Book on The Shelf.

“Boom! Game again boys!” Shaun exclaimed as he slammed his winning card hand down on the table, shaking the chips along with his friends' spirits. Eddie, Ian and Manny all fixate on Shaun's cards, accepting defeat.

“Ok, Well, I'm out of money.” Eddie says shoving his cards to the middle of the table as the others nod in agreement.

“Is there something else besides board games in this basement or is this whole house dry as a saltine?” Shaun says with a snarky attitude. He continues along a bookshelf searching for something to occupy his attention. “What's your dad doing with all these lame old books? Why keep them?” Ian jumps over the couch with intensity. “Leave my dad's bookcase alone. Some of these things are older than your grandparents, he will kill me.”

“Oh please, they are books Ian, I'm not gonna break them.”

As Shaun reaches for a book, Ian shoves his arm. Shaun's arm whips into the bookcase, books crash to the floor, Shaun's arm knocks the bookcase to the side.

Shaun groans in pain. “Look what you did over some stupid old books!” Shaun yells while pointing towards the mess on the floor.

“What is this.?” Shaun slowly reaches down to an old black notebook. Various shapes, letters. Codes and quotes, along with notes and doodles, line the pages of the notebook. The pages tattered around the edges. The integrity of the pages and binding are surprisingly well kept despite the obvious age of the notebook and it is unmarked. An all black notebook, held closed by one elastic attached to the notebook. The book has no words on the outside ,Only the manufacturer branded “Moleskine” Emblem.

“What kind stuff does your dad have here?” Shaun questions beginning to open the notebook. “DON’T!” Ian exclaims. “We don't know what's in that, and I don't want my dad to find out!” “Come on Ian.” Manny chimes in softly. “Yeah man, Your dad isn't gonna know, I'm usually against Shaun on this stuff, but I'm curious.” Eddie says in agreement “Yeah come on man, that creepy book is cool!” Manny says, egging on his friend.

Ian Pauses for a second. “Ok, well look at this one. This ONE, And I handle the book!” Ian says snatching the book from Shaun's hands.

The boys gather around the table inside the basement, Ian Places the book down with his hands over it, He looks up at his friends. “Listen, If we find anything in here, good or bad. We don't tell anyone. My dad is always crazy about these things.”

The group agrees together. “Absolutely, don't even worry about it.” they say.

Eddie cups his hands around his mouth “OPEN THE BOOK!!!”

The rest of the group, banging the table in between words. “OPEN. THE. BOOK. OPEN. THE. BOOK.” They chant playfully.

“Alright” Ian exclaims, holding his hand up. He begins turning through the pages as the boys surround his seat.

“I don't understand any of these words” Shaun says puzzled.

“Yeah, I cant make out what any of this is.” Eddie says losing Interest.

After a few minutes of studying and muffled confusion turning the pages Manny breaks the silence with excitement. “Woah that says Salona!” “Salona is here!”

“We live in Solin? What is Salona?” Shaun says with a condescending tone.

“No, Solin is what we call it now. Salona is the original name of the city. This book could be three thousand years old!” The boys glare at each other and keep thumbing through the pages looking for any more clues.

“STOP!” Eddie yells. He points to a picture depicting what looks to be an old concert hall of sorts. “That's an amphitheater. There's ruins of an ancient amphitheater not far from us!”

The boys begin digging into devices and more books, seeing if they can find any more information on the town of Salona or anything in Ian's dad's bookcase related.

“Ok, so we know Salona is the original name, founded by Julius Caesar or whatever, blah, blah, blah. Why the book with the treasure chest secrets?” Manny ponders.

“I'm not sure, but says a roman emperor was born here and used to make people of christan faith fight lions in that amphitheater” Shaun smugly chuckles as he reads along.

Ian's head is deeply buried into the notebook when he hears Shaun. His head shoots up.

“Wait a second, did you say lions?!” Ian exclaims. He begins ruffling through all the pages until he finds one with the image of a man being mauled by a lion. He stops and freezes. The Boys frantically run over to Ian after seeing his expression. The boys can't believe their eyes and begin to connect the dots of what they are reading.

“The words” Ian says gently. “We need to find what language this is.”

As the others dive into their devices to figure out which language they are trying to translate Ian continues to ruffle through the pages. He finds what looks to be a list accompanied by a picture with a circle and an X on a location. “Guys…” Ian says with suspense. “This is a treasure map.” They all Lift their heads. The room is barren with silence. Numb with emotion.

“Do you think there's treasure at the amphitheater?” Eddie looks around.

“Well it's obvious your dad doesn't have this book by accident, it hasn't gone far. But what's the treasure?” Shaun says dismissively.

“I'm not sure” Ian replies nervously. “There's a list on this page but all I can make out is where someone wrote in 70 denari.”

“Denarius is roman coin!” Manny shouts. “I was just reading about roman culture and it mentioned the denarius coin!”

Shaun laughs and sits down, tossing his phone he was using to research. “Ok yeah. I'm not digging into the DaVinci Code.” he says using air quotes, now mocking the idea. “Over 70 roman cents.”

“It's not cents, that was their currency. There's no telling what that's worth today.”

Eddie interrupts just then. “um.. I can tell you what it's worth.”

All the boys whip their heads towards Eddie. “Well, I can't say exactly but the average value of a denarius is about $300 so if there's 70 of them..”

Shaun leaps from his chair. “That's like 250 thousand dollars!”

Manny paying no attention to Shaun falls to his knees in front of Eddie. “Twenty. Thousand. Dollars.” He says peacefully. “Could you imagine if we discovered an ancient treasure, and its value could be 20 thousand dollars.” Shaun jumps from his chair standing over Manny. “WE didn't discover anything. I picked up the book. I'm the one who opened it. I'm gonna be the first one to grab that treasure.” Manny stands up pushing his chest against Shaun's. “Yeah right, you couldn't solve one thing. If anything I'm the one who put the clues together. And I can get it myself!” Eddie leaps from his chair jumping in between the boys. “Both of you can relax, cause I'm the one who knows the value and where to sell them, If you find it. Which you won't. Because I AM.” He exclaims as he goes to gather his things.

Just then, the door to the basement opens and a man shouts “What are you all yelling about?” He begins to walk down the stairs. The boys shutter where they are, all excitement and ambition for a treasure escapes them. They all try to gather a casual position.

Ian panics and tosses the book under a bureau. He whips around Standing at attention. “Hey Dad!” he says frantically.

The room smells of guilt. Ian's dad remains silent as he looks around the room at Ian and his friends. “What are you guys up to down here? I thought it had been a while since you came up. Why so suspicious down here?” He circles the boys and surveys the room as he addresses them. He glances over and notices the book case is pushed out of position from when Shaun hit his arm. He stares at the bookshelf for a minute, studying the books and thumbing through them. He stops. Lowering his head he says in a calm voice. “Where is the notebook of Saint Domnius..” The boys all raise from their seats. Shaun blurts out “Who is Saint Domnius, How much do you know?” The boys all look at Shaun, in disbelief he could ask something so stupid. Ian's dad holds his silence for a moment before finally turning away from the bookcase. “I guess I haven't told this story. If you give back the notebook. I will tell you.” The boys all look at Ian. He moves towards the bureau and pulls out the notebook and tenderly hands it to his father. Ian's dad asks the boys to sit down.

“My dad gave me this book.” He begins. “His dad gave it to him and it's been passed down until it got to me. The language in the book is the Illyrian language. A language lost since the year 500. My friends and I just like yourselves dived into the book. But for weeks. Months. Maybe even a year.” Ian's dad has the book closed in between his hands staring at the floor. “Saint dominus was a christan bishop is Salona, he died a martyr. Sentenced to execution by emperor Diocletian during his persecution of christans in the year 304. This notebook was written by Domnio. It was until my friends and I got ahold of it with access to the internet and the help of a local college professor we were able to translate pieces of it.” Shaun screams interrupting. “Did you guys find the treasure?!” Ian's dad looks over at Shaun disappointed. “After seeing the professor and showing her our findings, she said this looked to be drawings and entries Domnio made until the day he died by confirming a date written in. She helped us piece together the location and took us to the amphitheater to see for herself. After some convincing of the officials there. They brought in an archaeologist and within 2 hours, there it was. Assorted items, a pouch containing denarius, everything. Fifty thousand dollars worth of ancient roman history."

Shaun lunges forward cutting off Ian's dad. “You got FIFTY thousand dollars, I thought I was getting twenty!”

Ian's dad shakes his head. Chuckling at Shaun's naivety. “My take was fifteen thousand. It was gone in a few months, and so were my friends. The money was the worst part at the end of everything. When it came to dividing items and the money, everyone turned to greed. One friend thought he did more, so he deserved more. One friend thought he created the plan so deserved more for that. One person wanted to take the items to sell them for more.” As Ian's dad pauses, the boys look at each other in a moment of reflection.

“We were kids, we didn't know any better, but we were never the same after that. You would think after that adventure, discovering ancient history, that it would be tighter. The greed forced us apart. Those challenges created distrust, that distrust created separation. Because we let selfishness and greed get in between us, we didn't stop to think about what was most important in that moment. The notebook and adventure that brought us together.

The items left by Domnio were not a treasure. They were the last items he had with him before he knew he was being executed. The notebook is likely to have been the only thing he kept on himself. When he knew he was walking into eternity. He kept his notebook with him. He kept his history and his thoughts with him. This one notebook, this collection of ideas and stories. Like all notebooks contains; not only, the thoughts and interactions we had when we are here. But the weight of the history it will carry when we are all gone.”