Golden Summer

It was noon on Friday. John and Mike sat at Pete’s table with Pete. Alice was waiting by the door expectantly. She was giddy as a child about to open a present. Pete was making small talk when the bell on the door rang out across the room. All conversation stopped as a woman in her thirties entered the restaurant. She had golden hair, crystal clear blue eyes, and a svelte figure. She was wearing a hunter’s outfit that was all green except for the one bit of color. On her right breast pocket was a marigold flower. Mike was entranced by her. Pete reached over the table and with his index finger closed Mike’s gaping mouth. “Mike, keep your composure.” John remarked. Mike shook his head to break the reverie as Alice was nearly skipping beside Joanne as the two women approached the table.

“Guys, this is Joanne or Willow to anyone not from the community. Joanne, this is John and Mike and of course you know Pete.” Alice beamed as she took her spot opposite Mike. Joanne sat at a chair at the end of the table.

“Gentlemen, it’s nice to finally meet you. I understand you wanted to meet me in person.” Joanne stated.

“Yes, we did. Especially after the mail you sent” John explained.

“Ah, the package. When Pete told me what happened at your first day at the café, I felt it necessary to send a note.”

“Why the picture?” John asked

“They were my relatives. I thought you should know from whom the treasure came. It’s important to me. I can’t believe you found it.”

“To be honest, we were led here by a heart locket.” John pulled the locket out of his pocket and laid it on the table. The bullet was still welded to it. Joanne picked up the locket, rubbed her fingers over the gold and the bullet. “The locket saved my life during a battle. An electro round from a sniper was meant for my heart but the locket stopped the round and absorbed most of the energy. I was still stunned but alive.” Joanne put the locket back down on the table. For the time being, John left it on the table almost as a symbol connecting everyone in the room.

“How did you get the locket?” Joanne asked

“We were on patrol after a fire-bombing campaign. I saw a glint in the mud and managed to surreptitiously pick it up with my weapon. If I had let anyone in the company know about it, I would have to forfeit it so I kept in my breast pocket. I knew the chain and locket would allow me to buy my way out of the area. I was packing to leave when we were attacked. Mike, has been my best buddy through countless battles. I trust him and I showed him the locket and told him my plans. The inscription on the back of the locket gave us coordinates to here.” John recapped.

“That couple was my great-grandparents. We didn’t know what happened to them once they went overseas. Well, my grandparents didn’t know. I wasn’t alive. Their treasure was legendary but after so much time had passed, everyone assumed it was false. I can’t believe you two found it.” Joanne started to sob a little from the realization that her parents and grand-parents were telling the truth and weren’t just crazy. Mike put his arm around her to console her. “I’m OK. It’s just a relief to know that the stories were real.”

“Tell me more about the treasure. We might not have found what the legends indicate.” John probed.

“Well, the treasure is supposed to be so vast that anyone who found it would be the wealthiest person in the world and even their great-grandchildren would live beyond imagine. They are said to have gotten a lot of the gold from the discarded electronics after the big bombs. No one needed the electronics anymore so they were just throwing them away. The Pickfords realized that those electronics contained gold and other precious metals. So they began harvesting them. They would smelt the gold down and turn it into coins, like the one you dropped the other day.” Alice offered. Mike blushed at the memory of his blunder. John gave him a quick glance to remind him to be quiet.

Joanne agreed, “My great-grandparents are said to have perfected the removal of precious metals from electronics and anything really. While the gold will make anyone wealthy, the process they created would make someone even wealthier. Imagine being able to easily obtain gold from sources that no one else is looking into.”

“Ok. We did find gold but we did not find the process you speak of. Of course we have yet to truly explore the location. The process may be in an unexplored area. I think, Mike and I should share some of the wealth with this community. We’ll never be able to spend it all, not even if all five of us spent every day. Of course trying to do so would quickly alert the warlords and survivalists. What if we use the wealth as we need for our community? We can communicate when we need or want something, like chocolate.” John said teasingly and winked at Pete and Alice.

“That’s good but we need to come up with a way to communicate so we can know it is from one of us. “Pete stated.

Mike looked at Joanne and her marigold. “We’ll mark all of our internal communications with a marigold. That way we know it is from one of us.” The group agreed before dispersing.