Gasparilla's Treasure (Trip Mongomery Book 1) (5 page)

Trip and Josh scattered the photos and newspaper articles across the attic floor.  Trip thumbed through the handwritten Grasparilla book.

“There's a ton of notes here,” said Josh.  “The information in that book alone could take years to understand.  And you’re not really that smart, Trip, so it might take longer.”

“You’re right,” said Trip.  “It is going to take a long time.  The sooner we get started, the sooner we’ll know what were supposed to do.”

Mom yelled from downstairs.  She sounded happy, “Trip honey!  There’s someone here to see you.”

“OK, Mom.  I’ll be right down,” Trip yelled back.  “Josh, you keep working on all of this, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Trip hustled down the attic stairs two at a time to the front door.  He was surprised to see Sarah standing with Mom.  Trip was sure any chance with her was over after what had happened in the lunchroom.

He couldn’t understand why he was so happy to see her.  He was supposed to be done with her.  She was friends with the enemy.  No, it was worse than that, she was dating the enemy!  And yet, Trip was happy to see her.

“Hey Sarah,” he said sheepishly.  “I didn’t really expect to see you here.”

“Yeah, well,” said Sarah shyly.  “I was riding my bike, and thought I would stop by and say hey.”

Both Trip and Sarah were aware that Mom stood there watching them with a smile so big it covered her entire face. They stood there awkwardly in silence.  Trip and Sarah just looked from each other, to the ground, and occasionally to Mom.  This snapped Mom out of her happy trance and back to reality. 

“Oh, I'm sorry,” said Mom.  “I've got some... stuff I need to do in the kitchen.  So I guess I'll go do that stuff.  You kids have fun.” And she headed toward the kitchen.

Trip and Sarah stood there alone in the awkwardness.

After what seemed like hours, Sarah broke the silence.  “I don't really know what's going on with you, but I just wanted to come by and say I was sorry for saying you were like Eli.  You are so not like Eli.  He is such an oaf, and you’re funny, and smart.  So, I’m sorry.”

Trip felt the butterflies in his stomach.  She just called him funny, and smart.  His heart swelled, but then he thought about Sarah with Eli, and he became irritated again.  Were girls always this confusing?

“Well, I still don't understand what was going on between you and Eli when Josh saw you,” grouched Trip.  “It just doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t know what Josh saw yesterday, but Eli was hitting on me,” said Sarah.  “He was leaning in with his stinky old breath and saying something about how powerful he was, and I told him yeah, your breath is pretty powerful.  It was disgusting.”

Trip guffawed.  “You really said that?”

“Sure did. And if Josh had stuck around, he would have seen Mr. Stink Breath get a slap across the face.  There was no hugging, and there was definitely no kissing.  I can’t stand that guy.”

Trip tried to say something, but he had no idea what to stay.  He just stood there with his mouth hanging open.

He finally stammered, “I’m sorry.  You’ve been really…”

“Apology accepted,” she quickly replied.

Trip felt awful.  All the nasty things he said to her, and she accepted his apology without any explanation. 

“So can you go for a bike ride or something?” she asked cheerily.

“I’m sorry, I can’t right now,” Trip said.  “But Josh and I are working on something you might find it interesting.”

Trip could see he had piqued Sarah’s curiosity.  He was thrilled she had come by to sort this out.  And she thought he was charming.  Even Eli would not be able to wipe the smile off Trip’s face.

Trip and Sarah climbed the attic stairs and found Josh flipping through the pages of the Gasparilla book.  Josh was mortified to see Sarah.  He quickly put the book back in the trunk.

“
Whatcha doing, Josh?” Sarah asked.

“I was just reading through that super secret book that no one is supposed to know about,” Josh said accusingly as he began to pull Trip aside.  “I’d love to say it’s nice to see you, but you really shouldn’t be here.  I mean, I just need to see the
Tripster for a quick minute.”

Josh pulled Trip far enough away that Sarah could not hear them.

“What was that all about, Josh?” asked Trip.  “That was a little rude, don’t you think?”

“What are you doing?” exploded Josh.  “You can't be bringing people around until we know exactly what we're dealing with.  This may be just a bunch of junk, or it might be something really huge.  We have to be really careful here.”

“Are you kidding me?  She's great!” said Trip.

“SHE’S A GIRL!” said Josh.  “And what about that whole Eli thing?  Aren’t you still mad at her about that?”

“That whole thing was just a misunderstanding,” confided Trip.  “She explained everything.”

“You don't even know her.  What if she’s a spy or something?  Some of that research is like a hundred years old.”

“Really,” said Trip sarcastically.  “A spy?”

Josh tried another tactic.  “Those things are meant for your family only to see. What if there's some sort of curse that will doom anyone who is not a Montgomery?”

“Well you’ve already seen it,” Trip pointed out.  “Do you feel doomed or cursed?  You don’t really look doomed.”

“You are totally missing the point,” said Josh, exasperated. “We have to be careful with this stuff and there is nothing good that can come from Sarah seeing this stuff.”

Sarah chimed in from across the attic.  “Wow, this stuff is amazing.  Do you know what you’ve got here?”

“Well do we?” asked Trip, glancing sideways at Josh.

Josh did his best to answer.  “Yeah, well, uh... What we've got there is an amazing, uh... No, I really don't have a clue.”

“What you've got here,” said Sarah, “are all the clues we need to find an ancient treasure that's hidden right here in St. Augustine.”

Josh and Trip shared a look.  An ancient treasure!  They had been poring over this stuff all afternoon, and still had no idea what it was.  Sarah looked at it for about a minute and figured out it was clues leading to an ancient treasure.

“You still think nothing good can come from her seeing all this stuff?”  Trip asked.

“Hey, I guess I was wrong,” Josh said.  “I’m a big enough man to admit it.  She’s smart, just like you said.”

Trip and Sarah snuck a look.  Trip was embarrassed as Sarah gave him a shy grin.

“That is what you said Trip, right?”  Josh asked.  “Something about a good feeling you had about her.”

Trip quickly changed the subject.  “So you think these are clues that lead to a treasure.  What kind of treasure are we talking about?”

“I'm not sure,” said Sarah.  “But whatever it is, it must be important. It looks like your family's been searching for it for like a hundred years.”

Josh piped in.  “I said that earlier, you know.  That part about one hundred years.  Don’t you remember, Trip?  I said the book was like a hundred years old.”

Trip’s mind was racing.  A treasure his family had been seeking for a hundred years.   Pappy was Trip’s great grandfather, then came his grandfather, his dad, and now, the search was passed on to him.

“That search is about to end,” said Trip, with unshakable determination.  “I'm going to find it.  I'm going to find
Gasparilla’s Treasure.”

Later that evening, as the sun set behind him, Eli sat in his back yard and addressed three of his men.  His hand was wrapped from the altercation with that annoying little twerp early in the day.  In his other hand he held an orange, which he repeatedly tossed in the air.

“I don't care what it takes,” said Eli forcefully.  “I am going to get that wimpy little jerk.  What he did to me is inexcusable.  It's going to take some hard work on your part, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.”

Eli liked being the boss.  It meant he avoided the dirty work like chasing victims, or running surveillance on people.  He could focus on the fun, like giving annoying, cocky, know-it-alls the beatings they deserved.  But he was going to take it to a whole new level for Trip Montgomery. 

He was going to watch Trip’s every move and find out what would hurt him most.  Not the physical pain, that part would be easy enough later, but the kind of pain that cuts deep.  The kind of pain you feel in your soul.  When he found out what could cause Trip this kind of
pain, that is when he would strike.

“I want you watching his every move,” Eli commanded his men.  “I want to know where he goes, what he does... anything I can use against him.  Sure, you’ll be giving up your evenings and weekends, but I can deal with that.  I’m a very giving person.”

One of Eli’s goons spoke up.  “I’ve got a great idea.  What if we…”

He instantly felt an orange whack him in the side of the head.

“If I wanted your opinion, I would ask for it,” barked Eli.  “Now don’t just sit there rubbing your head.  Get my orange!”

The next day, Trip, Josh and Sarah got together in the attic after school.  Trip studied the newspaper articles.  Some were about ribbon cutting ceremonies, or big events around town.  They were boring, and Trip could not see a connection.

Sarah read through the
Gasparilla book.  It was full of notes, and she jotted down her own notes on a separate piece of paper.  Josh was busying himself on his portable gamer.

“Ha!  I nailed it,” said Josh.  “I bet you guys didn’t think I was ever going to get through that level, and then boom, I killed it.”

“Seriously, Josh,” said Sarah.  “I’m trying to concentrate here. From what I can make out, Gasparilla’s real name was Jose Gaspar.  He was heavily involved with the king of Spain.  The king ordered his death, and Gasparilla fled and became a pirate.  He swore revenge on all Spanish ships.  He set up shop off the coast of Florida and plundered tons of treasure that no one has ever found.”

This piqued Josh’s interest, “Tons of treasure?  Is that literally
tons
of treasure, or like way bigger, like
TONS
of treasure?”

Sarah completely ignored the question as she read from the book.  “It says here that among his many treasures it is rumored that
Gasparilla had the mystical
Arbol de la Lechuza
placed atop his walking stick.  It says that unlocking the secret of the
Arbol de la Lechuza
will give the bearer unimaginable power.”

As she read, they looked at the hand drawn pictures on the crumbling pages.  The sketch of
Arbol de la Lechuza
was a tree that with branches that wrapped around themselves and tangled together, forming a sphere.  Inside the sphere was a small owl.

“
Arbol de la Lechuza
is said to be carved from a single piece of diamond and its date and place of origin are still unknown.  There is still debate as to the magical properties of
Arbol de la Lechuza.
”

A sketch of
Gasparilla appeared on the next page, arrogantly holding his walking stick with
Arbol de la Lechuza
as the handle.

“The Staff of
Gasparilla,” whispered Trip.  “That’s what we are looking for, guys.  The Staff of Gasparilla.”

“And a whole bunch of treasure,” said Josh, ruining the almost magical moment.

Outside, two of Eli’s goons watched Trip’s house from the bushes, bored to death.

“Seriously, dude.  Eli is losing it,” complained the first goon, brushing a branch away from his face.

“Let’s give it a chance,” said the second goon.  “Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a way to nail this kid.”

The mailman arrived and dropped the mail in the mailbox. 

“Go check out that mail,” said the second goon.

“You go check it out,” replied the first goon.  “Isn’t that breaking a federal law or something?  Tampering with the mail?  Do you want to go to jail for this?”

“Fine.  I’ll check it out.  You stay here and make some sort of animal noise if anyone is coming,” said the second goon.

He made his way to the mailbox to see if there was anything they could use against Trip.  It all looked like junk mail.  Nothing important.  A really bad jungle animal call squawked from the bushes.  Hastily he returned the mail and hurried back.

“What’s up?  Did you see someone?”

“I was just practicing,” said the first goon.  “Did you like it?”

The second goon smacked him on the back of his head. 

Up in the attic, Sarah and Trip studied a hand drawn map in the book. It showed the shipping routes from Spain to the United States.  There were about thirty or forty ships marked with dates along the shipping routes.  And on the west coast of Florida, another ten or fifteen spots along the coast were marked by an X.

“It looks like Gasparilla took out these ships around the year 1783,” said Sarah.  “These little ships must mark his battles.”

“And these little X marks must represent his favorite hiding places,” said Trip. 

“This is so boring,” said Josh, playing a video game.  “Are we just going to stay cooped up in Trip’s attic for the rest of our lives reading and having history lessons?”

“Are you kidding me, Josh?” said Trip excitedly.  “We’re talking about real pirates here.  Actual pirate battles occurred at these places.  And there could still be treasure buried right here in Florida.”