The friends, taking all of the booty they had found, packed it away into Patricia’s hands and mounted their bicycles again. In a swift motion, they left the dump and spent the rest of their day together playing catch in the local football field until they were called inside by their parents. After dinner, the friends went about their own activities at home, Patricia greedily calculated how much the treasure she had found would amount to and then listed off different methods of spending it without being confronted by the others.

Chapter 3—Second Thoughts, But Friends No Longer

In the next few days, the friends were wondering why they weren’t getting any information on their cut of the cash. Patricia was still twiddling her thumbs and acting innocently, but Xandra could sense something wasn’t quite right with her. Patty had been a bit shifty eyed recently, and her voice had cracked and quivered, indicating that she had been lying to all of them. The anger could be felt among the lot of them, even in the tree-house that all of them had built so painstakingly together.

“Why did you do this to us ?!”, Dale asked, rather aggravated.

“I converted the net worth into cash, and thought of spending it, but then I realized I’d be missing out on something. Funny how the conscious does that.”, Patricia said, snidely, as she held the sacks of money close to her as if she were cradling an infant. But soon, she threw the sacks at Faith, Hope, and Charity. Then the others were given their share.

“I don’t want to see you here again, Patricia. I’m sorry, but we can’t trust you anymore.”, Xandra said with tears in her eyes. It made it all the easier for Patricia because she was moving away tomorrow anyhow. She had hated this town, hated the people in it, and was more than happy to be getting away from everything she despised. She didn’t say anything, nor did she shed a tear, but no sooner had Patricia left that Xandra began to weep.

“Honey, don’t be sad. We’re all millions of dollars richer, and our lives are so much better. As for me, I am giving some of my money to the less fortunate.”, Charity said, hugging her friend closely. Xandra sniffled a bit and realized what Charity had said was the gospel truth.

“I now know who my true friends are, and I’m glad your wisdom has enlightened me.”, Xandra said, her tears ceasing.

“Glad to know I could be of help, dear.”, Charity answered, hugging her beloved friend close again and the others joined in, making it one big happy group hug filled with unconditional love.

Chapter 4—Change Takes Hold

Not soon after the friends had taken their money and done their good deeds had something bizarre occurred within the neighborhood. Someone had lost their beloved companion “Iota” and was offering quite a fair amount of money to have him returned unharmed. There was no telling where the purebred Weimeriener was but the friends were concerned for the dog’s well being, even after they had seen fortune come and go.

It was true; the wealth that Xandra had amassed had changed each of the friend’s lives in a positive way. They were living better, and their homes had been refurbished. Even Tippy had noticed a difference from how much better his food tasted from before when his meals were store-bought. Now they were brand name and he was becoming slightly spoiled. But it wasn’t such a bad thing. All matters had improved and the friends were counting their blessings every day. Yet, when they saw the flier for the lost Wiemer and knew that they would be taking the right course of action by searching for him.

Up and down the streets, in and out alleyways, in dumpsters and in areas that humans would never pause to look or take a breather from walking; this is where the friends searched. Thus far they hadn’t had any luck in finding Iota, but they wouldn’t give up. After searching around town, they decided to go into the city and start searching there. The city was perilous, but as a group they were stronger than they would be alone, particularly since the five of them were together.

They arrived at the dump and searched it from top to bottom until they heard a doleful whimper coming from under a pile of miscellaneous junk. Tentatively they were able to coax Iota out with some dog food and water and clipped a leash on his collar to lead him back home.

“Come along, Iota. Your owner is very concerned about you.”, Hope said, leading the dog ahead of the others on her bike. It wasn’t certain whether Iota was leading Hope or pulling her along the trail back to his home.

“It seems Iota knows the way !”, Faith said, chuckling.

“It’s not funny, Faith. He’s going too fast, I can hardly keep my balance !”, Hope responded as the dog jerked her quickly toward the place he knew as his home.

Xandra knocked on the door of Iota’s owner and soon, a rather sweet, congenial black woman answered the door.

“You found my dog !”, she stated, unexpectedly hugging Xandra until she felt her ribs creak. Xandra tried to laugh but her breath was short.

“Yes. We did, ma’am. We’re glad he’s back in your care.”, she said, weakly.

“Oh, honey-child I’m sorry. I was overly excited my little Iota was back.”, the lady said, happily, kneeling down to hug her dog, who instantly licked her tear-stained face. The children were touched that owner and pet were relieved that both were fine. The woman quickly rewarded the five of them with a rather hefty prize. Not wanting to receive their reward, the children humbly turned it down, but the generous lady insisted. Thinking it rude not to accept the money, the children took what they were given, thanked the woman and rode back home to speak of their adventures in the city that day.

Epilogue

The friends had used their money wisely, helping those in need, saving for later schooling and putting their money away in IRAs for retirement. One would think that the young friends were too concerned about youth to be thinking about such adult matters as retirement but as Xandra always said, “You can never be too prepared for the future.”

Although Patricia was never heard from again, she did venture into the old town where her friends had once been. She didn’t have many true friends to speak of, and she had since changed her greedy ways from her checkered past, but she wasn’t sure if Xandra and her gang would forgive her. Of course now, being 10 years presently gone, they had changed and many of them had moved into different areas of the state. Xandra had remained in the same place and strangely enough, even had the same boyfriend from years ago. Some matters were consistent even with the click, tick-tock of the clock.

Patricia knocked awkwardly on Xandra’s door and waited for her to answer. It wasn’t long before she opened the door and saw Patricia there.

“I just wanted to tell you I was sorry. I know you probably don’t want to hear me out but…”, Patricia began, before her eyes started to well with tears. Xandra held her friend tightly in her embrace and patted her back.

“I forgive you. I don’t know if the others have or if they even remember, but it doesn’t really matter in the long run. I’m still your friend if you ever need me, and that won’t change.”, Xandra said, her tone gentle, maternal, unconditional and kid. Patrica’s sobbing ceased and she thanked Xandra for those words. Without one more sentence, Xandra wrote her email and phone number on a piece of paper.

“If you ever need me, don’t hesitate to call or write. For now, come on in. We really need to catch up.”, Xandra stated with a tender smile. Her friend quickly came in with her and they discussed everything from current events to politics to their everyday lives.

Long after the discussion had ended and Patricia returned home, life resumed a normal pace for Xandra and her friends. Xandra and Patricia had reclaimed their friendship and Patricia had proven she really wasn’t a bad person after all. She had learned from the past and especially knew greed was a terrible weakness. She had overcome that human frailty, and been awakened to how important friendship and enjoying the everyday truly was. She had Xandra to thank for that. Just learning how much she had seen and done in her young life made her thankful she had such a special playmate to show her just how miraculous the world could be even if no one else saw the world in quite the way that she did.

No matter how many years past or how far away the friends were from each other, initially they had forgotten Patricia’s past transgression. Still to this day, they reunite at an old kitchen that is built most like the ice-cream soda joints of the 1950’s to reminisce over their nostalgia. The treasure they had found when they were young had bettered their lives, but the true matter of everything was that the unconditional love they shared and the commoraderie that they possessed was greater than any manmade element on Earth. This was one constant that never shifted and would only grow stronger as time progressed.

The End