One Stupid Thing

The True Treasure

That smile falls almost instantaneously.

"It's just a corpse," Renfield announces. "Sorry, Carla."

"We must have missed something," Limbrey grunts as she hoists herself to her feet.

"Of course. Of course, yeah. Of course it's just a dead body. Jesus!" Rafe shouts angrily.

"We just got the wrong place," Limbrey defends, crutching back over to her car. "We'll go back to the island room. We're going back! We're going back! It's not over!"

We duck below the bushes and scurry to another spot to hide and watch as they load up the excavator onto a trailer and tow it away. Limbrey and Renfield leave in their car and Rafe disappears inside the family's black Range Rover, taking up the back.

Pope pushes through the bushes and into the clearing. "Pope. Pope, wait. Wait!" JJ whispers, trying to prevent him from getting us caught. "Shit." Pope breaks into a run, hurrying over to the casket that they left open. We hesitantly sprint after him. "Wait, wait. Yo."

Pope stops a few feet from the casket and slowly approaches. The rest of us stay back, allowing him to have space. He crouches down and peers in. "Cecilia Tanny, Denmark's wife," he announces solemnly. He stands and stares up at the tree. "He wasn't talking about the cross. He buried her at the foot of the angel."

"The true treasure," Kiara recalls wistfully.

"His wife," John B adds, his voice merely above a whisper.

Pope turns and crouches back down beside the casket. His emotions spilling over at the thought. The rest of us approach him slowly, crouching around Cecilia's corpse. "Denmark was hung for burying his wife and now they defiled her grave," Pope sniffles. Kiara places a hand on his arm supportively and to her surprise, he doesn't push her away. Pope reaches into the casket and picks up a small coin-type thing covered in dust. He wipes away the dust with his thumb and smiles, seeing her name engraved on it.

Sarah also spots something that catches her eye. She picks it up and wipes it on her jeans to clean it. "This must have been from Denmark," she says softly with a smile. "Her wedding ring." She runs her thumb across it and then turns to look at John B, who is already gazing at her. They share a solemn look before Sarah clears her throat and places the ring back in the grave.

Pope also returns his artifact. "We can't leave her like this."

"We won't," John B assures him. The rest of us nod in agreement and get to our feet. The boys lift the lid of the casket back into place, covering Cecilia once more and pounding it into place with a small hammer that was left behind by the crew. Pope walked towards a patch of wildflowers, picked a bundle of them, and placed them on top of the casket. Then, the boys lifted the casket and slowly lowered her back into the ground. John B left and came back with the Twinkie, bringing a shovel out from the back with him.

Still in my clothes from the night before—my shorts, tiny top, and thin button-down—the chilly autumn breeze begins to make me shiver. I stand beside the tree with my sister, watching in silence as the boys work to cover the casket with dirt.

JJ, getting warm from shoveling the heavy soil, takes off his khaki, hooded jacket and approaches me. "Here."

I turn around and he guides the warm jacket over my arms. "Thank you," I say softly, turning back around to face him.

"Mm-hmm." He places a hand on the back of my head and leans down to kiss my forehead sweetly, before returning to work. Sarah looks over at the interaction with a raised eyebrow.

"So... when did that start again?" she whispers.

"At the bonfire actually."

"I see you took our advice then?"