I always thought Nanna's stories were just tall tales, that is until I got back from uni. I've been away for two years. Away from my home, my family, my friends. I know being away has changed me, I guess going on this adventure with my friends will...
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"Nanna, please can you just tell us? I know you and your friends wanted to give another group of friends a chance to have an adventure like you did, but like did you do like a time capsule or did you just want us to go on a wild goose chase?" I ask, I love her to death but I am getting tired of her cryptic answers about why us and why now with this 'adventure'.
"Oh calm down. Nanna just wants to leave the suspense in the air about the whole thing. If you ask me I kind of like not knowing what we are going to find in the end. I'm just happy to go along for the ride." Carter says placing a hand on my shoulder. He has always been like a brother to me.
He was the reason why I got into sports, we used to go to the park and kick the footy around. But as I got older and we hit puberty I got self-conscious and was more into watching the game and not actually playing it anymore. Carter being the sports buff he his, is captain of the local team and is studying Sport Science. Sometimes I feel like sport is all he can think about.
I give him a smile and apologise to Nanna who just waves it off.
Looking around Nanna's kitchen/dining room I notice just how different my friends and I are. There is Carter, the sports buff. Issac is like this weird combination of a good guy and a bad boy with his trademark leather jacket and Zara is the punk chick who always has a band t-shirt on of some band you have never heard of. Breanna used to always be a tomboy, although now it seems she has changed her tomboy ways for the girlier lifestyle. Don't get me wrong I love the change, at least I can get her to come shopping with Zara and I now but I can't help but miss the tomboy Breanna at the same time.
Then there is Nate and I. I wish I could say we are the perfect boy and girl next door, and to be honest Nate is the perfect boy next door. However me on the other hand well I was the wild card. I was unpredictable. I can go from girl next door on minute to rebellious the next.
"You know what?" Nanna suddenly says, I guess there was a bit of a silence while I was zoned out. "You all are not that much different from my friends and I."
We all look up at her wanting her to explain a bit more.
"Oh don't give me those looks. Everyone knew we were friends and didn't question how or why we were, yet we were all completely different sometimes we all wondered how we got along together so well. Sometimes its hard to remember you kids are not the grandkids of my friends." Nanna's eyes became blank for a moment as if she was remembering her friends. She was the last one still around; the others had all passed a way a few years ago. But they all kept in touch with each other and whenever one of them was in town they would visit Nanna and Pop.
"Nanna, I don't mean to interrupt the flashbacks you seem to be having but do you mind giving us something about why your friends decided to leave this treasure hunt for us? Well not us specifically but well you know what I mean." Zara looks away aware she started babbling, it's something she does when she wants to know something but is afraid to ask.
"Oh hun its fine." Nanna smiles at her to help Zar relax a little. "In all honesty I don't think we had much of a plan. I think we just wanted to leave our mark on the world. We did bury something at the end, we were hoping to dig it up about 30 years later, and the clues were to help us remember where it was. But then we realised life was going to get in the way. That's when we decided to leave it for someone else to find. I don't know what the others left behind but I know I buried something very close to my heart. We didn't speak of a theme but the looks on Mick's, Peggie's, Val's, Harry's, and Carl's faces, makes me think they did too. When we used to talk about it in letter and then eventually over the phone I used to call it our secret treasure." She smiles at the memory and I get up and hug her.
Soon we are wrapped in a group hug as my friends join us. When we break a part I have a new sense of determination. In the beginning I just wanted to do this escapade for Nanna, to feel closer to her. But now I want to do this to give her, her secret treasure back before it's too late.
"I promise Nanna, I am going to find your secret treasure." I turn to smile at my friends. "We all are."
Everyone voices his or her agreements. It's funny having a grandma who is virtually a grandma to all your friends. She just makes you feel so welcome and part of the family.
"Which kind of brings us to the reason why we are here, other then seeing you of course Nanna." Nate says winking at Nanna, she smiles at him and it makes me think he is Nanna's favourite.
Issac pulls out the little trinket box from his jack and hands it over to Nanna who's eyes looks like are going to pop out of her head any moment. She takes the box from Issac and he goes back to lounging in his chair. Nanna looks at all of us one by one as if to say 'you actually found it?'
She rubs some of the dirt off. Issac took it off me when we left Merri Island 'cause he wanted to try and clean it as he had some mentholated spirits in his car. I have no idea why he does but it obviously wasn't a match for sixty years of dirt build up.
She smiles at the image of Tinkerbell on the box; it was more of a mischievous grin.
"Oh my, I was worried you wouldn't be able to get to this one. When we came up with the places for the clues we did not realise things would change so much. But I should have known you guys were smart enough to work it out. Should have known one of you kids would realise the barrier wouldn't have been there when we planted the clues." Nanna looks excited, but passes the box back to Issac.
He looks at her confused. "Nanna you don't want to open it?" He asks trying to hand the box back.
Shaking her head she says "No, no. This is your adventure you guys should be the one to open the clues."
With a slight nod of his head he opens the box and instantly starts coughing from the dust cloud. The boys start laughing at him while Breanna hands him a glass of water. Zara takes the box from Issac, as he calms down from his coughing fit, looking inside. She pulls out a small piece of paper. It reminds me of the letter stationary Nanna uses. Nanna and I wrote hand written letters to each other while I was at uni. It was nice not relying on technology to communicate. It took a bit longer to post it but it was like we had our own little world full of secrets that no one with a computer can hack into like if we were to email.
Zara reads what is written on the piece of paper and then looks at us. We are staring at her waiting for her to read out what is written, but she keeps looking at us. It's not until Carter nudges her that she realises we are not mind readers.
"It's light shines bright You can see it from a far But only if you look at night'
We look at each other and smile. Though I think Nate and my smiles are bigger though.
"Well I don't know about you guys but I have a few ideas where this next clue could be." Issac states.
"Oh no dah Mr. obvious." Zara hits her brother as she says this.
We have been at Nanna's for a few hours now and she looks like she could use some rest so I suggest we go home and call it a day. Everyone has said their goodbyes, leaving me to say bye last. I'm giving her a hug and as I pull away and start to leave she grabs my arm. She has a look about her I can't quite make out.
I've never seen her with that look before.
"Angel, one more thing, and please keep it between us. This is an adventure to find my secret treasure, however while we were making this scavenger hunt, our friendships were put the test and things got a little tense at times. Just be careful okay? You may find more secrets along this journey than you were ready to find." I look at her not knowing what to say, so I do the only thing I can think of. I hug her again and tell her to get some rest before I head home with my head spinning.
