KINGSCELLAR

It was the day of my dad’s funeral.

The family met at the humble church.

In the center of town. In the small town of Kingsceller.

The day was Crisp and windy. The room was somber and surreal. There were many people there. He was one of the founders of our town. Naming our community, clearing the first farm .Helping to establish the very church were in.

As I think back about my father, he was a mysterious man that said little. When he calmly spoke, everyone listened. Due to his smooth demeanor. He did not want for much. However, the few things did have he treasured.

I remember the axe that hung in the Soddy. The coin he kept in pocket watch. He often took out and played with. We knew it was important to him but he never offered an explanation, and we did not ask.

As the next few week went by, I walked the old homestead, remembering all the good times. 39 acres dedicated to breaking horses. The Space was wide open. To the west you can see my. Dads first home. The old Soddy, the hill with a door built in. It was where they lived for 5 years. As my father chopped the wood to build a home. Where we all grew up.

It was a hill with a door on the front. Dangerous to enter now but I have been in.

The following day was the reading of the will. I was surprised that he left he left me any thing at all. As he was not a wealthy man and I had several siblings. On that day, I was given an envelope. In the envelope was has a hand written letter from my father, and his treasured coin. The coin that I had never seen up close.

The letter said:

“My dearest Theresa

As you are the oldest, I leave to you our family’s future. Life is full of hardships and challenges. I want our family to prosper together. I spent my life preparing for that purpose. I have one last adventure to share with you.

I have a mystery for you to remember me by.

Here is a riddle from our past for you to solve.

You must find something true blue. It was as special to you as it was to me. That once was new to me, now ancient to you.

You will always be in my heart

Love Dad. xoxox”

After a good solid cry, I tried to think about what he said. Blue what’s blue?

I remember when as a child, there was a baby blue ford we played in. While my dad was chopping wood. He called that thing true blue the first thing he ever bought new. It never let him down.

That night I checked out the property again. Searched until I found the truck. There it was, deep in the over grown grasses. Rusting away but still together. The door still opened, so I got in and took a seat. I looked around and wondered what did he want me to see?

I searched the truck. Tapped beneath the glove box I found a little black book. You will never believe what as in there. One page had a picture of a coin. The very same coin the he had left me.

One slide had a flower. Looked like a Lady slipper and the other side bore a Val Knut (A Viking symbol a circle with three triangles intertwined).

As I turned through the pages, I realized my dad had had quite an adventurous life. On the last page of the book, I saw the axe. The axe I knew once hung in the Soddy over the cellar. Below the picture of the axe was one last clue.

“0n guard at the opening is a link to our past if you find it below lies the future”.

When I go into the door inside the hill. The axe is still above the entrance over the cellar hatch. The cellar has since collapsed. I know it’s a dangerous. I leave to contemplate the situation.

The next day I gather the family together and we go through the clues. We are on the right track but where do we go now?

They decide to dig!

We secure the structure so the hillside does not continue to collapse.

While digging I notice the slanted cat eyes of several slithering, green and brown snakes. The prairie rattle snake with a triangular head. The only venomous Snakes in Alberta happen to find the Soddy home.

After going through the lengthy process of smoking them out and being scared and grossed out.

We were able to continue digging.

We hit a something hard.

Our hearts beating with anticipation and curious as to what we had found.

In wonder what this could be?

Was it family mementoes, antiques?

Was it advice about the future?

As we pulled it, up. Mom recognized it. A shipping crate that dad had always had. She always believed that it was full of family memories I knew his grandparents had brought it with them from Sweden.

Once we got it up and dusted it off.

We could see the Viking symbol. The same circle with three triangles. It was the same symbol as one side of THE coin Dad’s coin.

We cracked open the crate. It was filled with these very same coins.

Lots and lots of them.

If they really were gold!

It was enough to make our family very wealthy.

Even more exciting was the find of several more little black books, filled with so information. A wealth of history .That explain our lineage. All the way back to 1700’s.

The story of how the treasure became his. Where did it come from?

This was the next mystery to unravel.