Friendship is the Real Treasure

Felix leads the way down the valley where the map said the treasure would be. His friends trail behind him looking tired and exhausted. The hike through Lockwood had been exhausting and morale was low. Now they would see if their hard work was worth it.

         Their group consisted of four members: Long John, Stephen, Brucie, and Felix. The four of them had been close since preschool brought together by their mutual love of making fun of Brucie. Brucie put up with it because he was just happy to have friends. Growing up they might have the occasional fight or disagreement but at the end of the day, they knew they would always be friends.

Adventure fell into their laps one day during their senior year of high school. Felix, Brucie, and Long John were hanging out at Bruno’s, a local diner when Stephen burst through the door and runs to them. “Guys, you’re not going to believe what I found in my attic,” he says frantically. Stephen was always a little high strung compared to the others. Digging through his backpack he pulls out a tattered piece of parchment.

“You found a piece of trash, congratulations,” Long John says sarcastically. “What else you have in there, dust bunnies?”

“Shut up John,” Stephen snaps and spreads the parchment over the table. “It’s a treasure map.” The group looked at him with concern. “No, I’m serious. My mother told me that my great uncle was a bank robber and that he hid all his cash in a secret hiding place. No one ever found it until that is until today."

He points at the top of the map and Brucie reads out loud, “Map to Jakobe Jones’ Treasure. Who’s Jakobe Jones?”

Stephen says, “That’s the name of my great uncle, I found it in a chest that was full of all his things. Look”, he points at the red Y marked on the map. “It’s buried in Lockwood forest if we leave right now, we could get there while the sun’s still up.”

“Why is it a Y?” Brucie asks.

“Mom said it’s because my great uncle wasn’t a conformist,” Stephen answered.

Long John blows a raspberry, “C’mon Stephen you expect us to believe this crap? This is a bad prank even for you.”

Stephen looks offended, “I’m telling you guys this is legit. If you don’t want to come that’s fine but don’t expect me to share any of the treasure.”

“It’s a nice day for a hike in the woods,” Brucie says, “Even if it does turn out to be fake it could still be a fun adventure.” Brucie was always positive and easygoing. The glass-half-full kind of guy.

“Shut up Brucie,” Long John snaps then turning back to Stephen he says, “I’ll go on one condition. If there isn’t any treasure, I get to shave your head.” He puts his hand forward to shake.

Stephen gasps and pulls his hand up to protect his hair. It was a well-known secret that Stephen’s hair was his most prized possession. He gulps and looks back at Long John then back at the map. Sighing he grabs Long John’s hand and shakes, “You have a deal but if the treasure turns out to be real, I get half of your share.”

After shaking hands they turn and look at Felix. They knew it was ultimately his decision. If he didn’t want to go then they weren’t going. That’s because Felix was the leader of the group. He was the leader for one simple reason; he was the only one who had a car.

Felix stands up and says, “Alright we can go but if today sucks let’s all agree that it’s Brucie’s fault.”

“That doesn’t seem fair,” Brucie objected.

“Good point Brucie,” Felix says, “Let’s vote on it. All those in favor of blaming the trip sucking on Brucie say aye.”

“Aye”

“Aye”

“Aye”

“Nay”

“Objection overruled 3-1,” Felix says and claps his hands, “C’mon let’s get going.”

So, they drove to the edge of Lockwood and set off into the forest armed with four shovels and four duffle bags to carry back the cash.

Hiking through the woods was more difficult then they had anticipated. An exposed tree root had caught Long John’s foot and sent him flying headfirst into the ground. The fall gave him a bloody nose and scraped up his knee. His jeans were smeared with dirt and when Stephen teased him for it, he had smacked him across the back of the head. If Brucie hadn’t intervened they might have erupted into full-on fighting.

Further down the trail Stephen twisted his ankle and hurt it so bad that he couldn’t put any of his weight on it. The group would’ve had to turn back and take him home if Brucie hadn’t been able to construct a makeshift crutch. “It’s a trick I learned in Boy Scouts,” he said as he bandaged the injured foot.

They were overjoyed when they finally reached the valley where the map said the treasure was buried. “Right there,” Stephen yelled, “The rocks have been stacked to make a Y!” Excitedly all of them except Stephen quickly nun down the grassy hill to the marked spot. Stephen slowly hobbles down on his crutch.

“Alright boys let’s get to digging,” Felix says

“Why doesn’t Stephen have to?” Long John whines.

“I’m injured, dummy don’t you remember,” Stephen says in a mocking tone and does his best to look hurt, “How do you expect an injured person to dig?”

“I guess that’s fair but then how come Felix doesn’t have to dig?” Long John asks again.

“Because I’m the leader,” Felix explains, “I’m in charge of overseeing your work.”

“If you two aren’t going to dig then I’m not going to either.” Long John pouts and crosses his arms. Whenever he was upset, he would cross his arms ever since he was a child. His friends never told him that when he crossed his arms and pouted, he looked like a giant baby. They promised they would tell him as soon as it quit being funny to look at.

“So, what, only Brucie is going to dig?” Stephen asks barely containing a laugh. After he says it the three of them look at each other then turn and look at Brucie.

“Sounds fair to me,” Long John says happy to see the matter resolved.

“Not to me,” Brucie mutters. He doesn’t know why he resists it never changes anything.

Felix calls them to order, “Brucie’s right let’s put it to a vote. All in favor of making Brucie dig the hole say aye.

“Aye.”

“Aye.”

“Aye.”

“Nay.”

 Felix counts the votes, “It’s settled then 3-1, Brucie will dig the treasure up while the rest of us watch.”

  “I wish we would’ve decided this before we brought all these shovels with us,” Stephen lamented. “It sucked carrying them through the forest.”

“You didn’t even carry your shovel. You made me do it!” said Brucie still mad about the outcome of the vote.

“Shut up Brucie,” Stephen snaps.

It takes Brucie along time to dig the hole by himself. Part of him can’t help but think how much easier and faster it would be if he had three people helping him. After he’s dug about two feet down, he takes a break. Felix notices and says, “Hurry up Brucie we don’t have all day.” So Brucie gets back to work and after a half an hour he is still digging.”

Long John lays on the grassy ground and stares at the clouds. He lets out a sigh, “I just can’t decide.”

Stephen looks over at him, “Can’t decide what?”

“I can’t decide whether I’m going to shave you bald or leave you with a mohawk,” he answers. “I might have to flip a coin.”

Brucie screams, “Guys I hit something with my shovel.” The three of them rush over to the hole. It is nearly as deep as Brucie was tall and twice as wide. Brucie is on his knees brushing dirt away from something buried in the bottom. When he stands up the side of a chest is revealed.

The other three get to work immediately trying to dig the chest out. Stephen is so excited he forgets about the debilitating injury inflicting him only minutes before. Soon the chest is uncovered, and they drag it out of the hole and onto the grass.

“Before we open it, I think we should determine shares,” Felix advises. He was a cautious person when he had to be. They all agree that it was a smart idea.

“Shouldn’t we just split it evenly four ways?” Brucie asks but the idea is immediately shut down by the others.

“C’mon Brucie grow up. Let’s not pretend we all did the same amount of work on this trip,” Long John said glaring at Stephen.

“Well it’s my map so I should get at least half of it I think,” Stephen said glaring back at Long John. “Don’t forget I get half of yours too because you lost our bet.”

“All I know is it’s in all of your best interests to make sure I get my fair share,” Felix said coldly. “Unless you all feel like walking back to town.”

Stephen thinks for a minute. He was the best at math in the group, “I know I’ll get thirty-four percent because it’s my map, Felix will get thirty-three percent because he drove, and Long John will get thirty-three percent because he’ll be a big baby if he gets any less. Brucie can have whatever’s left.

Felix nods, “That sounds fair to me how about you Long John?” Long John nods. “Alright, Brucie open her up.”

“Wait a minute,” Brucie yells, “If we do it like that there won’t be anything left for me. Besides I’m the one who dug the hole, helped Long John and Stephen get through the forest, and I’m sick and tired of going unappreciated!”

The rest of them were quiet. Brucie had never had an outburst like this before. “Brucie I’m sorry you’re feeling unappreciated,” Felix says. He was the best at calming people down. Years of experience with Long John had made him a master. “You know you’re the glue that holds our group together. We love you, buddy. You’re right going with Stephen’s plan isn’t fair…”

Brucie sighs and nods, “Thank you for saying that Felix it means a lot… you’re going to put it to a vote, aren’t you?”

“Alright everybody let’s put it to a vote,” Felix says with a clap of his hands. “All in favor of going with Stephen’s plan to split up the money say aye.”

“Aye”

“Aye”

“Aye”

Brucie sighs. Sometimes he doesn’t know why he bothered, “Nay.”

“Then it’s settled,” Felix said and gave Brucie a thumbs up. “Now that shares are taken care of go ahead and open it up.”

With his shovel, Brucie broke the rusted lock off the chest and swung the lid open. The four boys looked inside.

“There’s nothing,” Stephen says with a quiet voice.

“There’s nothing!” Long John says with triumph. He skips away and begins to do a happy dance. To Long John treasure would be nice but humiliating a friend was priceless.

“Maybe it’s symbolic,” Brucie says, “Maybe the real treasure is our friendship.” The heartfelt message makes him smile.

Felix sighs, “Brucie, do me a favor and shut up.” He closes the chest and opens it again hoping that the gold would magically appear, but the chest remained empty. Looking inside he notices something stuck to the bottom, “There’s a note here.”

“What does it say?” Stephen said as he avoided Long John’s malicious stares. He was hoping that the note might somehow save him.

Felix reads, “To whoever uncovers my treasure. Sucks to suck. Sincerely Jakobe Jones.”

Penniless the group walks away from the treasure and leaves the forest. Felix and Stephen don’t say anything preferring to wallow in their misery in silence. Long John decides to tease Stephen the entire way back and Brucie whistles a happy song. Despite them being jerks he was still glad to have spent the day with them.

The next day they gather at Bruno’s to eat and hang out. Their misguided treasure hunt eventually comes up which all of them except Stephen agree is something that can be laughed about.

After Long John jokes about the look on Stephen’s face when he saw the empty chest Felix says, “I just have one question. Stephen quit crying about your new haircut I’m trying to talk.” The now bald Stephen says sorry and quiets his cries down to a whimper, “Like I said I have one question, what kind of person goes through all that trouble just to troll someone?”

“I guess we’ll never know,” Brucie says, “The important thing is that in the end, we’re all together. Isn’t that right friends?”

“Shut up Brucie!” they yell and burst into laughter.

Jakobe Jones put the last rock in place to finish his Y. Jimbo had watched him dig the hole, put the empty chest inside, fill it back up, and then spend the last twenty minutes stacking rocks. He asks, “Why’d you do it Jakobe? Why’d you spend so much time hiding a chest with nothing in it?”

Jakobe sits back and looks up at the sky, “I’d like to think that one day it will encourage a group of friends to go on an adventure and discover the true power of friendship.” He tries to keep a straight face as Jimbo gives him a weird look. Eventually, he cracks and erupts into laughter, “Nah I’m just messing with you. I just like messing with people. Burying an empty treasure seems like a good way to ruin someone’s day and for some odd reason, that thought brings me joy. Now let’s go and blow this money at the casinos and bars.”