The Lighthouse Treasure

While sightseeing, Bob and Alice’s family find a lighthouse painted red and white like a candy cane. The lighthouse is sitting on a narrow strip of land sticking out into a cove. Daddy parks in a wide spot on the main shore and they all walk to the lighthouse. Knocking at the door of a small house near the base of the lighthouse, the door opens to reveal an old man with a craggy face with piercing blue eyes peeking out from the many folds of his face. With a smile, he greets them warmly, “welcome to the Cove Lighthouse, my name is George. How may I help you?”

“Hello,” Daddy says. “We would like to tour the Lighthouse, please?”

“Certainly,” says George. “You’re all welcome!” They follow him inside to discover the house is bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside. Uncle Jack figures it out and explains that there is no wall separating the house from the bottom of the lighthouse – so it is basically one big room!

While walking down a hallway, a breeze created by their footsteps causes a curtain to move – it reveals a small door near the floor – a child-sized door! Glancing back and forth between each other, the door and the adults, Bob and Alice pause. George is telling the adults about a legend of a treasure left behind by a former lighthouse keeper. He died many years ago after catching pneumonia while tending the lamp during a storm. Hundreds of people have looked for the treasure, but none have found it.

Bob pushes the curtain aside, revealing the small door again. Alice starts to get the attention of the adults, but Bob stops her, instead he turns the handle on the door! It squeaks loudly! Bob pauses to see if the adults heard the sound, but all he hears is muted conversation between them and George. Turning the handle again, Bob pushes and then pulls hard – the door swings outward creaking loudly!

Looking inside, Bob see stairs leading down into darkness with two pale lamps, the old-fashioned kind that use oil, a few steps down on the right and left. Looking at Alice, who nods, he steps through the door with Alice following close behind. The door swings shut, and the curtain falls back into place, hiding it once more.

As they continue down the spiral stairs, the dim lamps reveal only a short distance beyond. Their breath sounds unusually loud in the darkness, uncertainty creates a little fear in their hearts. After what seems like hours, but is probably only a few minutes, the children finally reach the bottom. It is a small room with a narrow bed, a small table with an oil lamp on it and a very dirty window. Bob uses his pocket knife to scrap some of the dirt from the window, while Alice tries to see if the lamp works.

She turns the cloth wick up like Daddy taught them last summer when they went camping. Unfortunately, the lamp is out of oil, besides she didn’t have a match to light it with anyway. Suddenly a narrow stream of light from the window brightens the room. It doesn’t reveal much more than before, but Bob and Alice feel better. Giving the room a much closer look, Alice see a dark object under the bed. With Bob’s help she pulls it out and puts it on the table that groans loudly in protest. It’s a trunk! But, its much smaller than theirs at the bungalow.

Bob tries to open it, but the latch is very rusty. He hits it with the base of his knife then tries the latch again. This time it moves. Inside is a lot of paper and several small cloth sacks filled with something lumpy tied with string. It’s too dark in the room to read the papers, so Bob and Alice pick up the trunk and start back up the stairs.

It seems to take longer than before, and the trunk is getting heavy, so they stop a lot. Alice is afraid. So is Bob, but he tries not to show it. They can hear the rumbles of the adult voices through the walls, but the children can’t find their way out! They keep climbing and climbing. In the semi-darkness they miss the small door they came in by. Finally, just as they fear of never seeing daylight again, Bob pushes a door open and the staircase is flooded with a bright light! The children are momentarily blinded, but as their eyes adjust, they see the clear blue sky and realize they are near the top of the lighthouse!

Dropping the trunk, they rush out onto the walkway marveling on how far they can see! Looking down the family car looks like a toy! Only then do Bob and Alice hear their names being called frantically! Rushing to the open-door way, they yell, “Daddy! Uncle Jack! We’re up here!”

Climbing the stairs to the walkway quickly, the men hug Bob and Alice tightly. Upset, Daddy says, “We’ve been looking for you and calling for you for over an hour! Where have you been? Why didn’t you answer?”

“We didn’t hear you,” Alice says.

“Where were you that you couldn’t hear us?” Uncle Jack asks.

“We found a small door that led to a small room and a trunk in the darkness. It took us a long time to find the way out!” Bob explained, very excited.

“Where is the trunk?” Uncle Jack asks.

“We dropped it at the door when we came out here,” Alice says with a big smile.

“We’ve been worried sick,” Daddy says while hugging the children again. Uncle Jack easily picks up the trunk and leads the way downstairs. Mama and Aunt Evelyn are waiting in George’s small sitting room crying sadly, but their cries turn to joy at the sight of Bob and Alice walking into the room unharmed. They are warmly hugged and kissed.

George pulls the paper and sacks from inside the trunk after Uncle Jack puts on a table nearby. George looks at them closely. Even though the writing on the paper is fading and the paper is falling apart, he can read them. The papers are letters from the lighthouse keeper from the legend to his lady love. He speaks of love and his desire to marry and settle down once he has saved up enough money for their wedding and buys a house with a garden.

In the sacks are gold and silver coins, precious jewels and some paper money. George says with a big smile, “You kids have solved the legend of the lighthouse treasure!” Everyone smiles in surprise.

“I’ll have everything appraised and put in the bank until either a relative of the lighthouse keeper or his lady love can be found,” George says happily. “You kids will be famous!”

And, that’s just want happened. Local newspapers printed the story on the front page with a picture of Bob and Alice holding some of the sacks from the trunk! The mayor gives them metals, a small cash prize and copies of the newspaper, too! The city decides to replace the dim lamps that lead down to the small room with new electric lights that look like the old-fashioned oil lamps. The room is cleaned, and the trunk is returned under the bed with fake letters and sacks of fake money inside for the tourists to look at.

When Bob and Alice’s family return to their bungalow, they receive a warm welcome and a surprise celebration from the town. By evening, everyone is happy, but tired and glad to go to bed. The children will add this newest adventure to their scrapbooks tomorrow, but for now they are glad to sleep. The End.