Unspoken

Chapter 4

"Dad, that was awesome, I have never had so much fun in my life.  Am I dreaming?  Is this all a dream?  Did I die in my sleep and go to heaven?" I asked while jumping out of the SUV.  We had just spent all day at the track.  Mom and Dad let us ride all day.  I was covered in dried mud.  Well, so was Cici.  Mom and Dad don't ride so they stayed clean, but Cici and I do and we decided to have a contest to see who could get the dirtiest.  I won, but not by much.  Cici bought me lunch.

"No, son.  You aren't dead or dreaming and yes, it was real." he chuckled while getting out of the driver seat.  "Now, come on.  Mom will want you to go straight to your room and showed so you don't get the house dirty."

"Ok, Dad.  How long until everyone shows up?" I asked.

"What, who, no one is showing up for anything?" Dad said innocently.

"Dad, really, I know about the party.  I won't tell Mom, just...how long do I have to wait upstairs."

"One hour, stay upstairs for one hour.  Don't worry about the bikes, I will spray them off and put them away."

"Ok, bye!" I said and ran into the house and up the stairs to my room.  I took off all of my muddy clothes and tossed them towards the basket.

"Make sure to put all your dirty clothes in the basket so I don't miss any." Mom yelled from down the hall.

"Ok, Mom!" I yelled back and picked up the clothes that missed the basket.  I then went into the bathroom and showered, again.

When I came out of the shower, I grabbed a pair of black jeans out of my dresser and went into the closet.  I pulled out another new t-shirt.  This one said, "Goonies Never Die!"  My favorite movie of all time.

I glanced at the clock.  I had only been in my room for 15 minutes.  Now what?  I went to lie on my bed and felt something pushing into my back.  I reached behind me and picked up the puzzle box my sister gave me.  Hmm.  Nothing else to do.  So for the next 45 minutes, I tried to figure out the puzzle, without success.  There were no seams, no buttons, no wholes, nothing.  I had no idea how to open it.  So, I took out my phone, pulled up the internet and Googled puzzle boxes.  16,789 pages of puzzle boxes, great, how do I open this thing?  There were no identifying brand names, nothing to narrow the search.  The only thing on the box was a carving of a dog on the side, so I Googled puzzle box with dog picture and clicked images.

The 4th page had a picture of a box just like mine but the caption said the dog was a wolf, same difference right?  I clicked on the website to get more information on the box.  Apparently, they don't make these anymore.  The box was made from 1816 through 1845 by unknown artists.  Many have copied the type of box, but all the antique boxes have one marking that stays the same.  The wolf, it's always the same wolf, the very same wolf that was on my box.  I read the rest on that page and at the very bottom there was a link to click to find out how to open the box.  I clicked the link and the screen went black.  White letters started to slowly appear one at a time:

FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF

HINT: Try looking at it on a full moon, in the moon light.

Grrrrrrrrr.  What the heck?  Oh, well.  It's a full moon tonight so I will just save it for later.  I put the box in my pocket and looked at the clock.  I had been in my room for an hour and a half.  Time for my "surprise" party.  I sent Dad a text to warm him I was coming down.

As I was going down the stairs I heard shuffling and shushes coming from the dining room, so I headed that way.  "SURPRISE" was yelled as I walked into the room.  Mom, Dad, Cici, and all the guys were standing around the table with huge smiles on their faces.