Treasure on the Bayou

Great Grandfather

They found their way to the pond without incident and headed toward a small pier that extended into the pond about 15 feet. "Cool! I can't wait to go swimming here!" Atticus made like he was going to dive in but Patricia stopped him.

"You idiot! Didn't you listen to mom? This is Louisiana! Who knows what things have been living in that pond for all these years. There could be alligators, water moccasins, and even leaches. Don't even think about swimming there till dad checks it out completely. I wouldn't trust that pier either."

"Wait, don't move!... Watch out! It's going to eat ya!" Atticus laughed hysterically at Patricia's scream, but just then Patricia noticed something moving in the water. She grabbed a handful of Atticus's shirt and pointed. It was a dark mass about 10 feet long undulating like a snake through the water in the middle of the pond.

Atticus gulped, "I think swimming can wait. We definitely need to tell Dad about the alligator in the pond."

Patricia and Atticus hurried back to the house to give their report.

"Alligators! You gotta be kidding me!" Kinsey had reached her limit. She turned to her husband and pointed her finger at him, "You dragged me out to this God-forsaken dump heap, I left my friends and my family in California, and now I have to worry about getting eaten by alligators? I don't care if you tell me we are just going to fix it up and move out. I want out now!"

"The kids were probably imagining that there are alligators in the pond and..." Larry responded.

"No we weren't! We saw it! Both of us!" responded Atticus and Patricia in unison.

"Ok, OK..O.K. We'll get someone to check it out, meanwhile we stay away from the pond and keep Leo indoors," Larry soothed. "You'll see. It won't be as bad as you think. I know there are a lot of adjustments. Things will get better. After all, this is only the first day." He looked imploringly at Patricia for help.

"It's ok Mom, we will stay away from the pond. No problem. Oh, by the way, we found the Hall of Justice dad mentioned. It was beautiful. You have to see it. We'll take you there tomorrow." Patricia tried to change the subject while her mother sobbed into the bed room with her dad following closely behind.

"You two set the table and we will have dinner in just a few minutes." Dad called back.

After a silent dinner, in which Dad unsuccessfully tried to cheer everyone up, Dad announced, "Ok kids, time for bed. Just because you are in a new place doesn't mean that the routines have changed. Come on, you know what to do. Let's get going here. We are all tired and we have a busy day tomorrow with school and all."

Patricia jumped in bed first and was almost immediately asleep. She dreamt that she was in the Hall of Justice again. She approached the bird bath and notice a peculiar shimmer. She thought it came from the sun shining on the water but then she noticed a figure standing next to the fountain. He was dressed in faded overalls tucked into working boots. He motioned for her to approach. As she walked towards the fountain, she noticed the intense gaze of the old man. His light blue eyes twinkled as she approached and she watched as his white beard parted for a smile. Patricia instinctively knew that this was her great grandfather. Instead of walking the distance, she ran and held out her arms for a hug, but when she arrived, there was nothing to hug. The image had moved to the shed and Hannibal Higgins, was motioning to enter. Patricia went inside and she saw all of the same tools that she and Atticus saw before. Hannibal pointed to the tools and shook his head and his finger in warning, then he pointed to the Hall of Justice and did the same.

"I get it! You are telling me that you do not want us to mess with your tools, or enter the Hall of Justice." Hannibal nodded in the affirmative and smiled again.

When Patricia woke up the next morning, she ran to her brother's room. "Come on wake up! You'll never guess who I saw in my dream!"

"Wha...Is it time for school already?" Atticus sat up straight on the side of his bed and did his morning stretch and yawn.

"No, I got you up to tell you about my amazing dream!

"You remember your dreams?" Atticus asked, "Cause I never remember my dreams." Atticus grimaced as Patricia hit him with a pillow.

"I'm serious. I met Great Grandpa and he told me, well he never spoke, but he showed me to not mess with the shed or the Hall of Justice. There were some other things, but that is what I remember. Isn't that cool. He is still here. He is the one taking care of things!"

"You mean this place is haunted?" Atticus rubbed the sleep out of his eyes again. "You woke me up an hour early for that? Awe for crying out loud. Gimme a break!"

"Would you be serious for one instant?" She punched his arm.

"Ok, Ok, Ok. I got it. What are we supposed to do though? Just stay out of the forest there? Oh, and did you tell him about the huge alligator in his pond?"

Patricia described the dream and her great grandfather in detail before they had to get ready for school. This helped with the normal "first-day of school jitters" because they both had something else to think of besides being self-conscious.