Author Information
The Treasure Map
There it was, on top of a small hill: my grandfather’s villa. He had built it back in his prime, and he knew he would have a big family. The villa was a two storied, white-walled house, adorned with huge boulders and black wooden beams. It had a rustic but elegant look to itself. Anyway, there we were, the whole family twenty years after he had built it. My two grandparents, their 5 sons and spouses, and 17 little kids including myself sitting near the fireplace in the villa’s living room, all of us listening carefully to what he had to say.
We had all fallen silent when my grandpa sat down and the only sounds we could hear were the crickets from outside. There was little light in the room. The only sources of light were the fireplace and a few lit candles, which caused shadows to dance in my grandfathers face. The walls of the living room were lined with deer trophies my grandpa had gunned down, and a few Indian arrow heads he had found near the estate. There was an eerie feel to the place.
My grandpa, with a glass of whiskey in hand, started to tell us a story. It was about the famous pirate: “Capitan Macaco”. He was a legendary pirate in the Caribbean who plundered ships, wooed women, and reaped what others sowed. He amassed a fortune and decided to hide it somewhere no one would find it: at my grandfather’s villa. The room exploded into questions: How did he know the treasure was at his villa? How much was the treasure worth? Are pirates on their way to get us?
My grandpa held up his hand, with an old manuscript in his grasp. It was a treasure map! He opened it so all his grandsons could see. At the center of the map stood a little hill with a house on top. That must be the villa! A dotted line to the left revealed a cave with Indian paintings, and from there another dotted line made its way to a tree with a big X in front of it. X marks the spot! Rapidly enough, we all got into our cars and made our way in search of the pirate’s treasure. We found the cave with the rustic paintings, and made our way to the tree we had seen in the map. A few minutes later we were at the tree, which stood tall in the middle of a clearing. My grandpa had brought a few shovels and we were all working as hard as we could to find the treasure. But to no avail. We must have spent four hours digging near the tree, trying different spots, but we never found the treasure. Heads down, a tear or two, but we all made our way back to the villa.
A few years later, my grandfather sold the villa and the entire estate, along with all of our childhood memories. Even though we never found the pirate’s treasure, I now realize that the real treasure was our time as kids in the villa, and spending time with our family.
