Misty's Key

“ Give me my Misty Adian!”

“ I don’t have your stupid teddy bear, Grace. Now leave me alone.”

“Yes, you do!  You hid it from me on purpose!”

“Now give it to me, or I’ll tell Mom what you have under your bed.”

“Why, you little brat!”

“What is all that screaming and commotion going on up there? Come down here right now. breakfast ready.”

The Collins family had just moved into their new home a week ago. Grace is ten, and her brother Adian is fourteen. Diane Collins is a writer for the Chicago Tribune who is interested in researching old stories with a twist, and Davis Collins is in real estate. Misty is Grace’s teddy bear, which she has had since she was two. Little did they know Misty was about to take the Collins family on a journey of curiosity and conscientiousness.

“Alright, I will give you your old bear.”  Here it is, but you have to take it from me.”

Adian’s taunting turned into a game of tug-of-war, with Misty being the rope. Grace pulled, and then Adian pulled until it happened. Blood-curdling screams interspersed with sobs came from Grace. Diane sprinted upstairs to find Misty on the floor with an arm torn off. Adian stood with a smirk as Diane tried to comfort Grace by telling her that Misty would be back together like new. Diane was pretty handy with a needle and thread, but her skills would not be needed to mend Misty. Grace fell in love with Misty when she saw him in a vintage gift shop window when she was only two years old. She took Misty wherever she went. A clinking sound could be heard as Diane retrieved Misty from the floor. Something had fallen out of Misty.

Diane, Adian, and Grace stared in amazement, for it was a brass key.

“ How did that get there?” asked Grace.

“ It must have been sewn into the bear's stuffing, responded Diane. I’ll take Misty and this key with me downstairs. You both come and eat your breakfast. The bus will be here soon.”

Diane placed Misty and the key on the hall table. Davis had left for work early to meet with a client. When Davis returned home early, his wife told him about Misty and the key. Davis asked to see the key, but it was gone when Diane went to get it from the table. She looked under the table, but it wasn’t there. Where could it be, she thought?

Once the children returned from school, Adain wanted to see the key. He was disappointed when his mother told him she must have misplaced it. When Adian went to his room, to his surprise, he found the key on his desk.

“Hey, Mom, why didn’t you  tell me you put  the key on my desk?”

“Because, son, I didn’t. 

“Then how did it get in my room?”

In unison, they said, “That’s strange.”

While having their Dominios’s Pizza dinner with salad, the family discussed renovating the old house, which was now their home. The house had charm and potential to become a custom sanctuary for the Collins. Everything from making the kitchen larger to creating a game room/living area in the basement were ideas being tossed around. After dinner, Grace and Adian were excited about the endless possibilities for the basement, so they decided to take a pad and explore the basement to sketch their ideas. In shock, with eyes bulging, they saw the brass key in the keyhole of a small door under the basement steps. 

In unison, they said, “ THE KEY IS MAGICAL!”

“We need to tell Mom and Dad,” whispered Grace.

With curiosity and defiance, Adian replied, “No, let's find out where the key will lead us. Are you with me?”

“ Mom and Dad will be mad, but alright.”

Just as Adian reached for the key to turn it, the key turned and unlocked the door. It was as if the key was listening and knew what the brother-sister duo was thinking. Grace and Adian looked at one another in shock as Adian grabbed a flashlight that his Dad had on the wall. Adian opened the door while Grace held onto his hand. They were walking in what seemed to be a narrow passageway under the house, cold and dank. The flashlight revealed a dingy brick wall full of cobwebs with gravel under the children’s feet. Just as their exploration was about to begin, Grace was frightened and said she wanted to go back. At that point, they heard their Mother’s voice.

“What are you doing down there? You are too quiet…get up here now!”  

Grace and Adian turned around and went back. Adian closed the door when he noticed the key was not in the lock. He and Grace looked on the floor…no key. Nervously, they told their parents what had happened. Even though in disbelief,  the Collins did decide to believe their children. The family went back down to the basement. With flashlights in hand, they searched the floor again for the key with no luck. Next, they opened the door to the passageway. In single file, Dad led the way. About thirty feet from the entrance where they began was a slight curve in the path. Suddenly, Davis stopped shining the flashlight on a large wooden trunk covered in cobwebs. The wood was peeling, rusted nails were protruding out, and there in the trunk’s lock was…the KEY.

“What is happening…how can this be?” whimpered Diane.

“Well, it’s happening,” answered Davis. “ Shall I turn the turn?”

  In unison, everyone said,” YES!”

Just was Davis reached to turn the key, the key turned. 

Adian quickly said, “See, I told you.  That’s what happened when I got ready to turn the key when it was in  the door lock.”

Everyone held their breath as Davis slowly lifted the top of the trunk. The family saw shoe boxes neatly arranged in rows. 

“What the hell…shoe boxes. The key wanted us to find shoe boxes?” questioned Adian.

“Adian, watch your mouth,” scolded his Mother..

“Wait, there may be something inside these boxes,” exclaimed Davis.

Hovering over Davi's shoulders, his family watched intently as he picked up one of the shoeboxes and opened it. The family stared at packs of one hundred dollar bills in silence. There were 25 shoeboxes filled with one hundred dollar bills. What were the Collins family going to do? Davis, Diane, Adian, and Grace began to fantasize about spending their windfall. 

Grace dreamed of using the money to take a Disney Cruise, an African Safari, and a trip to ride the rapids of the Colorado River, but then she thought of her classmate who had cancer. “Maybe I should give money to Sheila and her family and the hospital caring for her,” Grace thought.

Adian played guitar, and he, along with his other musical buddies, planned to start a boy band. He thought the money could go toward rehearsal space, recording studio, marketing, instruments, travel, and legal expenses. Wait, Adian thought of his favorite cousin, Jeese, who lives in California. “ Jesse’s family lost their house during a wildfire, everything gone. Some of this money should go to Jesse,” pondered Adian.

Diane was excited to tell The Chicago Tribune that she found the money embezzled three years ago by a Field Museum employee. She wrote the story about it, but the money was never found. It was speculated that the suspected embezzler had an accomplice who hid the money.  “This could be the money. I could research the serial numbers on the stolen bills and compare them. I would be famous and get a reward!” Then Diane realized how selfish. “What’s wrong with me. I am on the board of a non-profit for the homeless. The money should go there,” imagined Diane.

Davis began to exhale for the first time in months because he had been hiding huge gambling debts. He envisioned paying off his debt while still keeping his secret and then moving forward with the house renovations. Always assuaging his mother's fears regarding moving to a nursing home, Davis knew he needed to use the money to upgrade and retrofit his mother’s home so she could stay in place as she aged.

Once everyone had returned from dreaming of their utopia, Davis announced, “ I am closing the trunk, and we’re going back upstairs for a family meeting. With that, the lid to the trunk was closed, and the lock clicked. All of a sudden, Grace screamed. 

“The key is gone! It's not in the lock!” 

Frantically looking around the dusty gravel ground, the key was not to be found. As the Collins family gathered at the dining table, Grace decided to check on Misty. What she saw stunned her. Motioning her family to where she stood, Adian and his parents were paralyzed by what Grace wanted them to see. Misty was sitting straight on the hall table where Diane had left the teddy bear earlier. Its ripped-off arm was back in place like new. The family surmised that the key was tucked away safely inside Misty.  So were their dreams, aspirations, and hopes.