Secret Treasures

Cedar grew up in a large family, with three brothers and two sisters. Their lives were vibrant and chaotic, between all of the extracurricular hobbies and community events. Cedar participated in several volunteer projects, and played the piano and the cello, but they were always more independent than their siblings. They were the oldest, and with fewer obligations than their younger siblings, they spent a lot of time at their grandmother’s house, helping her now that her husband had passed.

Their grandmother, Julia, owned a small, two-bedroom house in a small town. The yard was overgrown and surrounded by trees, keeping the house in shade most of the time except for a patio with a glass roof and walls, where Cedar liked to paint in the natural light. Julia taught Cedar how to cook and sew, and how to take care of both her indoor and outdoor plants. The house was like a second home to Cedar.

Julia moved into a hospice center at the age of 87, when Cedar was in high school. Cedar went to the house every day after school to feed the cats and take care of the plants, and visited Julia at the hospice most weekends. After Cedar graduated from high school, Julia revealed that she had left the house to Cedar in her will, but decided that Cedar could have it now, with the stipulation that they continue to care for her two cats and house plants.

Cedar was much more at peace in the little house than they had been in the large suburban house with all of their younger siblings. They reorganized their grandmother’s things and moved their own things in, and got accepted to a college nearby that they could reach via train. Between school and their part time job, Cedar spent most of their time drinking tea and painting, or practicing the cello, enjoying a calm, quiet life.

One evening, Cedar spotted a drone carrying a large package as they walked back to the house from the train station, eating a scone they had picked up after work. Cedar was surprised to see the drone drop the package carefully at the bottom of the steps leading up to their porch before flying away. They didn’t remember ordering anything, and they weren’t expecting anything from someone else. They thought it might be something for their grandmother, and picked it up to take it inside. The label on the box was addressed to Cedar by name, so they put it on a table to open it up and see what was inside.

The box itself was about the size of a shoe box, and was heavier than Cedar expected. They turned on a table lamp and cut the tape to open the box, their curiosity growing. Inside was a sealed envelope, and another smaller package wrapped in brown paper. The envelope also had Cedar’s name, and they picked it up and opened it, finding a letter inside.

Cedar,

You don’t know me, but I am an old friend of your grandmother. She and I often send letters back and forth, and she’s written a lot about you. I understand that she’s moved out of her house, and you have taken over care of the property.

My name is Beverley, and Julia used to watch me while my parents were away. We were as different as two people could be, but somehow got along famously. We lost touch for a time when I became old enough to look after myself, but we were reunited when I ran into her at my college. Her husband, your grandfather, was there attending some sort of symposium with which I was not affiliated, and I offered to entertain her while Jim attended his meetings. After explaining my struggles attending school and supporting myself, she hired me as a live-in housekeeper for her and her husband.

Julia always encouraged my adventurous spirit. Against her husband’s wishes, she helped me with the housework so I would have more time for study. As my education progressed, so did my thirst for exploration. I began to seek out opportunities to study abroad. Shortly after Julia’s first child was born, I was able to travel to Europe, where I stayed for two years, and after that, I continued my travels all over the globe.

I wrote to Julia almost every week, and sent her gifts from the places I visited. I became involved with a team of archaeologists, and began working with them as they excavated sites in ancient civilizations. Eventually, I was married to one of the lead archaeologists who shared my passion for adventure.

Julia enjoyed my letters, but preferred her simple life of motherhood. She sent me gifts that she’d sewn or crocheted, and an occasional book that she particularly liked, and as many photographs of her and her family as she could spare. Unfortunately, Jim didn’t approve of our relationship, and worried that I was a bad influence on Julia. He feared, I think, that she would one day desire to leave him to explore the world for herself. Julia and I both knew fully well that this wasn’t the case, but Julia was forced to keep our correspondence a secret.

She kept the letters and gifts I sent her in a locked box, and when it was full, she would send me the key and begin a new box. I didn’t know why she wanted to keep the gifts if they were only to be locked away, but Julia insisted that keeping them was important to her. After her husband passed, I asked her if she wanted the keys back, but she told me to wait.

A few weeks ago, she told me about her moving out and you moving in, and instructed me to send the keys to you along with this letter of explanation. I suppose she doesn’t know how much longer she will be with us, unless she has some other reason for keeping this from you. Either way, I’ve arranged for this package to be dropped off at your house. It contains eight keys, and a little gift from me to you. Julia says she keeps the boxes hidden in the basement. I wish you the best of luck!

Beverley

Cedar scrunched their face up in confusion. It was a fascinating letter, and they couldn’t wait to ask their grandmother about Beverley and why she hadn’t mentioned her when they were so close, but what was most confusing was the mention of a basement. Julia had lived in the same house for more than 40 years, and as far as Cedar was aware, there was no basement. There were no stairs inside or outside of the house, except the three steps leading up to the porch, and there were no lower windows to indicate an underground level.

Cedar shifted their weight on the hardwood flooring, listening to the quiet creaks. It was possible there was some kind of crawl space under the main house, but they had no idea how to get to it. It was a Friday, and Cedar had planned on going to visit their grandmother on Sunday with their father and siblings, but Cedar decided to go for a visit the next morning to try to get some answers.

Until then, they opened the brown paper package. Inside was a box with two compartments. The first held eight keys, in a variety of sizes and styles. On the other side was a small jewelry box. It looked like an antique, with brass detailing and small blue jewels encrusted in the lid. Cedar picked it up gingerly, examining it from all angles. They felt undeserving of such an extravagant gift, especially from someone they had never met, and thought about just giving it to their grandmother, but decided it would be impolite to refuse the gift. Cedar brought the jewelry box to their bedroom and placed some earrings and a bracelet inside.

The next morning, Cedar was so eager to talk to their grandmother that they arrived at the hospice center as soon as visiting hours opened. With the letter from Beverley in hand, Cedar found their grandmother in the common room crocheting next to a window with a view of the hospice center’s courtyard garden. She smiled delightedly as soon as she saw Cedar and waved them over, looking as cheerful as ever, though Cedar noticed how frail she was looking these days.

They sat in a soft chair across from their grandmother and showed her the letter. “I got this in the mail yesterday, with some keys and a jewelry box,” they said, cutting to the chase.

Julia smiled fondly at the familiar handwriting. “Oh, I’m so relieved it arrived safely. Beverley’s living in an apartment in Paris these days, and it’s not so easy for either of us to travel for a visit.”

“So, it’s true?” Cedar asked conspiratorially, leaning forward in their seat and eyes lit up with excitement. “There really are boxes full of treasure somewhere in the house?”

Julia nodded with an equally excited smile. She looked around mischievously to be sure their conversation was private. “Beverley has sent me all kinds of things, some of them are worth a lot of money. I knew that anyone else in the family would toss them away, or pawn them off. I know that’s probably where they’ll end up, but I just felt like they were too special to be lost so soon. I knew if I left it all to you, you would appreciate them as much as I did.”

“I will,” Cedar promised sincerely. “I can’t wait to find everything! Wait – the letter said they were kept in the basement, but the house doesn’t have a basement.”

“It’s more of a cellar, really,” Julia explained with a sly grin. “In the closet of the master bedroom, under the rug on the floor is a hatch that leads down to it. It’s just an unfinished cement room we used for storage. There’s quite a bit of history down there, actually. I just wanted to make sure you were able to get to them before my son went through things. Perhaps I’m too sentimental, but I hoped you would take more care than he would.”

Cedar laughed softly in disbelief, sitting back in their seat. “I can’t believe you never mentioned any of this before, even after Grandpa died. You know, Beverley said that he didn’t like you two writing to each other. Why was that?”

Julia took a deep breath and looked wistfully out the window. “Beverley and I were very close. I loved your grandfather very much, Cedar, but I sometimes thought about what it would be like to travel the world with her. Jim was a very traditional man; he didn’t think it was proper for a woman to go around exploring the world when she had a family at home. I suppose he thought if I stopped writing to Beverley, it would cure my wanderlust. But I always knew I would never leave him, or my child. I kept things secret for his peace of mind.”

She sighed and looked down at her crocheting, starting it up again. “Do me a favor, will you, Cedar?”

“Of course,” Cedar answered.

“One of the boxes you have a key to is a small chest with a pink and gold rose pattern. Inside the chest, there’s a jade ring with an engraving. If at all possible . . . I would like that ring back. I’d like to be buried wearing it.”

Cedar’s eyes widened. They didn’t know if such a request would be granted, but they would do whatever they could to ensure that it was. “I’ll bring it over as soon as I find it,” they agreed with a nod, “but I think you should talk to my dad about being buried with it.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Julia agreed with an unsure tone. Cedar wondered if their dad would also have some opinions about Julia’s relationship with Beverley, but as he was in charge of Julia’s estate and funeral proceedings, they thought he would be more capable of honoring this request.

The two of them chatted for a little bit longer, but Julia hurried them out the door to start looking for the boxes. Cedar wasted no time locating the hatch that was indeed under the rug in the master bedroom’s closet.

The opening wasn’t particularly large, and led to a ladder that went down to the cement floor. The room was fairly spacious, taking up the space underneath the master bedroom and kitchen, but it seemed to end before the front of the house. Closest to the ladder were boxes and storage totes full of familiar decorations and knick-knacks. Cedar looked over everything, noticing an extensive match luggage set that they remember their grandparents using on trips, and a few miscellaneous trunks that looked like antiques. Cedar got on their knees and pushed open a trunk to look inside.

The trunk itself wasn’t locked, but inside, among the old suitcoats that must have been their grandfather’s, Cedar found the first locked box. Not the floral-patterned one, this one was a stained tin box with leather straps. Cedar fished out the keys they had and matched one that looked similar to the lock. It was old and slightly rusted, but with a bit of tweaking, Cedar was able to open the box.

Inside was a collection of small trinkets. They looked like handmade crafts, with carved shapes and beads, and smelled strongly of wood. There were several coins, as well, and a little velvet purse. Most of the box, however, was filled with aged paper envelopes, stamped from various parts of Africa and the Middle East, all addressed to this house. Cedar opened a few of the letters and skimmed through them, fascinated by Beverley’s descriptions of her adventures. Before long, though, they closed and locked the box again, setting it aside. They would have time to explore it all later, but they wanted to find the jade ring their grandmother requested as soon as possible.

Cedar spent the day going through the basement, finding five more locked boxes that matched one of the keys before finding the floral-patterned box. The jade ring was inside among a plethora of antiques that looked to be from Asia. Cedar was careful with the ring, placing it in a small ring box of their own to be transported, and went back upstairs. Later that night, they were too excited to sleep, and went back downstairs to continue exploring.

They organized all of the things left in the basement into piles of clothes, holiday items, other décor, and furniture, and took the eight locked boxes upstairs to the table, opening each of them and taking careful inventory of the treasures inside. Beverley truly had been all over the world, travelling from the US to the UK, through France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, then to South America, Africa, and Asia.

Cedar organized the letters in chronological order and read them well into the early morning hours, following her adventures as though she was reading a novel. Each gift had a letter that explained it’s origins; a small porcelain doll from an antique shop in London, a real bottle of cologne from Cologne, France, an empty box that once had German chocolates, obviously eaten by their grandmother. For every gift, there were five to ten letters, and Cedar had only began reading about Beverley’s arrival in Milan, Italy, when they finally fell asleep.

The next morning, their grandmother had taken a turn for the worst. She greeted her visitors, Cedar and their siblings and father, with her same delighted smile and sparkling eyes, this time from her bed. Her breaths were short, and she looked exhausted, but she didn’t want to miss the visit.

Cedar told her that they’d found the ring, and helped her put it on. Julia’s knuckles were swollen with arthritis, but in the months since she’d become sick, her fingers had become thin and frail, and the ring still fit. Julia smiled at her grandchild, stroking the ring gently before turning to her son.

Cedar’s father assured her that, along with all of the other arrangements the two had made together, Julia would be buried wearing the jade ring. Cedar studied the letters thoroughly, and catalogued everything in the boxes. Beverley started writing to Cedar, as well, and they wrote back in turn.

Through Beverley’s letters, Cedar felt that they had been right along with her on the journey, and discovered their own thirst for adventure. Beverley encouraged Cedar to travel, like she had, and sent some money to fund the Study Abroad program that they found through their school. Beverley seemed like a celebrity to Cedar, someone powerful and out of reach, but only a few months after receiving the package from her, Cedar was on their way to Paris, where she would meet her in person.