The Man said, The Cat said.
The
Man Said...
“Hey,
what's that in your mouth?” The cat had something shiny in its' possession. He
dropped it in front of me. I picked it up and inspected it. It looked like a
gold coin.
“Hey,
Honey, take a look at this.” I showed the coin to my wife. She looked at it
closely for quite some time.
“Where
did this come from?” She asked.
“I
simply don't know. The cat had it in it's mouth. Maybe there's more?”
Her eyes lit up when I said
this. I guess she's thinking the same thing I am. I took the coin down to the
local coin shop, and sure enough, it was a gold coin. A Spanish Dubloon. When I
was told the price for it, I nearly fainted. I thanked the man and went home.
“Honey,
this is worth quite a bit of money. If there's more, we are going to be well
off. What do you think we should do?”
“Well, we need to find out
where it all is. Or if it was just a fluke. I think you'd better go talk to
Robert.”
Robert was the local historian. We lived in a real old house, built in the late
1800's. It a real nice place, quite luxurious. And quite the mortgage on it. It
sits on ten acres. Almost all of it is woods. The cat roams it freely, so no
telling where he could have dug that up.
I
took a drive to Robert's office and had a nice long chat with him about the
property. Apparently, it was built by one of the last living pirates, named No
Beard. He apparently buried a vast treasure on the property, but no one could
ever find it, after searching for close to a century. They finally gave up and
sold the place to us. Now I know that there's more. I just got to get that cat
to give me the location.
I
gave the cat some tuna that evening. After that, he sauntered off to a corner
of the room to take a nap. When he woke up, he headed into the back yard. The
dog got all excited that I was out there too, so he wanted me to play fetch. I
was way too busy for that. The cat went to the edge of the manicured part of
the property, and sat down. He then proceeded to lay there and take another
nap. This isn't getting me anywhere. I finally gave in and played with the dog
for a while. After all, the cat was just napping.
The
Cat Said...
I
woke up from my beauty sleep and saw that my servant was playing with Him. At
first, I thought he was just a big, stupid cat. But he finally told me he's a
'Dug'. Apparently, he has two names, 'Good Boy' and 'Bad Boy'. The male servant
can't seem to make up his mind on which one to choose. At least that's what
'Dug' tells me. When my servants speak to me, all I hear is 'Blah, Blah, Blah.'
So the 'Dug' tells me what they say. It's a real hassle.
The
other day, I was chasing a Flyer and got into the area behind my castle. The
Flyer eventually got up in a tree. I tried to tell it to come down and meet me
so we could be a little friendly. However, he decided that he was safer up in
the tree. Too bad. I thought I had a nice present to give to my Servant. When I
started to leave, I noticed a nice shiny thing there in a hole by the tree. I
picked it up in my mouth and took it to my servant. He was so happy, he gave me
that fishy stuff. I love that fishy stuff.
My
Servant got real weird after that. He would follow me into the yard, watching
me everywhere I went. I know my servant needs to take care of me, but this is a
little ridiculous. So I just wander around, waiting for him to leave.
'Dug'
told me that the servant wants more shiny. He heard the servant talking to the
other servant. You know, the female one. They told 'Dug' that they needed more
shiny to get all kinds of things. 'Dug' didn't say what things they were going
to get. Maybe more fishy stuff. I think I'll get him another, then.
The
Man said...
Today,
the Cat brought yet another coin. I was so happy, I gave him a whole can of
tuna. But there's a problem. He doesn't show me where the actual stash is. But
I've solved that problem. I bought a GPS tracker and put it on his collar. Now,
I just have to track where he goes and I know He'll lead me to it all.
The
Cat said...
Today,
I followed the Flyer through the woods behind my castle. He took me all around,
but he never got close enough to catch. I decided to take a nap after chasing
him. When I woke up, it was dark. 'Dug' came up shortly after, and drug me back
to the castle. The male Servant took my necklace away and left me with no fishy
stuff. That made me mad. I guess I won't get him shinys after all.
The
Man said...
I've
been looking at the steps the Cat takes for a week now. He's all over the
place! And, as far as I can tell, there is no sign of where the coins might be
buried. But, I'll never give up. I fed the cat some tuna again, hoping that
would motivate him.
The
Cat said...
After
a nice meal of the fishy stuff, I decided to reward my Servant with more shiny.
I took another from the spot and put it in his shoe. I'm sure he'll be happy
about it.
The
Man said...
A
week passed, and still no coins. I am getting real fed up with this cat.
However, I will still keep up with it. After all, my fortune is out the
somewhere!
When
I woke up today, I put on a pair of sneakers I use in the yard. When I did, I
felt something inside. It was another coin! I hurriedly got the tracker off the
cat and checked where he went. After eliminating all of the places he had been
before, I noticed a week before he was near a large tree in the center of our
woods. I hadn't been there yet. I took a shovel and went to the tree. I didn't
have to even dig. The coins were in a hollow right at the base. Apparently,
there had been a rather heavy rain that cleared the spot for us.
I
took the coins in the house and my wife and I counted them. There were 1268. It
meant that we wouldn't have to work ever again. What a joyous day this is.
Then
it all fell apart. Robert showed up at my house a couple days later and had a
woman with him. She was older, around 60, and had long, gray hair. I asked
Robert why he was here.
“I
asked around. According to the coin man in town, you had a coin that was from a
stash here on the property. I assume you've found it , then?”
“Well, I guess you could say
that. But, why do you care? It's ours, after all. It was on our property.”
“You
forgot about the clause in your contract. This is Mary Steem. She's the last
living relative of No Beard. So, she's here to collect.”
I
was flabbergasted. After all of this, we get nothing? But, she apparently
decided to 'be nice' and give us 10%. I guess it's better than nothing. We used
our portion to pay down our mortgage. It shaved half off. I continued to give
the Cat tuna after that. After all, he did do his job.
The
Cat said...
I finally did it! I caught that stupid Flyer. I am so proud of myself. I know this is much better than any shiny. I left it on the table in the place where the Servants eat. I'm sure they will be pleased. After all of that, I decided to get my beauty sleep. After all, I need to maintain my body. My servants are going to need me around for a long, long time.
Daric
Robert Lennard
Daric Robert Lennard is
the author of "My Name is Berta", a children's book. He lives in Pennsylvania
with his wife and adult daughter. He daydreams of finding Spanish Dubloons in
his backyard.