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 Treasure Box – Part 2

Finding the park was no problem. I’d been there many times as a child. Where to find the missing shoe was a bigger problem. I looked around for anything unusual. I checked the phone wires overhead. My friends and I used to have fun tying our sneakers together to see which one of us could get a pair caught on the overhead wires. One was rarely successful and when we were, the grounding we received from our parents usually convinced us never to try it again. Anyway, there were no shoes hanging from a wire, which made sense, since you need two shoelaces to be successful.

After looking in bushes, under benches, and in garbage cans, I came to a new piece of equipment I had never seen at this park. It was a bouncy house. There were a number of kids inside it and I noticed that none of the kids were wearing shoes. One of the Bouncy House rules was that you couldn’t go in it with your shoes on. I checked around the perimeter of the house until I found the entrance. Just outside the entrance, on the ground, were a dozen or so different sneakers and shoes of all sizes. A quick examination of the different pairs led me to one shoe that was missing its mate. Not only that, it was also missing a lace.

I picked up the shoe, walked some distance from the bounce house, where I wouldn’t be seen, and checked out the shoe. The bottom of the shoe was coated with a thick, gooey substance. It looked and felt a little like Silly Putty. I took out the pocket knife and scraped off the gunk as best I could. Attached to the shoe was a very small flash drive and the words “safe me”. I had no idea what that meant. I thought someone had just misspelled the words, “save me,” so I pocketed the drive and went off to find a liquor store. It was getting late and I hoped I could find one that was open.
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Today’s prompt 1/21/19:

You’re a construction worker, and while in the middle of a dig to build a new building, you stumble upon a box with contents in it. There are five very specific items in it, along with a note: “When you find this, call me. This is only phase one.” There is a phone number, so you call it. What happens next?

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The Treasure Box

It’s very boring being just the gofer at the construction site. “Go for this.” “Go for that.” “Clear away this mess.” “Move that pile of debris.” All I do all day is take orders and clean up the disaster of a site that is created by the higher paid workers. Little did I realize that that was soon going to change.

It was a typical Friday morning. Got to work, swept up the offices, waiting to be told what menial task I was to do when my boss sent me to a new construction site. I was told that my job was just to clear away some debris from a recently excavated plot so that the real workers could start laying the foundation.

I got to the site and was surprised to find no one there. The mess I had to dig through and clean up certainly was present. I went down into the hole and started carting up the debris. I’d been working about 45 minutes when I happened upon a small box. It looked very old. There was a lock hooked through a hasp, supposedly to keep the box shut and secure. Though the lock was closed, the hasp had been eroded enough away that it was no longer attached to the box, meaning I could open the box. So I did.

Inside the box were 5 items, a key, a shoelace, a swiss army pocket knife, an empty water bottle, a hundred dollar bill, and a note. The note said, “When you find this, call me. This is only phase one.”  The note included a phone number to call.

Since no one was around, instead of putting the box in the dumpster, I put it in my car, after pocketing the hundred dollar bill, and then continued to finish the job I was sent to do. With a weekend coming up, I figured I had time to figure out what this mystery was. I got home at my usual time, took out the box, examined it again, reread the note, then made the call.

A raspy voice answered on the other end. “It’s about time you called.”

“What do you mean?” I replied. “Who am I talking to?”

What shocked me was his answer. “It’s not necessary for you to know, Robby. Just suffice it to say, I expected this call much earlier. You now only have 18 hours to complete phase one.”

“How do you know my name? I only just found this box. Do I know you? What do you mean only 18 hours left?”

The ragged voice on the other side of the line retorted quickly, “Just continue to ask stupid questions and you will never have time enough to complete your task. You either do what I say and possibly gain something that will make your life a whole lot better, or don’t, just hang up and you’ll never know what you missed, and then there is, of course, the consequences of your inaction!”

My mind was spinning. So many questions. So many “What ifs?” He seemed to be threatening me that if I didn’t cooperate something bad would happen, but if I did do what he said good things would happen.  I was in mid-thought when again he spoke, “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you. Better luck next time.”

“DON’T HANG UP! I’ll do it,” was my hastened response, not knowing at all what I just agreed to.

In my mind, I could see him smirking as he continued and told me what I had to do.

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Step 1: Go to my local park and find the shoe that was missing the shoelace.

Step 2: Use the pocket knife to scrape out the gunk that was stuck to the bottom of the shoe. Somehow there was something I either had to find, use or read, which the gunk covered up.

Step 3: go to the liquor store of my choice, purchase a certain brand of champagne, using the $100.00 and pour enough of it into the empty water bottle, which I was told was in fact not completely empty and follow the instructions as to where to go.

Step 4: Look for another box which will not have a rusted hasp and use the key to open it and get my Phase 2 assignment.

I was, supposedly, not the only person looking for this box. And its contents were set to self-destruct at the end of the original 24 hour period, meaning I had less than 18 hours to go.

Before I could ask any questions. The line went dead.

continued at http://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=1403

This week’s writing prompt is: You’re traveling in a rental car when you hear the thumping of a flat tire. You pull over and discover the thumping is not coming from a flat, after all, but from the trunk. What or who is making the noise?

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I Hear You Knocking…

Leave it to me to be late again. Why can’t I ever get to where I’m supposed to be on time. This time, it was not my fault. My car died. I was ready in plenty of time to drive to school to pick up my son, and the darn car wouldn’t’ start. I tried jumping it, pushing it, even kicked it a couple of times, but it wouldn’t start. But I didn’t panic. I still had time. I quickly got on the phone called Enterprise car rental, they came and picked me up, drove me back to Enterprise, I filled out a few forms and I was on my way to pick Charlie up in a less than stellar car.

Just as I was about to reach school, where Charlie was waiting, I heard a ‘Thump’, then another one, and then another one. Great! I made it to school but now I’ll have to deal with a flat tire. Just my luck.

I pulled up to the curb where Charlie was impatiently waiting. By the scowl on his face, I assumed that he was not only upset that I was late but also mad about me showing up in a junk car that had a flat tire, meaning that there would be more delay.

As I got out of the car, I noticed something very strange. All of the tires were intact and fully inflated.

I grabbed Charlie’s backpack and went to put it in the trunk, when I heard that Thump, Thump, Thump, again.  

Charlie sarcastically said, “Nice dump truck you got here. What’s the matter? Mom wouldn’t give you the keys to the car again?”  He added, “What’s in the trunk?”

Not wanting to find out, I decided to put Charlie’s backpack in the back seat and said, “Oh nothing of importance, let’s go.”

We hadn’t driven very far when all of sudden I began to hear what appeared to be crying and it wasn’t Charlie. It definitely was coming from the inside of the car, more specifically, the trunk. And then it stopped.

“Dad,” Charlie said, “There is definitely someone or something in the trunk that is alive. Care to explain?”

I decided that honesty was the best policy, “I just picked up the car and I have no clue what’s in there.”

“Then hadn’t we take a look?” was Charlie’s reply.

I hate it when he’s right all the time. I pulled over to the curb, we both got out and went to the back of the car, pretty much expecting the worst. My head was filled with pictures of tortured, kidnapped victims, mob hits, abandoned babies and dead or mortally wounded animals.

I unlocked the lid and slowly pulled it up. What greeted my eyes was not what I expected. It was a child, a boy, probably about 6 years old and he was fast asleep.

Both Charlie and I looked at each other and said simultaneously, “What the…” As we spoke the boy woke up, rubbed his eyes and said, “Can you take me back to my daddy’s work now?”

We drove back to Enterprise, to see police cars in the front questioning one of the employees. In fact, it was the guy who had picked me up to bring me the car. It turned out that he had brought his son to work today and through the hustle and bustle of work, didn’t notice his son climb into the trunk of the car he was inspecting before driving to pick me up. He certainly wasn’t paying attention when he shut the trunk lid.  When I had left to pick up Charlie, he noticed his son was missing. After a furtive search with no luck, he called the police.

His son, after climbing into to trunk to play hide and seek from his father, saw his father close the lid and assumed he was being taken for a special ride. It wasn’t until some time later that the boy realized he couldn’t get out of the car and started banging around. Having no luck, he cried for a while until he fell asleep. And that was when we found him.

All this was explained to the police when we arrived with his son. I got warned to check a rental car better before I take possession of it. The father was also told that he’d needed to watch his son better when he is at work, or else he would be reported to Child Protective Services. And that was the end of it.

Charlie and I finally made it home. It ended up costing me a fortune to get our car repaired. And Charlie, well, he has decided to take the school bus home from now on, it’s more efficient, with no crazy side trips.