Surprise!

SURPRISE!

How did I pay for college, you ask? I can thank my dog and a mysterious game that popped up last year . . .

My Labrador retriever's nose was a food-seeking missile but could he seek - and find - other scents? That's what I had aimed to learn at the scent detection classes (the course was a gift for my 18th birthday). Chester and I were enjoying the course but his progress seemed to be slow. However, his ability to make friends was excellent. He and a beautiful shepherd had play bowed to each other after the previous class, prompting her owner Peter and I to arrange a play date for them. Today. Saturday. In half an hour. That meant that I was awake (just barely) and dressed instead of sleeping until noon which is what my body and mind wanted.

After a quick meal of banana and granola bar for me, kibble for Chester, we set off in my Mom's old Matrix.

We arrived at the Larose Forest parking lot and spotted Peter and Trez waiting under the pines.

"Hey, we're here but don't expect anything intelligible out of my mouth for a while. I'm normally asleep at this time," I declared.

"Same here, Sandra. Sorry about that but this is the only time today that I could borrow my brother's car."

The dogs play bowed and then started romping around, chasing and grabbing one another. Chester snuffled through the fragrant old leaves and pine needles along a trail. When he was far ahead and I was out of sight, he ran back in hopes of scoring a treat. I often rewarded his "check in" behavior so he wouldn't stray far.

Chester pounced on something under a pine tree and wagged his tail in excitement. "What did you find, boy?", I asked. Chester put a paw on a plastic bag and ripped a hole before I could reach him. I stomped on it to prevent him from starting a "keep away" game.

"Look at this, Peter. There's a paper with a message. "

We read the words followed by some numbers.

WIN A PRIZE.

45.348310 -75.387463

"Hey, we should find this location and see what's there." I said to Peter. "My Mom has a tablet with GPS that I can borrow in case this place is off road. What do you think?"

"Let's do it," he agreed. I arranged to follow him home so he could drop off the car and his shepherd and then continue to my place to get the tablet.

Mom was reading a book on her tablet but readily agreed to share it. We plugged in the numbers and discovered that they were displayed in the Cumberland Forest.

After a snack in the kitchen we drove north until we reached a rough dirt road through the woods. I slowed down, looking for a path into the trees near the GPS coordinates.

Peter spotted an opening so I parked at the edge of the road and we got out with Chester. Ahead of us, Chester wagged his tail and romped into the woods. It was a more pleasant walk than it would have been a few weeks earlier when mosquitoes occupied the air. The damp trail passed a pond with dead coniferous trees, not a pretty sight. We watched the coordinates get close to the written numbers as we walked slowly under the spruce and fir trees. We couldn't find anything on the ground or under the sodden leaves, twigs and needles.

"We should have brought a rake." I said in disgust after a few minutes of brushing evergreen needles aside.

"I don't see anything that looks like a hole or dug up soil," replied Peter. Then he looked up. The branches were thick. "Hey, I think I see something." We looked up from different positions around a large fir. "I'm going to climb up."

He didn't have to climb high to reach a clear plastic bag containing something black. Back on the ground we examined the contents: a clean dry black covered notebook. Flipping the pages I hinted at my desire. "Did I mention that I have a thing for stationery?"

Peter laughed. "I have a thing for ATVs, so I understand. Sure, it's yours."

I found a notation on the fifth sheet. It was another set of GPS coordinates plus a four digit number near the bottom of the page. "Whoa! Another clue. I want to follow it. Are you game, Peter?"

"You bet," he answered with a grin. "I think we should look carefully through the pages first so we don't miss anything." We did that but all the other pages were bare apart from the handy graph paper layout.

Chester wasn't happy to leave the woods with all those fascinating scents but a tasty treat was always his first choice. I had to clean the mud off him with a towel before I'd let him jump into his crate in the car.

The next coordinates appeared to be somewhere along the bicycle/ walking path that wound through and between the towns Russell and Embrun. I parked in a small lot and we all got set for another walk. This time I leashed Chester. Once again we watched the map while moving toward the coordinates we needed. After a few minutes we thought we were close enough and looked along the ground and in the trees and shrubs that grew on both sides of the paved pathway. Chester figured out that we were playing a search game so he followed his nose to the hidden side of the trees and barked. He had found a tiny plastic bag hanging from a short branch hidden by leaves. Inside was a key.

Peter's jaw dropped. "Wow! I don't know if we could have found that without Chester's help."

Of course, we had no idea what lock the key would open so we kept looking for more clues. We found nothing.

We walked back to the car and I found a pen to make notes in my new notebook. "Okay, we should list all the possible places a key could be used. It's a small key so not a house or car. "

Peter offered his ideas. "A lock that's used on a shed or bicycle or a school locker. Hey, it could be for a locker used at a community sports building like the hockey arena or the Sports Dome."

"I'm writing that all down. What else? What about a metal box with a lock? Where could that be found?"

Peter: "A box could be anywhere, a house or hotel, a garage or store."

"An office for a company or a doctor's or dentist's office. Wait, a bank has safety deposit boxes. That could be it. That must be it! Where else could we find a lock that the key fits without trying dozens or hundreds of locks?"

Peter agreed that my thinking made sense. There were three banks and a co-op in this area. None were open on a Saturday or Sunday. We would have to wait until Monday after classes. The rest of the weekend seemed to last too long and it was difficult to concentrate in school on Monday.

At 3:30 P.M. I met Peter on the front steps of our high school. He had borrowed a car and we drove along one of the many flat roads that stretched between small towns settled in the mid 19th century.

The first bank we checked had no locks that the key would fit. When we walked into the second bank I was starting to feel excited. Maybe this was the place where we would learn what was in the locked box. Our key matched the ones used by the bank. We were on the right track! The bank teller questioned us about the box we wanted but we didn't know the name or the number for the box. Then I remembered the number below the coordinates in the notebook. I opened it and read the number aloud. "1045 must be the number we want."

"I'm sorry. We don't have a box with that number." The teller didn't look sorry; she looked as though she suspected us of stealing the key. She was about to say more but I interrupted her and headed to the door. "That's okay, we have other banks to check," I announced and left quickly with Peter on my heels.

"That was disappointing," said Peter, "but the good news is that the key seems to fit a bank box. That means we're getting close. This is exciting!"

I was pleased that Peter was enjoying himself. I had been afraid he would get bored and not want to continue the search. I figured that I would enjoy following clues on geocaching adventures but not everyone liked the same activities.

After another short drive we arrived at our third bank. This time I asked to speak to a branch manager. The teller asked what we needed. "We have been following clues that led us to this key which we believe could open a safety deposit box. Since the clues were in this area, we are looking at banks here."

"Just a moment, I'll see if she is free," replied the teller and she smiled at us.

"This seems more promising," I whispered to Peter.

"Don't get your hopes up yet," he replied.

The teller ushered us into the manager's office and then left. "I am Mrs. Durand. Please tell me about your key, how you found it."

I decided that the more detail we provided, the more believable we would sound so I quickly described the places we walked and the the clues we found. Mrs. Durand asked to see the notebook and smiled knowingly when she saw the page with writing. "Yes, I recognize this. I cannot tell you who left these clues but you have proved that you found the key in the correct manner. Follow me."

She showed us to the rows of safety deposit boxes and used our key and her own to unlock and pull out a box. She left us in a small room to examine it at our leisure. We opened the cover at once and gasped. We saw bundles of cash. There was a note inside an envelope.

TO THE FINDER: CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE FOLLOWED MY CLUES AND WON $20,000 IN CASH. USE IT WISELY.

There was no signature.

What a terrific surprise from a mysterious benefactor! It didn't take long for us to count the hundred-dollar bills, divide the amount evenly and open separate bank accounts. I kept out $200 for celebratory purposes and Peter did the same.

When Peter dropped me off at home he asked, "Do you want to exercise Chester and Trez again on Saturday?"

I answered, "Why not?" My social life was rapidly improving and I had money for college. Life was great!

******

A gray haired man relaxed in his comfortable chair by his living room window. Bright sunlight warmed his body and illuminated a copy of the local paper. "STUDENTS WIN $20,000" was the headline of a short article about two students who were sharing $20,000 in cash that they had discovered by following clues in a geocache game.

He chuckled to himself with satisfaction. That was a most enjoyable way to spend his money. He'd have to do it again.