Once Upon A Child

Treasure, Bruno Stars

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The sheep were grazing peacefully, birds sang from the treetops and Wilby was stretched out on the porch. Snow sat reading a book alongside the lazing pooch, with Neal playing at her feet. All in all, it was a charming Disney-esc day.

David arrived in front of the house with an excited passenger. There was a shine emanating from the boy; a happiness in visiting the farmhouse once more.

"Snow!" He greeted, rushing up the steps before fawning over his favourite pup.

"Ellion, how does a treasure hunt before lunch sound to you?" Snow asked, smiling with a reserved certainty.

"A treasure hunt? That sounds brilliant!" Ellion shrieked. He bounced on the spot, all ready to begin his adventure.

"We've tried to make it fun. There are lots of clues and things for you to collect. I hope you don't get through it too quickly." Snow continued.

"What's the first clue?" Ellion asked, itching to start.

"Well," David smirked, "A companion will come in handy." At first, Ellion thought David was to join him on his quest, before he ultimately realised this was in fact, the first clue.

"A companion?" Ellion repeated, rifling through his knowledge of vocabulary.

"It means-" Snow started, the teacher in her rising, except she needn't explain.

"-friend?" He said.

"That's right." David confirmed, with a nod of his head too. Ellion put his hand to his chin, looking at Wilby as he thought of what the answer could be. Then, he actually saw what his eyes were looking at: Wilby!

"Find it!" Ellion cried, and Wilby leapt off the porch with the boy struggling to keep up.

"I suppose dinner is in order." David mentioned, trotting up the porch steps.

"Dinner would be great!" Snow agreed, opening her book and lifting her feet, still in her fluffy white rabbit slippers, onto the outdoor coffee table.

Meanwhile, Wilby zoomed across the yard, leading Ellion to the hay bales where he first smiled. In gaining his breath, the boy took a seat and watched the dog nudge the bucket over with his head, revealing a toy bone for Wilby and a smaller bucket for Ellion.

He peeped inside the bucket to find a post-it note with the letter 'O' on. Confused, he lifted it from it's stuck position to find there was another note, a more valuable note in his quest: the next clue.

"In this place you will find, the treasure with some gold inside. This may be strange, but don't yet scramble, for co-operation, is no shamble." He read aloud, as if Wilby would continue helping him.

"Wait," Ellion told himself, "It doesn't say co-operation, it says coop-eration." He found the word unusual, certain it was not supposed to look that way. That's when he put all the clues together: gold inside, scramble, coop-eration.

"Come on Wilby." Ellion hurried, jogging to the chicken coop. Once he got there, he was careful not to disturb the resting hens, some of which were clucking away outside in their wire pen. He opened the roof slowly, the light seeping into the shadows, quickly reaching in and collecting his prize. It was an egg, this time the letter 'L' was painted on it.