Tom's Treasure
Published by Henry Givens
Copyright 2012 by Henry Givens
Revised 2014
Cover Art by Henry Givens
Tom's Treasure is a work of fiction. Though some actual towns, cities, and locations may be mentioned, they are used in a fictitious manner and the events and occurrences were invented in the mind and imagination of the author. Any similarities of characters or names used within to any person past, present, or future is coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
Chapter Twenty Four
Chapter Twenty Five
Epilogue
CHAPTER ONE
Tom looked at the date on the airline tickets and wrote 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon on a sticky note. He walked to his refrigerator and placed it under an Atlanta Braves magnet. As he stood there staring at it for a moment, he wondered if he was doing the right thing.
As he walked back to his easy chair in the living room apprehension began to gnaw at him once more. He slid his 6'2" frame into its cushioned comfort and began to pray, "God, when I left Elmhurst fifty years ago I made up my mind that I would never go back. For some reason, You’ve placed a desire to go back there one more time before I pass on. Am I supposed to see something?"
A shudder went through his heart as he asked, "I know that feeling enough to know that there's someone I'm supposed to talk to. Is it my kin? Is anybody left?"
The ache that he had once put behind him began to return as he finished, "What if they don't want anything to do with me? It's been fifty years. What if they don't understand why I left? But, what if there's nobody left? I know You enough to know You're telling me to go. I trust You enough to know You'll give me divine appointments when I get there. Just lead me by Your peace and not by my fear, in Jesus' name, Amen."
*********
The school bell rang and Arthur got up from his chair and slung his back pack over his shoulder. Normally he would be bouncing out of his seat and making a mad dash for the door. Several of the girls in his class had learned to keep their seats and piddle with their paperwork or something until he was out of the room. His antics on Thursdays were one of those giggly things that fifth grade girls always whisper about.
Such was life on Thursdays at Bartlett Middle School in the little town of Elmhurst, Georgia. Elmhurst Elementary School was a bit overcrowded so they had to shuffle the fifth graders to the middle school. At first, the sixth, seventh and eighth graders did their best to ignore the 'younger' fifth graders, but for the most part they took the change with grace and dignity. And, Thursday nights were the main reason why.
The Bartlett Middle School Wildcats played their football games on those nights. The majority of the fifth graders showed up at the Thursday night games. Most of them sat together and cheered for their team. When the parents and students saw the enthusiasm and support that these fifth graders brought to the games, it eased the tension a lot.
Was there anyone any more enthusiastic than Arthur Hollis? You would have to look hard to find somebody that would even come close. When he first started going to the games, he got so excited that he would stand up and cheer when the Wildcats broke their huddle and came up to the line. His parents, Olivia and Ryan, kindly explained to him that it was not necessary to do that. AND, they pointed out that he was the only one doing it. He was embarrassed just a little.
But, this Thursday he was not as anxious to leave as he usually was. Instead of going out the main entrance of Bartlett Middle School, Arthur chose to duck out through one of the side doors. He just had to avoid Ramon Rodriguez.
Why? One reason was that Ramon was a seventh grader and Arthur was just a fifth grader. Another reason was that Ramon was taller and had a few more muscles than Arthur. Uh, make that a lot more muscles than Arthur. And, the most important reason of all, Ramon wanted to whip Arthur.
But, why would a big guy like Ramon want to beat up on a sweet little fifth grader like Arthur Hollis? Ramon’s standard answer was, “Because he was there for me to beat up.” Ramon didn’t really need a reason. But, this time, he thought he did.
You see, for the past couple of years, Arthur had this inner urge to be a Ninja. It seems that his mom and dad had taken him to see a couple of movies about them. Then, he did this dangerous, wild and scary thing. He went to the local library and actually STUDIED about them. He wanted to know how to fight and jump and scream and be a full-fledged, bad-guy-whuppin’ Ninja.
However, he found out that being a Ninja was a lot of hard work. But, instead of being severely disillusioned, though, he became more fascinated than ever. He just HAD to become a Ninja. Or, at least make all those mind-blowing moves like they did.
The more Arthur read about Ninjas, the more he realized that they used more brain power than they did muscle power. So, since eleven-year-old Arthur didn’t have the muscle stuff down pat, yet, he ate up the ‘smarter than your enemy’ stuff. Yeah. That was more his style.
So, what does this have to do with Ramon wanting to beat up Arthur? It all went like this. Arthur’s parents bought him a real Ninja robe for his birthday. Arthur’s fifth grade teacher had asked for volunteers to talk about their hobbies. When the day came for Arthur to present his hobby, he brought his Ninja robe and told about Ninja history and their training. The class was fascinated. So much so, that when they went to lunch, several of his classmates asked to take a closer look at the robe. Arthur was more than eager to oblige.
As he was stuffing it back into his backpack, Ramon happened to be walking by their table. He made a snide comment about Arthur bringing his pajamas to school. All Arthur did was correct him by telling him it was a Ninja robe. It was the other guys at the table that began to make fun. Ramon was so embarrassed that he swore he would beat up Arthur after school and tear up his new pajamas. And that’s where we are right now.
Arthur made his exit from one of the side doors of the school in order to avoid being seen. Unfortunately, Ramon had prepared for just that possibility. He did not wait in front of the school. He waited at the corner of the school building so that he could watch two of the exits at the same time. If Arthur didn’t show soon enough, he would have gone to the other side of the building in hopes of catching his fleeing victim.
His plan worked well and he spotted Arthur just as he was coming out of the side door. Quickly, Ramon slumped behind a gaggle of sixth grade girls that were walking in Arthur’s general direction. Arthur must have been too scared to notice because Ramon got pretty close.
He would have gotten closer but one of the guys on the other side of the street yelled out, “Hey, Ramon, whatcha doin’ sneakin’ up on those girls for?” This brought several hoots and shouts from the guys. Just like any teenager, when Ramón gets laughed at, it kinda made him mad.
Arthur turned whiter than ever and stumbled around two of
the bicycles chained to the bike rack. Ramon on the other hand glared at the guys across the street as he started after Arthur. Of course, he didn’t watch where he was going and knocked a couple of the girls down. Papers and books went everywhere.
The principal happened to be watching and came running to the rescue, yelling at Ramon all the way. He not only made Ramon pick up the girls’ books and papers, he made him apologize to each one of them, personally. This embarrassing delay only caused Ramon's temper to grow.
While the little diversion gave Arthur some time to get a good head start, Arthur was almost wishing that it had never happened. Ramon was looking madder by the second. He knew that Ramon was a fast runner and would eventually catch up to him.
He started running toward the park and racking his brain for an idea. A Ninja idea began to form in his scared little head. A Ninja would create a diversion to confuse the enemy. He turned left on Appleton Street and ran toward the big cave across from the park. Actually it was just a two-story mound of dirt left over from some job the city had done years ago. While exploring it one day, Arthur found a neat ledge at the entrance of the cave. He hoped that it would be a good enough hiding place.
Aha! The Johnson place. The Johnson’s were gone to the mountains for a few weeks. Arthur stopped long enough to open their front gate. He pushed it open enough to get it caught on some grass and stay open. Hopefully, Ramon would see it and think that he was hiding around the house somewhere.
The Edison’s who live next door had a mean Doberman chained up in their back yard. If Ramon went into the yard and looked for him on that side of the house, Boomer would put up quite a fuss. That would give Arthur time to slip out of the cave and double back away from him.
He quickly looked to see if Ramon had made the turn on Appleton. Nope. Good. He ran across the street and ducked behind a row of red tips that created a fence in front of Randy Littleton’s front yard. They wouldn’t mind Arthur running through that side of their yard anyway. Just about every kid in town used that as a short cut to the cave. There was a well-worn path in their yard from years of kids running to their playhouse.
When he got into the cave, Arthur stopped and thought before he climbed up on the ledge. What if Ramon knew about the ledge, too? Just about every kid in Elmhurst played in this cave at some time or other. There was an open field right next to it which was just right for playing ball, soccer or just chasing each other. The front of the cave was also the place where everybody loved to come and roast hot dogs or whatever. Everybody knew about this cave.
The best thing for him to do was just hang around the entrance of the cave and listen just as hard as he could. With all of his 95-mile-an-hour beating heart, Arthur hoped and prayed that Ramon would take the bait.
His heart was pounding in his ears so hard he wasn't quite sure if he could hear the dog bark or not so he decided to hold his breath. All of a sudden, he heard a twig snap and the bushes by the cave rustle. Arthur froze. A shadow crept into the entrance of the cave. Oh, no! And he didn't even get a chance to say good-bye to his mother.
The Johnson’s neighbor’s dog started barking. He heard Ramon’s voice yelling, "I gotcha now, you little punk. You can't hide from me here. I'm gonna smash your puny face and tear up your new pajamas." The dog sounded like he was going to tear the fence down to get at Ramon. From down the street he heard, “Come out from under that house, you dirty rat. I know you’re under there.”
If Ramon was down the street, then who was that at the edge of the cave? Arthur decided to run out the far side of the mouth of the cave. Maybe that would scare………
”Arthur?” a familiar voice called out quietly. Four figures stretched themselves across the entrance of the cave and avoided looking into it. They acted like they were talking to each other but only one of them said anything out loud, “Arthur are you running away from Ramon?”
He recognized Sam Bonner’s voice. He was the captain of the football team and a heck of a nice guy. With him was, Murphy, Elrod and Marco. They were all seventh graders who played football for the Bartlett Wildcats. They must have been on their way to get ready for tonight's game.
“Y-y-yeah, I g-g-guess so,” he answered. The sound of his voice brought him back to reality. His fear made him lose touch with what was actually happening. He looked down and found out that his voice wasn’t the only thing that was shaking. His hands had been shaking so hard that he had dropped half of his papers and hadn’t even noticed. His knees were knocking and he realized that he couldn’t stop them.
Sam resumed his conversation with him without looking, “Marco is going to step forward just a little bit, so you get in behind him. Me and Elrod and Murphy will form the letter ‘C’ around you nice and easy like. When I say ‘Go,’ start walking right behind Marco. Stay right with him but don’t walk on his heels and trip him. We’ll get you out of here and to a place of safety. You got it?”
“O-k-k-k-ay,” Arthur stammered as he stepped behind Marco.
“Arthur?” Sam asked.
“Yeah?”
“Pick up your papers.”
“Oh, yeah, thanks.”
“Arthur? Did you pee in your pants?”
“No, but I’m thinkin’ about it awful hard.”
The other guys snickered at poor Arthur. Sam cut it short as he said, “Gather up and…Go.”
Almost in unison they stepped to the far side of the cave and got to where Ramon could not clearly see what they were doing. When they rounded the cave enough to be clean out of his sight, Marco suggested, “Follow me, guys, I know a few yards we can cut through and a fence we can climb and get to the alley at Ed’s Bakery.”
Arthur was immediately all for that. Mr. Ed made the best butterscotch filled donuts he had ever tasted. “Ok, I’m with you,” he agreed.
“Figured,” Elrod giggled.
Marco took off across one yard and turned down Simpson Street. He turned left and took the alley beside the Elmhurst Hardware Store. That led them to Main Street. He motioned for everybody to stop as they got to the end of the alley. “Let me check to make sure the coast is clear,” he suggested. He took a couple of steps onto the sidewalk and looked both ways. “Let’s scoot across the street, down beside Aunt Ruby’s house and across the back fence. Then, we’ll be in the alley beside Ed’s Bakery. From there we’re only four blocks from Arthur’s house. How about it?” he asked.
Sam spoke up, “Sounds like a plan to me.”
“Yeah, to me, too,” Arthur said with a wide grin on his face.
Elrod piped in, “I figured you would.” He reached up and ruffled Arthur’s hair a little bit.
Before he could stop himself an almost girlish giggle gushed out of the sweet little fifth grader. He stood in the middle of those four bigger guys almost embarrassed to the bone. That was until Murphy let out a giggle almost as girly as his was and suggested, “Hey, guys, Arthur’s so cute we ought to adopt him as our mascot. Whatcha say?” He reached over and tapped Arthur’s shoulder with his fist.
Elrod answered, “’Sokay by me, but who’s gonna feed him and change the litter box.”
The guys snickered at each other while pretending to look up and down the street. Sam tried rubbing his eyes as if they were tired to try to stifle the laugh that was trying to come out. It was Marco’s turn with a chastening remark, “Change the litter. Elrod that’s demeaning.” He paused and looked away to hide his own grin as he finished, “You mean change his diaper and hold his binky.”
That did it. The Elmhurst Comedy Tour broke out into laughter that Arthur thought the entire city must have heard. However, as he looked at the passersby he saw that no one was looking their way so maybe no one heard. Arthur had to admit that it was very funny and he couldn’t get mad for laughing at them. He finally giggled out, “Ok, you guys. Your jabs at me ain’t getting us across the street and me safely home.”
“Peanut is right,” Sam offered. “Lead on Marco.”
One more look to the left
and right and Marco sprinted across the street with the others fairly close behind him. They ran through the always open gate of Aunt Ruby’s house and down the side yard. As they passed the back porch on the way to the fence that led to the alley, they passed Marco’s Aunt Ruby.
She was calmly sitting on her back porch with a bushel of peas on one side of her a trash can in front of her and a 5 quart pot in her lap. She was busy rocking in her old wooden rocker and shelling peas as usual. As the five of them trotted past her and on to the back fence, she called out, “Marco you ain’t in no trouble are you?”
He answered as he pulled up a milk crate to help them over the fence, “No, ma’am. You might say we’re playing hide and go seek.”
“No-o-o-o,” she responded with her voice trailing upward. “YOU might say y’all are playing hide and seek. I say you’re running away from somebody. But, since I don’t see any bloody faces and torn clothes, I figure it’s probably alright.”
Marco looked at her and just grinned as he helped the guys over the fence. She knew him like the back of her hand and he knew that there was very, very, very little that he could hide from her. “We’re not in any trouble, Aunt Ruby,” he assured her. As he stepped up on the crate to vault the fence he called to her, “Love you.”
Her standard answer came out, “I love you too, you little rascal.” Then she raised her voice as they scampered down the alley, “And you stay out of trouble, you hear?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Marco answered as he trotted after the guys. He had looked back to wave good-bye to his aunt and didn’t realize that the guys had stopped in front of him. Before he could stop himself, he ran into the back of Arthur and the two of them fell to the ground.
Murphy put his hand over his mouth and said, “Calling all cars, calling all cars. Respond immediately to the alley beside Ed’s Bakery. Repeat. Respond immediately to the alley beside Ed’s Bakery. We have two men down, that’s two men down. Possibly drunk and intoxicated by the fumes bursting forth from the bakery. No deaths yet, but we’re working on it.”
They tried to help Marco and Arthur up but their laughter hindered them. Murphy’s imitation of a police dispatcher was just too authentic sounding. That twangy nasal sound he spoke in and that “k-k-k-k-k-k” in between were just too funny for words.
Sam just shook his head as he gave Arthur a hand up. “Arthur, did that mean ole brute, Marco hurt you?” he asked as he bent down to pick up one of Arthur’s books for him.
"Uh, uh,....no....I’m…OK, I g-guess," Arthur stammered as he got up. "Uh....you OK, Marco?"
"Shucks, yeah, man. It takes more than a smack from...." he looked around at the other three, "...our little bitty bubba to hurt me," he said with a big grin as he slapped Arthur playfully on his back. Of course, he hit the back pack which was not full of books like he thought. "Say, what’s in that back pack? It sure ain't books."
Murphy chimed in, "Maybe it's an extra set of clothes just in case you go potty in your pants, huh?" That brought another round of laughter and back slaps on Murphy.
"Yeah, what do you have in there?" asked Marco as he stepped toward Arthur and began to reach for the back pack.
He opened the back pack and took out the robe and continued, "My Mom bought me a Ninja robe for my birthday. That's what I would like to be like, a Ninja. This robe is the reason Ramón wants to beat me up. I brought it for Hobby Day in class and at lunch some of the guys wanted to see it. As they were looking at it, Ramon came by and made a remark about it being my pajamas. A-a-n-n-d-d, the other guys corrected him and made fun of him. I guess I would have been pretty mad, too. That’s when he threatened to beat me up."
Elrod reached over and felt Arthur's biceps, "Hey, looky here, little bitty Ninja bubba. You're a little puny to be a Ninja. You better put on some muscles if you're gonna fight the big guys."
Arthur offered this explanation, "But, guys, Ninjas are not about big muscles. They are more about being in better shape than their enemies. You know, outsmart them and catch them by surprise. Fake 'em out."
"Hey," said Sam, "that's pretty close to what the coach said we should do when we face bigger football players. Play smarter, not harder."
Before they could say anything else, Arthur put on a little demonstration. "Watch this," he said as he acted like he was going to hit Sam, then spun around, slipped his left leg inside Sam's right leg and then nudged him a little. Sam lost his balance a bit. "See," Arthur said, "with a little harder push, you would have been on the ground and I could have taken the advantage and put you out of commission."
The light came on in Murphy's head. "Hey, that could be a neat move with a little practice. I bet I could get through the biggest line and into the backfield with a move like that." There was a collective "Ye-e-a-a-h" from the others. As they looked at each other and nodded, the light began to come on.
Sam picked Arthur’s brain for a moment, “Arthur, have you read or studied any of the Ninja moves? Well, what I’m getting at, could Ninja defensive type moves be adapted to playing football?”
Arthur thought for a minute, “You know, I just believe they would. U-m-m-m, you know when the offensive guy gets set just before the center hikes the ball? Well, if instead of the defense going straight forward every time, you kinda leaned back, and put your hands on the guy’s shoulders…wait a second. U-h-h-h, Elrod, be the offense, I’ll be the defense, Sam say down, set, hike and come at me in about half the speed and see if it will work. I can probably show ya' better than I can tell you.”
Elrod got down in his set position. Arthur stood in front of him with his hands outstretched, Sam stood to the side. Sam gave the signal in measured tones, “Ready, set, hike.”
Elrod started toward Arthur. Arthur turned to the right, put his hands together and let Elrod’s left shoulder hit the cup of his hands and let the force of Elrod’s charge spin him around. Then Arthur took three steps toward where a quarterback might be.
Murphy’s eyes got wide open. “Oh, my gosh, I think I got it,” he said. “Elrod, get down there one more time and do it again in real time. Sweet mother of pearl, I think I can do this.”
Elrod got down in his set position again. Sam took up his position and then barked out the cadence. Elrod came charging and Murphy imitated Arthur’s move. However, he didn’t take into consideration how hard Elrod’s charge would be or how to time his push so he almost got thrown to the ground. However, he caught his balance and in the middle of the street he let out a big, “Yahoo! I can do this. I can do this. With some practice and timing, man, we can pull some surprises on the last few games of the season. And if we win those, we get a shot at the state championship and get a chance to whip Summerville. W-o-o-o-h-o-o-o.”
The other guys were just as excited about what they saw. High fives and “Yeahs” were abundant. To Arthur’s surprise, Murphy picked him up in his arms like a little baby and swung him around and around until they almost fell.
Marco offered, "Say, little bitty Ninja bubba, why don't we make a deal. You can come over to my house on Saturdays and the five of us will work out on the new equipment my father bought me and you can teach us some of those moves. It would be a win-win situation."
Murphy came up with, "Why don't we talk to the coach? Maybe we could incorporate some of this Ninja stuff in our plays. It could be the edge we have been looking for."
Arthur was flabbergasted, "Sure, sure...that would be a great idea. Me, a….I mean on the football team…..with all you big guys. I..I.. Thanks, guys." He could hardly contain his excitement. However, his excitement was brought to a screeching halt as he looked toward his back yard. "Oh, no," he groaned, "it's Ramon."
"What about Ramon?" Elrod asked as they all turned to look in his direction.
Murphy grabbed Arthur around the shoulder and turned him toward his house and said out loud to the other guys, "Like Elrod asked, little bitty Ninja buddy, what about Ramon? C'mon guys. It's time we walked our new trainer home." Then a little lower so only the guys
could hear, "Just catch on and play along. I think I just got a Ninja idea." Then a little bit louder as they got closer to Ramon. "Now, Arthur, we need to talk to you a little bit about practice yesterday."
"Huh?" Arthur looked up at him a little confused.
Murphy continued, "Yeah, I don't want to hurt your feelings or nothin' but you gotta lighten up when you hit us at practice."
Elrod caught on, "Oh.,uh...yeah. You gotta remember, this is just practice, man, just practice. Save your best hits for the game, dude."
Sam caught on, "Hey guys, you might not have paid attention, but as team captain, I made it my business to watch little bubba here on every, I mean, every hit. Let me tell you, I've never seen anything like it." His voice got louder as he started waving his arms for emphasis. "Every hit, I watched, it was EVERY hit......" he paused for effect and then pointed toward the ground as he finished, "BAM.....somebody hit the ground with Arthur on top of him. EVERY HIT I TELL YOU."
Marco started rubbing his stomach as he chimed in, "Yeah, dude, my stomach still hurts from when you pounded me."
"Aw-w-w-w, does the big bad football player's tummy hurt? Maybe he needs to get somebody to look at it," Murphy said in mock pity.
"Hey, my sister would like to look at it, she says you're a hunk," Elrod added as he nearly doubled over with laughter.
"Funny, re-e-a-a-l funny, Elrod," Marco replied as he laughed in embarrassment. "I'll get you back for that."
They finally joked and walked their way to Arthur’s house. They had to pass Ramon as they did. Each one of them said “Hello” or “Hi” in their own cheerful and excited way and treated Ramon as if he was the best friend they had ever had. Boy! He sure had a confused look on his face as they walked past him. They got to Arthur’s driveway and said “Goodbyes” and “See ya’s.”
As they walked away from Arthur, there were plenty of one-liner smart remarks. Then Arthur realized that he was alone and only four or five steps away from Ramon. Arthur took a deep breath and decided that he would face Ramon as if they were good friends. Maybe that would throw him off enough to get to the safety of his home.
"Hi, Ramon," Arthur said to him with all the happy enthusiasm he could muster.
"Uh..Hi, Arthur," Ramon said as Arthur started walking up the driveway. Then he called after him, "Say, Arthur, wait a minute."
'Here it comes, stay cool, Arthur, stay cool,' Arthur thought to himself as he turned around.
"Did I hear those guys say that you were on the football team?" he asked.
Arthur answered, "Well, not exactly." He knew he had to answer truthfully. "I guess you might say that I am just practicing right now before anyone makes any permanent decisions." Another Ninja idea formed in his head. He looked at Ramon and asked real seriously, "Ramon, I've seen you running at P.E. Man, you're fast. Why don't you join the football team?"
Ramon was borderline shocked. Most people tried their best to avoid him. He stammered, "I....I...well, I never gave it much thought. They,...probably don't need anybody."
Arthur started to get a little excited as he continued, "Yes, they do, man. In last week's game, one of the guys in the backfield sprained his ankle....and I've seen you run....and we've only got a few games left....and we've gotta win....and...." He tried to calm himself to think and talk straight. "And, I'm going to the game tonight and then I'll see the guys this Saturday. I could ask them about you joining then. How 'bout it?"
Right then, Arthur being so nice and friendly kinda took the edge off of wanting to beat him up. Ramon just turned around and started walking away as he mumbled, "Yeah. Whatever."
As he watched Ramon walking with his hands in his pockets and his head looking down at his feet, it dawned on Arthur that he had not noticed Ramon hanging around with any other guys. As he turned and walked up the driveway to his house, he wondered if he should try to be a friend to Ramon. He could only imagine how awful it was not to have anybody to talk to or make jokes with. A challenge hit Arthur. He made up his mind that, from now on, he was going to find some way to speak to Ramon every day. Maybe they could become friends instead of enemies.