“The Gold is Gone”
Over the next few days we waited quietly for my father to make a move for the “gold,” but yet he did nothing. By Wednesday, we all decided to take a trip to the Alpine Slide that was nearby. Lucinda had never gone to one and if you’ve never been, it is a cement slalom course that winds down the mountain side you ride down on a plastic bobsled with wheels. Kevin opted to stay behind and monitor my father. He actually stayed behind because he was afraid of the slide (or the ski lift ride up to the top of the mountain). He didn’t say as much, but of all the years we went to Vermont, he only went once and was terrified the whole time.
After taking a few rides, we returned to the lodge to find my father waiting anxiously for us. As we all got out of the car my father was shaking his head in disbelief. He says “You aren’t going to believe this.”
We are all trying to feign ignorance as he tells us that the gold was gone. “What do you mean the gold is gone?” we said while trying to keep a straight face.
“I decided to go up to the graveyard just to have a look around and it looks like someone had dug up the gold days, maybe even hours before I got there.” It was easier for us to look shocked, not so much for hearing this as much as that he was fooled by that stupid hole. He then added, “No normal person would have dug this hole. Whoever did it was digging with such ferocity that he was hell bent on getting whatever was buried there.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Because any person in their right mind would have dug the hole and pile the dirt to the side. Dirt was flung in every direction. Whoever did it wanted to get the gold and get out of there as soon as possible.”
The other adults, whom already figured out the gold story was fake theorized that maybe it was an animal or something. “No animal dug this hole. There was dirt caked on trees ten feet high.” After debating and theorizing for about 20 minutes, all of the older adults decided to hike up to the cemetery to see for themselves.
Checking for themselves Examining the hole The hole in all it’s glory
Fearing that we would be revealed or unable to keep a straight face, none of us conspirators opted to accompany them. We watched them slowly climb the mountain as we waited down on the porch and discussed how we possibly could have gotten away with it. One of the others will have to say something to my father up there once they see that lame hole.
After what seemed like an hour, we watched the old people slowly meander back down the hill that leads up to the mountainside. The first thing one of the adults say was, “We solved the mystery of the gold…” At that moment, I though Kevin was going to die.
It turned out that on the opposite corner of the cemetery was a pipe hammered into the ground with a bright yellow cap marked “Dept. of Parks” They inferred from that that a someone from the Parks department had stumbled upon this mysterious gold and taken it for himself. And with that, Kevin dodged a bullet.
The rest of the week, my father flipped through the local papers to see if there were any articles about a guy whom stumbled into a small fortune, but there was no mention of found gold.