The Well.

“Why are you burying it so deep?” “We want someone to find it in the next fifty years or so, don’t we?” “This empty well will eventually be dug up to build a new estate, so don’t worry, it will be found!” “New estate!” “We are four hundred kilometres from the nearest city!” “And that city has expanded over four-hundred kilometres in the last fifty years, so it will be found!”

Lisa and Martin had been friends for twenty years, but Lisa wasn’t happy about where he had decided to bury the time capsule.

A month earlier, Lisa was busy correcting her student’s homework, when she got a call from her best friend martin.

“Hi Lisa, I was wondering if you had time to go for a coffee on Tuesday, about 3pm at Boo’s?”

“I have something important to talk to you about.”

“Umm, yes I think I can make it, what is so important?”

“I’ll tell you all about it then, thanks, bye!” With that, Martin promptly hung up on her.

It was the middle of Spring, so the weather was beautiful. Lisa dressed in a light shirt and jeans, brushed her long hair, and put on a smudge of lipstick.

She sat outside Boo’s in the sunshine and ordered two coffees from the waitress.

Martin arrived on time, smiling, and well dressed as usual.

Martin came from a family who had owned a “Men’s Boutique” for over two hundred years, so his parents had made sure he always dressed appropriately.

“Hi Lisa, great to catch up!” “How is your family going?” “They are all doing well, thanks.” Lisa answered. “I hope your family are all well, also.”

“What is so important?” Just then the waitress arrived with the coffees and sat them on the table. “Thank you!”

“Well, you may not even think that it is important, but I do.”

“It all started when I decided to go through the back room, which is full of furniture, books, tapes and everything but the kitchen sink!” Lisa laughed. “Oh, you have one of those rooms as well!”

“I hired a skip-bin and I was doing well, getting rid of so much rubbish, which will never be used, and nobody wanted.”

“Then I came across some books and letters.”

Martin took out his phone, went into photos, and showed them to Lisa.

“Explain to me, what I am looking at.”

“These letters are written to my great-great Grandfather, by Queen Marguerite.” “He kept them hidden inside the pages of the family Bible.”

“My great-great Grandfather was invited to fashion some appropriate clothes, for her son, the Duke, and there are sketches of the clothes here, as well.”

Lisa was dumbfounded, and sat looking at the letters with her mouth hanging open, not knowing what to say.

“Martin, you can’t throw these away!” “They need to be put somewhere safe!”

Martin laughed. “I don’t intend to throw them away, that is what I am here for.” “I wanted to ask you about filling up a time-capsule, and burying it for the future generation.”

“I’m sure you have some things at home you would like to leave to future generations.”

Lisa looked at him, then smiled. “Martin, that’s a great idea!”

“you’re right, I do have some things which need to be kept for the future.” “Not everything should be thrown away, or we would never know anything about the past!”

The next week Martin ordered a time-capsule, on-line, and it arrived four days later.

It was quite big, but not too heavy, which was good.

Martin had put aside two diaries, a Bible and several letters with a broken seal on the back of them, from the Queen. He also included a few ancient photos and also some recent photos, all with names and dates on the back. He carefully wrapped them all tightly in plastic and sealed them with tape.

On the day they had decided to bury the capsule they had arrived early, with a shovel to fill the well in.

Lisa had bought letters and poems written by her great-great Grandmother and even a beautiful lace doily she had hand-crafted, as well as her family Bible and some recent photos.

 She had tightly wrapped them in plastic, so both hers and Martin’s  memories fitted in the capsule snugly and safely.

“I’m sorry Martin, I’m not happy having them buried so far from anywhere.” Lisa said. “Well then, where would you like to put them?” martin asked.

“In the Green Woods!” Lisa said. “The Green Woods are only about twenty kilometres from the City, so it will be an estate for sure, in the next fifty years!”

They drove back to the Green Woods, parked the car, then walked into the forest.

They found a lovely spot under a giant oak. Martin and Lisa took turns digging until they had a hole around four feet deep. “That should be enough, too deep for animals or kids to find, but shallow enough for a future generation to find.”

Many, many years went by, Lisa and Martin and their families, grew old, died and were buried in a local cemetery.

The city suburbs crept closer to the Green Woods until one day the Council decided the woods needed to go, to make way for a new estate.

The Green Woods Estate was built, demolishing most of the trees to make way for the elegant new homes.

Mr and Mrs James moved into a lovely new house on the Estate.

They had picked the house because it was only one of very few that a tree had been left standing at the front of the house.

The large Oak tree was wide, and elegant, and beautiful and the Council had decided it should have a reprieve, so they had kept it.

Over the years the Oak tree provided shade on searing hot days, for barbeques or picnics on the lawn. It shaded the small paddle pool for the children, had a sturdy tree-house built in the branches and a strong children’s swing for the neighbourhood children to use.

One hundred years after the time-capsule had been buried under the large Oak, a terrible wild-fire tore through the Green Woods Estate. The entire estate was lost, nothing left of the beautiful homes but rubble.

The dozers were sent in to clean up, and that was when they found the time-capsule which Martin and Lisa had buried.

It was in all the newspapers and on the television news.

Martin and Lisa would have been very happy to know that their memories are now safe and sound in the local Genealogy Museum.

The empty well which Martin had first chosen, had been considered Heritage listed, so it was never dug up, and never moved. The capsule would never have been found.