Treasure Map

Closing the dishwasher door with a clunk, Theresa hit the start button. 

She muttered under her breath. 'Well that's one job out of the way at least. Just a million more.' Sighing, her eyes peered around the kitchen, looking for what to do next. 'Bugger,' she cursed and sighed again. She hadn't spotted the two dirty mugs in the corner. 'They'd have to go in next time round'.

Deciding to do the vacuuming next, she made a beeline for the cupboard. Progress was thwarted however by a dog bed in the way. Hemara, her pooch, a French Bulldog, had dragged it in from the lounge and was laying sound asleep.

'Hems, will you please stop doing that. You can't sleep there!' Hemara barely stirred at the mention of her name. She didn't open her eyes, just wrapped her paws tighter around the gnarly, part chewed stick she shared her bed with. 'And where did you get that from? You've enough toys already. We can't have you bringing sticks in as well.'  When Theresa reached down to take it, Hemara woke up fully. She growled lightly. 'Don't talk to me like that. You know the rules. Sticks are outside toys.'

Theresa was about to throw out into the garden when she realised how light the stick was. Giving it a shake, something inside moved. 'That's odd.' She became even more intrigued at the sound it made when she tapped it. Although the stick look perfectly normal, its lightness suggested it must be hollow.

Hemara watched on with a look of bug-eyed indignation, as Theresa began hitting the stick hard against the wooden chopping board. On the third strike it began to splinter. On the fifth, it split open altogether and out fell a tiny piece of rolled up paper. Hemara, seeing the paper hit the floor, sprung up, and as fast as her pocket-sized legs allowed, headed straight for it. Fortunately, Theresa was faster, she scooped it up before Hemara's jaws could close around it.

'What's this then?' She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Still carrying a look of puzzlement and fully aware Hemara was watching, Theresa unrolled the mysterious find. Once fattened out, she saw there was a message. In green ink it simply said. 'Look and you shall find.'

Theresa was almost disappointed. She didn't know what to expect but it would have been nice to find a poem, or words of spiritual inspiration or something. Still musing, she turned the paper over and found a simple hand drawn map. Again in green, someone had drawn three trees next to a river and a bridge too. At the foot of one of the trees began a dotted line, it travelled from the tree, over the bridge, along the river and stopped at what looked like a large rock. Theresa tried to visualise where the map might correspond to. Living out in the country, there were two small rivers close by, both with numerous footbridges crossing them. This very basic map could represent any one of them. She huffed her annoyance. Not wanting to think about it any further, she pinned the map to the fridge and decided to take it with her next time she walked Hemara.

Time past, life moved on. The map remained pinned to the fridge. It became buried however, under dozens of notes and reminders, recipes cut out of the Sunday supplements and suchlike.

One day, a friend, Victoria, upset after a recent relationship break up, came and stayed a while. Things worked out really well, Duncan, 'The Pig', was soon forgotten, and the girls got on famously, just like when they first met at university.

Victoria had been there a week and was beginning to feel guilty of taking Theresa's hospitality for granted. Refusing to take any money, it was agreed she would do more of the housework instead. Starting in the kitchen, she attacked the fridge door with gusto. One by one she removed the cut out magazine recipes and glued them straight away into a scrap book.

'Hello, what's this?' She asked, holding the tiny map out for Theresa to see.

'Oh, that. It's nothing. Hemara found it in a stick last summer. I forgot it was even there.'

'But it's a map.'

'Yes it is. Sort of. Well done you.' Theresa replied again, switching on the kettle.

'And have you followed the route? I guess not. I bet you haven't even been back there, have you?'

'I don't know what you mean. Back where?' Asked Theresa . 'That could be any clump of trees, any bridge, any river.'

'But that's not just any clump of trees or bridge or river is it? This is a map of the brook that ran past our digs when we were at uni. Look at the first tree. What can you see?'

Puzzled, Theresa took the map. Putting on her glasses, she studied the piece of paper properly for the very first time. To her amazement she saw in the trunk of the tree, a miniscule, almost microscopic love heart. It was an exact copy of the love heart she had inscribed herself into a tree in her final year of studying. It even had her initials and the initials of the boy she was seeing at the time. 

'Fuck! You're right. But that's impossible. Hemara found the stick just around here, whilst out on a walk. Anyone, or even no one, could have found it. How could this possibly happen?'

Victoria immediately became animated, she'd always loved a puzzle and this was a really good one. 'I don't know, but I think we should bloody well find out.' Already she'd found her car keys. 'Put your shoes on, we leave in 5 minutes.'

Theresa knew best not to argue with her friend, besides she was as equally keen to find out for herself.

The car journey took nearly an hour, but to the excited young women, it felt nearer four. Luckily they found a parking spot close to where they once shared the flat.

Theresa patted her pocket, double-checking she had the map, and together they set off on foot.

The clump of trees, where the map began, appeared completely different to how they remembered it. One tree had gone altogether, leaving just a rotting stump. Bushes had grown all around. The tree that really mattered, the one with the inscribed love heart and initials, still stood strong however. Seeing her handiwork in the bark from so many years ago, brought on a wave of nostalgia. She and Victoria had both dated Mateo from Madrid, and his best friend Luca too. The 'fun' was shared. They tried to keep things casual, but jealousy soon reared its ugly head. A fight broke out between the boys and almost overnight everyone went their separate ways. Neither of the girls had heard from Mateo of Luca since. Not letting her emotions run away with her, Theresa took out the map. She looked to her friend.

'Ready?' She asked.

'Ready,' was Victoria's excited reply.

They set off, following exactly the route marked on the map. Through a wooded area they did a sharp right and soon came upon the bridge. They crossed without stopping and continued on at a greater pace. They were now following the river on it's West bank and things were looking good. Sooner than they expected however, they then came upon a large bolder just off the path. The dotted line on the map stopped right in front of it.

'Well, this must be it.' Theresa pressed her foot against the car sized hunk of granite. It didn't budge. 'Now we've found it, what do we do?'

'I dunno. Dig?' Suggested Victoria.

'Yes of course, silly me. Um, did you bring the pick axe and shovel? A stick of dynamite maybe?'

Disappointed but not defeated, they had no other option but to retrace their steps back to the car. They'd reached the bridge again when Victoria spotted a plaque showing the date it was built. Because the bridge was barely a year old, she proposed that it must have been built after the map had been made.

'We must have crossed the wrong flipping bridge', she said. 'I bet there's another one further along the river.'

With new enthusiasm the two girls started again. Ignoring the first bridge they continued further this time, and yes, another bridge appeared on the very next bend of the river. Much older and made of wood, this bridge was rickety and in disrepair. Suddenly both girls remembered it clearly from days gone by. They'd used it hundreds of times in the past.

After crossing they found themselves on the West bank of the tiny brook again. Unlike earlier however, there was no path to follow. They had to tramp through long grass and thicket as they went. Some fifty metres further on, they came upon yet again, another large rock.

'This must be it,' said Theresa, trying to sound positive.

Holding her breath, she approached, and wished again she'd brought something with which to dig. Treading down the long grass, she walked around it twice, all the time looking for clues or something odd. Nothing appeared. Giving up, she kicked a fallen branch out of her way, but in doing so, it revealed a small hole in the base of the rock.

'Aha', she muttered. 'This could be something.'

Bending down, with her fingertips she plucked out an old Coke can and a McDonald's bag. At first she thought that was it, but feeling braver, she pushed her hand much deeper into hole. Her fingers suddenly come upon something fabric. Carefully she took a hold, and pulled out a small linen bag, about the size of a crisp packet.

Victoria was beside her now, was keen to see what Theresa had found. Upturning the bag, its contents spilling out, both girls stepped back in horror. There was a scroll of paper, but it was the other two items that caught their eye. There on the ground lay a pendant, a distinctive silver disk, like a dog tag, attached to a leather thong. Both girls remembered immediately that it belonged to Luca. Sitting next to the pendant was a piece of bone. There was no mistaking it was a broken jawbone with a neat row of teeth. One tooth stood out more than the others because it was made of gold, it was the exact same tooth they remembered Luca having all those years ago.

Though both in shock, it was Victoria who was eventually brave enough to unfurl the scroll of aged paper. 

A message in green ink simply read, 'Hello Theresa. Hello Vicky. I did this just for you. All my Love Mateo'