Aunt Martha’s Treasure

A short story by Jill Kelley

“Dirty Socks is a place in the desert. Can you guess what it smells like? No matter. We made some fun memories there mucking around in the slimy hot spring water. Anyhow, that would be my best guess,” Carley said. She looked at the clue written on an index card. It read, Rotten Egg Sulfur Pipe.

“Water comes up out of a big wide-open pipe to fill a pool. We used to take turns sticking our legs down in there. The sensation is worth the stench. It’s better than any jacuzzi jet, but it’s kind of scary too. It feels like you might get stuck or like there could be a monster down there who might grab your feet and pull you down to the center of the Earth. It’s freaky. Looks like we’re going on another road trip.”

Carley Jacobs winked at her husband, John, and added the clue to an envelope filled with other index cards. Dear old Aunt Martha was wildly eccentric. With the fortune she made after buying stock in McDonald’s back in 1965, she made a string of wise investments until she amassed great wealth. It seems the golden arches enchanted her so that everything she touched on the stock market turned to gold. She had a knack for it. So, she could afford to be as eccentric as she pleased.

One of her favorite games was to send her nieces and nephews on scavenger hunts all over the world. She paid all expenses, first-class, and asked only for postcards. She had six nephews and three nieces, so her collection of postcards was impressive.

Part of the game was to find the next clue. Once, they found an index card taped onto a glass window of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. Somehow, it was taped to the outside! Another time on a safari ride at the Guadalajara Zoo, a Giraffe dropped one out of his mouth like a leaf onto Carley’s lap. They found this Rotten Egg Sulfur Pipe Clue taped to the bottom of lifeguard tower 11 at Huntington Beach after finding a clue that read, “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Not me!” It was in reference to a game they played at this beach. The waves were the Big Bad Wolf, and they weren’t afraid because they could dive under the waves.

John Jacobs sighed. “Will this game ever end? We’ve been traveling for almost a full year. I’m ready to settle down.” John took Carley’s hand and pulled her to sit. They both pushed their feet down into the sand and looked toward the ocean breeze. “Maybe we should give up,” John said. “Your brothers and sisters have all stopped playing; maybe we should too.”

“I can’t, John. I just can’t. I’m having a blast. I don’t want to stop now. Besides that, I keep thinking Aunt Martha has a purpose for all of this like it’s a test or something. I want to keep going.”

“Okay, darling. If you insist, but I hope this game ends soon.” John caressed Carley’s pretty face and kissed her. Then together, they jumped up and raced down into the cold pacific water to play Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Not Me!

The pool was about four feet deep, so Carly and John bent their knees until the water was up to their necks. They glided through the hot spring water over to where water was spewing forth from a pipe. A soft current flowed around them as they soaked in the unpleasant-smelling sulfur water. Carley held onto the sides of the pipe and moved her legs down into the whole. “Ahhh! Oooh! That feels so weird.” She smiled at John. “Oh! I think I can feel something stuck to the side with my foot. Let me try to grab it with my monkey toes.” Her face skewed to the side, and she squirmed, trying to get it. “It’s no use. Here you try.” She made way for John.

He slipped his legs into the pipe. “Yep. There is definitely something there. I can feel it.”

John’s face, contorted with concentrated effort, made Carley laugh. “Don’t hurt yourself.” She said.

John liberated his entombed legs. “What should we do?”

Carley tightened her ponytail and said, “I’m going in. I can do it.”

“You mean you want to go in head-first and grab it with your hands? No way! That’s too dangerous!”

“How so? I’ll be okay. There is enough water pressure from the water pouring out to keep me from going too deep. Plus, you can grab onto my legs.”

John grimaced, “I don’t like this.” He said.

“Come on. Let’s try.” Carley said.

“Fine. But let me tie a rope around you.”

John cut a beach towel into strips, fashioned the strips into a rope, tied one end around his wife’s waist, and the other end around his waist. Carley took a deep breath, lifted her arms above her head, and plunged into the pipe. John’s heart pounded when her feet dipped below the surface. This is crazy, he thought and started to pull on the rope, but the force on the other end was too strong. His feet slipped, and he was pulled into the pipe. They were being sucked down through a vortex. Water fell away. It was dark, but there was an air pocket. He could breathe. He called out, “Carley!”

He heard her respond, “John!”

Then he was out of the pipe, falling through space until he splashed into a deep pool. He frantically swam up, striving for air. He made it. Carley was there too. They breathed. Using the rope like a tug of war, they pulled each other close and cleaved together.

“Congratulations! You made it!”

Carley and John turned toward the sound of the voice then looked back at each other astounded. “Aunt Martha! Why did you do that to us? That was terrifying!” Carley said. As they moved to exit the pool, Aunt Martha held out two thick, fluffy, white towels and laughed.

“Nonsense. It was fun. You’re fine. You’re both fine. It was an exciting way to wrap-up your year-long adventure. Let me look at you.” Aunt Martha took Carley by the shoulders, looked deep into her eyes, kissed her cheeks, gave her a big hug, then did the same to John. “Oh, my dears, I’m so happy to see you both. Welcome.”

“Aunt Martha, what is this place? What are you doing here? What’s going on?” Carley asked.

“Come with me; I’ll tell y’all everything.” Aunt Martha said. “First, you may clean up and put some dry clothes on in here.” She showed them to a room reminiscent of a room at a Four Seasons Resort.

“This is unbelievable,” John said.

“I know.” Carley agreed.

Aunt Martha opened a set of double doors to reveal a large conference room.

“Hey! Look who’s here! Hello! Hey!” Carley’s brothers and sisters were all seated around a long conference table. Everyone was delighted to see each other. There were several minutes of greetings and warm embraces.

“We thought you guys had quit the game,” John said, “looks like you stopped playing because you got to the end. We all did. Looks like we’re all here. This game was quite the trip.” Everyone shook their heads in agreement.

“Okay, now, y’all, please, be seated.” Aunt Martha said.

Carley and John sat next to each other. Aunt Martha sat at the head of the table. There were postcards strewn across the length of the table. Everyone was smiling.

“First, I want to thank y’all for being here. This year has been eventful for all of us. It has been my pleasure to send y’all traipsing across the world. I love to travel, but I can only do so much. Sending y’all out, the way I did, was a way for me to live vicariously through each one of you. And the postcards taught me so much about who you are, which was invaluable to the proposition I have for y’all now.” Aunt Martha said. Everyone looked at each other with anticipation.

“As y’all know, I’m rich.” Aunt Martha said. “But rich is an understatement. The more money I get, the more money I get. The rich get richer, don’t cha know. I have more money than I know what to do with it. I’ll show y’all when we’re finished here, but wealth is a tricky thing. It’s nice to have the freedom to do the things you’d like to do, live in comfort, and do good for others, but I have learned that philanthropy isn’t as easy as y’all might think.”

“Wealth isn't necessarily bad, but greed truly is the root of all evil. I keep trying to do good with my money, but it never turns out the way I expect. There is too much corruption in the world. So, I’d like to hire y’all to help me help the world. I have gleaned some ideas from my precious postcards, thanks to y’all. Here’s what I propose,” Aunt Martha said.

She held up a postcard with a picture of a NASA rocket ship blasting off. “Deborah, you and your hubby, Mickey, sent this to me from Cape Canaveral, Florida.” She held up three more with similar rocket ship pictures, “and these came from Russia, China, and Europe. I love what you wrote about how astronauts worldwide say the same thing about the overview effect of seeing Earth from outer space.”

“The job I have for you is to find a way to make visits to outer space safe and affordable, so every world leader and anyone else who wants could go there anytime. Can you imagine what having access to this perspective could do for our planet? It could mean an end to pollution and destruction caused by land misuse. Conflicts could lose importance; borders could become needless. It could bring world peace. Oh, the possibilities of enlightenment are as endless as space itself. Money is not an issue. Y’all will see.”

“Carley and John,” Aunt Martha said as she fanned out a stack of postcards with a flourish like she was about to do a card trick. “Every one of these postcards has a picture of a church or cathedral from the places you have been. Look here, the Crystal Cathedral, Guadalajara Cathedral, Notre Dame, St. Peter’s Basilica, Church of Nativity, and there’s even one here from the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas.”

As she named each one, Aunt Martha slapped them down on the table. “Your love for the Lord is obvious,” she said, leaning with one hand on the table the other on her hip. “The job I have for y’all is to go back to all these places and do what you can to further the Kingdom of God. Find out what can be done and do it. Hallelujah! Spare no expense. Y’all will see.”

“My dear little Misty, you and your wife, Darlene, nearly broke my heart with the postcards you sent.” Aunt Martha gathered up a stack, tapping them into order. “These are all about plastic pollution. Your focus stayed on this tragic situation at every place y’all went.” Aunt Martha held up one of the postcards. “I love this one from Kenya that tells about the strict laws they have over there against using plastic shopping bags. Four years in prison or fines up to $40,000. Incredible. I’d like for y’all to do what you can to solve this problem, even all the plastic in the oceans. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Y’all will see.

“Now, boys. The job I have for y’all is a big one.” Aunt Martha walked around the table, reaching between each one of her nephews and their wives to pick-up postcards. When she got back around to the head of the table, she fingered the stack, moving the postcards in her hand as one might do in a card game.

“As well as telling me about your interests — and y’all have very distinct interests — y’all also noted your concern for the poor at every place you visited. My job for y’all is to build world-class schools all over the world. Let the schools be architectural wonders. Fill the classrooms with top of the line technologies and high-end furniture. Let the cafeterias serve Michelin Starred cuisine in the finest settings. I’m talking about silver spoons, fine china, fine linen, and candles too. Let there be taught art, music, literature, and drama. Teach all the STEM classes, all the sports, dance, and golf included. And let us pay the students to learn. Can you imagine what will come of this? Dream big. Y’all will see.”

All the nieces and nephews started talking all at once, laughing, bouncing up and down in their seats, getting louder, animating with hand gestures, getting louder still, all excited. They all turned to Aunt Martha and asked, “Will you show us now?”

“Certainly,” she said, “follow me.” Aunt Martha pressed a button on the wall, which activated a sliding door disguised as a panel wall. She led her beloved family down a long hallway. At the end of the hallway was a vault door. Aunt Martha turned the large captain’s wheel knob to the right, to the left, then back to the right. A loud click echoed down the hall, and she pulled open the heavy door. Everyone followed her inside.

In contrast to the noise they were all making a moment ago, absolute silence made their ears ring as they stood there gawking. They were standing in a vast cavern chock full of treasure beyond their wildest dreams. There were mountains of gold coins, diamonds, gems, pearls, rings, bracelets, necklaces, and watches. Cash, deeds, stocks, and bonds were plastic-wrapped and stacked high on industrial shelving units. Tons and tons of precious valuables, gem-studded-solid-gold-utensils of every kind, fat stacks of casino chips, Persian rugs rolled up or laid out, oil paintings here and there leaning against piles and piles of money. This was an immeasurable amount of wealth like El Dorado. It was the beginning of a fun new game to make the world a better place. Y’all will see.

Would you care for another short story? Here’s one for you.

Jill Kelley is a grateful believer and follower of Jesus Christ experiencing victory over a twenty-seven-year addiction to drugs and alcohol, one day at a time, for over five years now. She is a training coach and leader at Celebrate Recovery. And she is an artist seeking to stretch her artistic expression through creative writing.