Where the Lilies Grow

I will never get used to losing pet. You want them to live forever and you do everything to show them you love them. But what can we do? That's life! We'll all leave this life one day. I just wish I could have prevented my poor Brairy from passing so suddenly. It hit me like a ton of bricks. He was playing one day, then the next day he fell ill. He was gone within a week. I always thought I would cremate him so he would always be with me. But I decided to bury him somewhere on my family's land.

The next day I drove out to find a perfect spot. I saw a weeping willow tree and decided to bury him next to it. That way whenever I wanted to come visit him, I knew exactly where to go. I thought to myself, let's do this. How hard can it be? Well, it was harder than I anticipated. Not only was I getting tired from shoveling, but I kept crying. I gave my hands a rest from shoveling and started removing the dirt with my hands. I felt something odd but figured it was the tree roots or something. When I laid my sweet baby in the hole, I got a closer look at what appeared to be something wrapped in plastic. I got the shovel and proceeded to uncover it. It was something alright, a tightly wrapped plastic bag with something in it. I was afraid to open it because it could be a bomb...I watch movies you know. And I've seen scenarios like this not end well. I took a deep breath, and I ripped the bag open. Inside was a little black book. How long had this been here? Who put this here? My family has had this land for as long as I can remember. So, maybe someone put it there for safe keeping. It was well preserved and appeared to be hand made out of leather. Before I opened the book, I said a prayer: “Lord, please don’t let this be a spell book or a curse. Amen.” I didn’t want to open up a pandora’s box, but I was very curious. I hesitantly turned pages. There was a name in the front, “Denise”. The writing was faded but legible. It was like a diary. There was a bookmark towards the back of the book. I turned to that page and there was a key. The book had been wrapped so tight that the key had created an indentation in the pages. But the page it was on had an address. Hmmm…does this key go to this address? Possibly. Only one way to find out. I finished laying my baby to rest and headed home for the night.

I felt the burning need to talk about this. I called my sister and told her the story. She also had many questions. So, instead of assuming and speculating, we decided to solve this mystery. We agreed to meet the next day to try and find the address in the book. We said our goodbyes, but I couldn’t sleep. I started looking online for the address. Looking for any stories that may have been associated with the address. Any information that may help ease my anxiety. My curiosity was getting the best of me. So, in an effort to get some rest I took a shower and called it a night.

I was able to get some rest but was right back up within a few hours reading through the book and looking at the key for clues. I hadn’t forgotten the fact that I just laid my dog to rest but occupying my mind with this definitely helped me focus on other energy. Reading the notes painted a picture of who “Denise” was, for me. For all I know Denise may not have been the author. Maybe she was “who” the book was dedicated to. Either way, I decided that Denise wrote these notes and put the key away for safe keeping. And yes, I did just make that story up in my head, but I was sticking to that. Between the grocery lists and what looked like appointment times, there were things that made sense. At the beginning of the book, Denise writes, “I got a new dress. I saved for it and bought it. All by myself. Imagine what else I can do by myself”. I thought it was the simplest form of self-empowerment. Not too fancy, not boastful. It was simple and to the point.

(Cellphone ringtone)

I scrambled to find my phone which was buried in the covers somewhere. It was my sister. I didn’t want her to know I had been up already looking through the book and researching online. So, I answered in a groggy morning voice. “You’re still sleep?” she said. As I chuckled, I said, “I’m up”. We decided to meet at my house around noon. It was already 10 am so I needed to get ready. I couldn’t help myself; I picked the book back up again. As hard as it was, I gave myself a mental break and focused on something else. I made coffee. Just what I needed. A boost of caffeine to get my adrenaline going. Before I knew it, my sister was at my door. I invited her to sit and drink coffee while we went over the details. I wanted her to hear the story and see for herself before we set out to look for the address. She too was surprised by the condition of the book and how the key was set in the pages. It arose questions from her perspective that I never thought about. Was someone coming back to get it? Were we in danger for having it? We knew we could sit there all day and go back and forth about the what if scenarios, but the best way to find answers was to start with what we had, the address.

I put the address in the GPS and directions appeared. So, I knew one thing for sure. This address still existed. It was going to take an hour to get there. Not a long trip but my sister and I still decided to come up with all types of stories to pass the time. As we got closer to the destination, I noticed we were in a town named Pearl. The sign said, “Welcome to Pearl…the gem is inside”. How fitting I thought. The GPS said, “turn right and your destination will be on your right”. It was an older apartment building that had been well taken care of. But where were we going? To an apartment? Hopefully someone inside could at least tell us if we were in the right place. The doors had a security pad and were locked. Since we didn’t have a way to get in, we stood by and waited for someone to open the door then we slipped in. There were several people in the lobby area. But I needed to locate someone who worked there or maintained the building. My sister spotted someone pushing a mop and bucket. She said, “He has to work here”.

“Excuse me Sir, do you work here?”

He gave a sarcastic reply which I deserved. “No, I don’t. I just like to walk around with a mop.”

“Okaaaaay, well can you help us?”

He then says, “It depends.”

So, I pulled out the black book, turned to the page with the key and showed him.

“Where did you get this?”

“Can you help us? Please!”

“Follow me” he says.

We reluctantly followed him to an office. He starts off by telling us this used to be a hotel, Hotel Baltic. But through the generations of owners, it became an apartment building. It was now The Baltic Apartments.

“Well, does this key look familiar?” my sister asked.

“Sure does. When this place was a hotel, we had lockers or safe boxes for our guests. They are located on the basement floor. People would keep all kinds of stuff there. It was a safe place to keep your precious items from thieves while you stayed here. Come on I’ll show you.”

We went to an elevator labeled “Staff ONLY”. We took it to the ground floor. It was dark so we were a little afraid to get off the elevator. He assured us we were fine. But we couldn’t help noticing the stale smell and the lack of lighting. We approached an area where safety deposit boxes were built into the wall. They were about the size a large shoe box. He stated there were only 50 boxes and it was first come first serve. We looked at the key. It was blank on one side, but the other side had a number. Number 8. We assumed it went to box 8. My sister inserted the key and….it fit. It was hard to turn, but the custodian was able to unlock it. There was an old box in there and a letter.

“You know I never asked your name Sir,”

“It’s Gary”

“Well, Gary, is it possible for us to go back to a less spooky place and see what we have?”

“I suppose so, follow me so I can get you guys back to civilization.” (chuckles softly)

We took the elevator back to the lobby. “Mr. Gary, we really appreciate you. Thank you for helping us. Is it ok if we take it outside to see what’s in it?”

“Ladies, I just work here. You showed me a key that was familiar to me and I showed you what it went to. So, in my eyes you belonged here. You had a key, that told me…. these ladies are in the right place. People very rarely left their valuables, but those that did, came back. So, go enjoy your treasure.”

We hurried back to the car. We laughed so hard. But it wasn’t laughter from something funny, it was nervous laughter. We were so happy we didn’t become horror movie victims. Then we teased each other about how scared we were. We finally took a sigh of relief and opened the letter first. It said, “My dearest…This letter will be short and sweet. I enjoyed my years on this earth. So, if you are reading this, you are one lucky son of a bitch. Love, Denise.” The box wasn’t sealed or anything, so we removed the top and there were several stacks of money. I swear we stood there with our mouths open for at least 5 minutes. It was $20,000. That’s a lot of cash, we thought. And it’s been here he whole time, waiting for someone to come back.

After everything calmed down, I went back to the weeping willow tree to see Brairy. I picked up a small bouquet before I went to the property. As I drove up to the tree, I could see there was something different. There was a pale blue patch of lilies growing on his grave. I was amazed at how they only covered the area where he was. I sat down, laid the bouquet on the lily bed and sat in silence as tears rolled down my cheeks. I was now at peace, where the lilies grow.