Black Cat Weekly #71

Chapter 6

byAs Stacy Devereaux creaked open the rusty gate and entered the unmown front yard of her uncle’s house, she realized that she had put off this visit too long. The man she called “Jolly Roger” had passed away the previous week, and this would be the last time she walked past his beloved terracotta sundial and onto the rickety porch on which they had spent so many hours.

Stacy couldn’t suppress a smile as she thought about how she had teased her uncle for having a sundial located completely in the shade beneath a huge oak tree. “Sunny,” he would say, using the pet name he had inexplicably given her, “you’re all the sunshine I need.”

Jolly Roger Devereaux had spent his early years as an explorer and treasure hunter. Stacy had grown up listening to her dad recount his brother’s adventures and reading the letters and cards her uncle had sent from exotic locations around the world.

On his stops back home, her uncle would dazzle the family by carting out some object he had picked up on his latest travels and regale them with an often larger-than-life tale of how he had acquired the prize. Stacy had announced that she wanted to be a treasure hunter just like him when she grew up.

As the years passed, however, Jolly Roger’s trips became less frequent. During Stacy’s high school days he had purchased the tiny bungalow and declared he would never depart from it until, in his words, “I leave this mortal coil.”

In recent years, Stacy had seen her family grow smaller until only her uncle and two cousins remained. When she had called Ruth and Calvin to give them the news that Jolly Roger was near the end, she hadn’t really been surprised at their seeming lack of concern.

She had been surprised, however, when both her cousins showed up a few days after her uncle’s death. Thinking back on what had happened, she felt disappointed and angry.

“Stacy,” Ruth said as the three of them stood in the cramped kitchen where Stacy and her uncle had shared his favorite mango pancakes and pot after pot of coffee, “do you think Uncle Roger really hid some treasure here on his property?”

“Yeah,” chimed in Calvin, “I always thought he must have brought back something valuable from his trips. After all, he lived here quite a long time with no apparent source of income.”

“You two should be ashamed of yourselves,” said Stacy. “Uncle Roger did live here quite a few years, and neither of you ever took the time to visit him.”

“Well,” said Calvin, “you were always his favorite, SUNNY.”

“He didn’t bother to give us nicknames,” echoed Ruth.

Almost against her will, Stacy pulled a piece of parchment from her jacket pocket. Just before he died, her uncle had called her to his bedside and slipped the piece of paper into her hands with the simple words, “You always wanted to be a treasure hunter.”

“What’s that?” said Calvin.

Unfolding the paper, Stacy said, “I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t share this with you.” On the paper was scribbled, X MARKS THE SPOT.

Both Calvin’s and Ruth’s eyes lit up. “There is a treasure!” shouted Calvin. “I knew it.”

Now, as Stacy looked around her, she grimaced at what her cousins had done to find Jolly Roger’s hidden treasure. Calvin and Ruth had ransacked the house, leaving no drawer unopened or chair upright, but had finally left in frustration.

Locking the front door for the final time, Stacy turned to leave. Some treasure hunter she was. As she passed the familiar sundial, her uncle words suddenly came to her: “You’re all the sunshine I need.” With a smile, she rushed toward the chipped clock.

Stacy realized that her uncle had refused to leave his bungalow or to move the sundial from the shade for a reason. He had faith that his “Sunny” would figure out his final treasure hunt. When Stacy moved the hand to the Roman numeral X on the dial, the metal arrow pointed to a wall at the edge of the yard. Hidden behind a large stone was a chest filled with gold doubloons no doubt discovered on one of Jolly Roger’s adventures.