Chocolate Gold

Mike and John headed out to survey their surroundings. There were a lot of trees! This was good and bad news for the former soldiers. Trees helped cover and conceal their position but also aided any foes in the same manner. As they trekked down the mountain, they looked for any signs someone may have left on the way to the old barn. They knew they would be discovered sooner or later and with the commotion of the boar, it would probably be sooner. They came across old homes that nature had reclaimed. Strong tree grew through the middle of houses, grass, moss, and other plants covered conveyances and what were once roads.. The men could see the lake and a small island off the shore. They also saw smoke coming from the island. Someone was there. The scent of food came to them but not from the island. The men used their noses to determine the location and saw more smoke on their side. John thought it was odd that people were not hiding their location or even more bizarrely, seemingly signaling their location. They didn’t have a boat to get to the island, so they decided to head for the column of smoke closest to them. They came across an odd structure on a lea that had obviously been a road. The sign read Old Ice House Pizzeria & Bakery. “What’s a pizzeria John?” asked Mike.

“I don’t know. What’s an old ice house?”

“I don’t know.” Mike responded. The smoke was coming from the building’s chimney. Another sign read “Open for breakfast. Fresh bagels – Omelette Bar” “I could eat John. What about you?”

“Yeah. If nothing else we could see who is running this place.” The men climbed the steps to the door. When they opened the door, a bell attached to a string rang above them, announcing their presence.

“Be right there.” Said a voice hidden behind a wall. In a few seconds, a happy, cherub of a woman stepped forward. “Welcome to the Old Ice House Pizzeria & Bakery. Are y’all placing a to go order or do you want to rest and eat here?”

John looked around the place. There was one other person dining in the place. There were a couple of tables and a bar with stools. Before he could say anything, Mike blurted out,

“We’ll eat here!”

“Do you want a table or a stool at the bar?”

“A tabl…”

“The bar will be fine,” John interrupted Mike. While a table would have been nice, the bar allowed them the opportunity to keep an eye on the door. “We’ll sit at the bar, Mike.”

“Great.. Seat yourselves while I grab a couple of menus.”

“John, why can’t we sit at a table?” Mike questioned.

“Because we can watch the door from here better than a table.” Mike looked around. There was still only one person in the place and there didn’t seem to be any foot traffic on their patrol. He then remembered the smoke from the island.

“Yeah, we have no idea who anyone is.” thought Mike. Better to keep our guard up until we know our neighbors.

“So, did y’all here the commotion last night?” asked the server “It was too late a night for anyone around here and it came from the old Pickford place.”

“The Old Pickford Place?” queried John.

“Yeah. The place used to be magnificent according to the stories. Only thing left now is the old barn. There are legends that the Pickford’s left a fortune but no one has been able to find it. I think it’s a myth. They had gone overseas and were never heard from again. So what will you boys be having today?”

“I’ll have the bacon, egg, and cheese omelet.” Mike enthused. John looked over the menu not really hungry but thought he should order something.

“Eggs, bacon, and toast with something to drink.”

“How about coffee?” asked the server

“What’s coffee?”

“Ah, y’all are from across the ocean aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” Mike answered.

“Well, coffee comes from the coffee plant. It’s mostly grown in the southern continents. There are some farmers over the mountains that grow the plant. It’s usually cheaper to get it from them if we can manage the trade. Since that last war that disrupted all the trade routes, the north eastern continent hasn’t gotten much coffee. We’ve tried to setup a trade route to the southern continent but the warlords take it down every time. The survivalists don’t care about helping us, so we get it from our neighbors to the west.”

“You’re very talkative, you know that?” stated John. She could be useful for some information but John and Mike would have to be guarded in what they shared with her.

“We don’t get a lot of folks out here so when they do come through, it’s as if a fountain opens up. It is so much better talking to someone rather than talking to thin air or the same person about the same thing every day. Y’all never answered if you heard the commotion last night. So, did you?” asked the server as she also prepared the meals.

“Yeah, we were the commotion. We found the old barn and were hunkering down for the night. We were running watches because this area is strange to us and a boar decided he wanted to investigate us.” explained Mike. John shot Mike a quick look as if to say, “Don’t share too much!”

“Ah. Yeah the boars are rutting right now. Be careful because they can do some damage and there are no medics for hundreds of miles.” The server said as she placed the plates before the men.

“Are the boars were you get the bacon from?”

“Yeah. One boar will usually last us quite a while. If you two stay in the area, well have to get two boars next time.” Answered the server

“Us? Who’s Us?” asked John as his attention was piqued.

“Well myself, that guy over there, and the islander. My name is Alice. He’s Pete. We call the islander Willow because she has a willow tree in her yard. She doesn’t visit much. What are your names gents?”

“I’m Mike and he’s John. Hey! What’s in that glass case?”

“Oh, that’s a chocolate cake. It is very rare. It’s rarer than the coffee. The bean grows on the southern continent but as I stated before, setting up a trade route is impossible. There are some islands in the great ocean that can grow them but transportation drives the price sky high. If you want a slice of that, it will cost you.” Mike looked at John as if to say “I’m getting a slice!”

“How much for a slice of cake?”

“A couple of grams of gold.”

“GOLD! For a piece of cake?” John yelped Mike looked at John incredulously. They still had the chain and locket and could easily afford to buy the cake slices.

“We’ll take two slices.” Mike said flatly. Mike pulled out his share of the chain to break off a link. As he was pulling out his hand, the coin from the old barn popped out and started to spin on the counter. Everyone froze. John couldn’t believe that Mike had taken a piece of the treasure. Mike couldn’t believe he was outed. Alice was mesmerized by the shining gold coin dancing in the light. Suddenly a hand slapped down on the coin, stopping it’s dance. Mike looked up at Pete and back down at Pete’s hand.

“You might want to be a little more careful with trinkets like this. How did you get it anyway?” Pete asked. Mike was still agape in disbelief. John stood up and came over to Pete, moved Pete’s hand, and gave the coin back to Mike.

“We had to work for our voyage over here and encountered some pirates. Luckily we were able to defeat them with the rest of the crew and the captain gave us a couple of coins to share in the bounty.” John explained. Mike began to breathe again and a smile came over his face.

“Wow! I bet y’all could afford the entire cake for a coin or two like that!” Alice beamed.

“We only need the two slices, Alice.” John assured her. Pete studied John before making his next move.

“Gentlemen, If word gets out that you two have that much gold, we are gong to be overrun. So keep your mouths shut. Alice, that goes triple for you! We have a good thing here and I don’t want to fall into a war between he survivalists and war lords.” Pete demanded. “Alice, give these men their slices of cake.” John felt uneasy about Pete’s words and admonishment. John’s trail of thought was focused on that. It was weird that Pete didn’t tell them to move on. Had Pete just decided that he’d allow us to stay here? If so, why? Why would Pete accept two strangers into this settlement of three?

“Man, this cake is delicious and worth every gram!” Mike said, breaking John’s train of thought. “Eat John. You’ve never had anything this good and may never be able to have it again!” John looked at the cake, then at Mike. He took a glance at Pete before sticking his fork into the moist sponge and lifting it to his mouth.

“Oh man! That is good! Alice, thank you for allowing us to eat some of this cake.” John said before grabbing another forkful. Pete nodded and sat back down.

On their walk back to the old barn, John asked Mike about the coin. “I just took one in case we needed it. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.”

“That’s OK. We were able to give them a good….and sort of truthful answer. Did you get a weird feeling from Pete though?”

“Yeah. It was creepy how he suddenly appeared to stop the coin. It was even weirder when he seemed to automatically include us in the community.” Mike answered

“My thoughts exactly. Why do you think he did that?”

“Well, it may have something to do with the cover story you created. You said we help fight off pirates and were rewarded by the captain. You and I both know a captain usually doesn’t let gold go and that we fought off pirates even though we were supposed to be passengers or simple crew. That doesn’t add up. Pete may have figured out that we are elite soldiers and wants us to stick around for protection of him, Alice, and Willow.”

“I hadn’t thought about that. Damn. I gave away too much information without trying to do so.”

“The good news is that Pete will probably let us live here and will leave us alone for the most part. They know we are at the old barn at the Pickford’s place and didn’t bat an eye or ask us to go somewhere else.”

“You’re right.” John agreed, “Still, we had better keep watches until we know more. Let’s maintain the fire discipline as well. Pete and Alice know where we are but we don’t want to broadcast it like they do. If they want us to informally protect them, then we need to stay relatively unknown.”

“We probably should build a boar proof barrier. If they heard the commotion down there, anyone else in the area heard it. I don’t want to give up our position because of some bacon.”

“Good idea, Mike. Let’s build the barrier and try to patch the missing boards on the barn.” The men arrived at what was now their new home. They searched the barn for any tools and wood they could use to patch the old place up. Repairing the walls would also help them hide their discovery. John took the first watch as Mike drifted off to sleep.