Gasparilla's Treasure (Trip Mongomery Book 1) (9 page)

Trip sat in history class, unable to pay attention to anything Mr. Hanson droned on about.  If he was not thinking about what happened with Sarah, he was thinking about the hunt for Gasparilla’s treasure.  The clues mentioned quarters of the map, and they had found two pieces.  That meant they possessed half the map, and a clue to find the third piece.

It was finally the end of class, so Trip decided he better try to pay attention to Mr. Hanson. 

“On your way out,” said Mr. Hanson as the bell rang, “I want you to turn in your reports on Spain's colonization of the New World.  You’ve had all week to work on this, so I’m expecting them to be very thorough.”

Students filed to the front of the classroom to turn in their papers.  Trip sat stunned in his desk, unable to move.  He had not even started the massive report.  When his mom allowed him to take on the quest to find
Gasparilla’s treasure, Trip had promised her he would keep up with his schoolwork.  This would not go over well with her. 

“This will be a major part of your grade,” Mr. Hanson continued.  “So I hope you took it seriously.  I am going to be reading these extremely closely.”

Most of the students cleared out.  It was time to use his Trip Montgomery charm to buy some time with Mr. Hanson.  Slowly Trip stood up and ambled to the front of the classroom.

“So, Mr. Hanson.  Hi.  How are you?” said Trip, as casually as he could.  Mr. Hanson just stared at Trip, no expression on his face.

“You see,” continued Trip, “I just need another night to finish my report.  Well, it's actually finished, but I want to really go over it one last time to tweak it.”  Mr. Hanson still sat expressionless.

“I know this report is very important to you,” said Trip, “and I really want to show you how much I’ve learned in your class.  I want you to be proud of me, Mr. Hanson.” 

Trip thought this just might work.  If Mr. Hanson would let him have one more night, he would in reality have the whole weekend to work on the report.  It wouldn’t be the best report he had ever written, but surely he could pull off a B, or a high C at worst.

Mr. Hanson still sat expressionless, but he finally spoke in the same monotonous drone that he always used, as he handed Trip a piece of paper.  “Well, Mr. Montgomery.  Bring this slip signed by your parent or legal guardian, along with your
tweaked
report Monday, and I'll only take off ten points.  Otherwise, it's a zero.”

This would not work.  If Trip planned to get away with this, his mother could not know that he had not done the report.

“You see, Mr. Hanson,” pleaded Trip.  “The thing is, if I don’t get…”

“ENOUGH!” bellowed Mr. Hanson.  “The thing is, Mr. Montgomery, if you don’t get that piece of paper signed by your mother, and put both it and an amazing report on Spain’s colonization of the New World on my desk by the start of school Monday, you will get a zero.  Good day, Mr. Montgomery.”

Mr. Hanson turned on his heel and walked out of the classroom.  Trip stared dumbfounded at the homework slip.  His heart sank to the bottom of his stomach.

As he headed home, Trip tried to think of a way to wiggle out of showing Mom the homework slip, but there was no way around it.  He reluctantly handed it to her when he came through the door, and she was furious.

“We had a deal, Trip,” said Mom, barely containing her anger. “You could go on this quest, or whatever it is, as long as you didn't let your schoolwork slip.”

“But my schoolwork isn’t slipping,” retorted Trip.  “This is just one report, and I can still turn it in Monday.  I’ve got all weekend to work on it.”

“I thought you were mature enough to handle this.  But I guess I was wrong.”

“Come on Mom.  I can do this.”

“Well obviously you can't.  You are done with that trunk.  I don't even want you thinking about it.”

Trip couldn’t believe it.  “But Mom, we're getting so close.  I just need a few more days.”

When Mom heard these words, tension lined her face.  Her voice was hushed now, but still filled with steely anger.  Trip had never seen her like this before.

“You know how many times I heard your father and Pappy say those exact same words?  Too many.  First it's a few more days, then just a few more.  And the next thing you know, you've wasted your entire life.”

“I'm not going to waste my life,” said Trip sincerely, “and I will get my work done, I swear.  Please, Mom.”

“You'll get it done, all right,” said Mom, her voice rising, “because you're not leaving this house.  You're grounded!”

Mom stormed out of the room, leaving Trip in stunned silence.

Trip worked on his report late into Friday night.  He made some decent progress, and he found that the quest for
Gasparilla’s treasure actually seemed to make history a bit more interesting. 

He found himself picturing the actual battles, people, and buildings as he read about them.  He dozed off a few times in the middle of writing the report, and his dreams were of bloody wars and fierce battles that took place right here in St. Augustine.  He woke up and wrote some more.  At five o’clock on Saturday morning, he finally finished his report.  He was determined to show Mom that he could handle the responsibility.

As Saturday wore on, Mom dragged Trip to
The Good Old Times Retirement Home
to visit Pappy.  It was the first time Trip had visited since Pappy went into the coma.  Trip did not want to be here.  He loved Pappy, and loved to come visit, but this whole situation scared Trip.

  They arrived in the lobby, and Trip felt very uneasy. “I have to go by the office and take care of a few things,” said Mom.  “I'll meet you in Pappy's room.”

“I don't know if I can see him like this, Mom,” said Trip shakily. “Can't we just go home?  I want to look over that report for Mr. Hanson one more time.”

Trip really did want to look over the report one more time, because he had been so tired he could not even remember writing some of it.  But more importantly, he thought it was a good excuse to get out of this place.  Mom seemed genuinely proud of Trip when he showed her the finished report earlier, but she said he was still grounded.

“Pappy’s going to be fine, Trip,” Mom said reassuringly. “It will do him good to hear your voice.  I'll be up in a second.”

Mom walked away and left Trip in the lobby alone.  He looked around at the familiar furniture and generic paintings on the walls.  For the last four years he had come here nearly every day, but now things looked different somehow.  He took a deep breath and walked towards Pappy’s room.

Trip entered Pappy’s room, not sure what he expected to see.  He paused in the doorway and saw Pappy, frail, lying in his bed.  It looked like he was sleeping.  Trip was not sure how he felt seeing Pappy there like that, but before he had time to reflect, he noticed a stranger sitting in the chair next to Pappy’s bed.  The man held a book in his hands, but he had fallen asleep with his chin on his chest.

The man appeared to be Pappy’s age, and he looked exactly like the type of friendly old man chosen to play the loveable grandfather in a movie. As Trip walked closer he heard the man’s gentle snoring.

“Excuse me,” Trip said softly.  He didn’t want to startle the man, but the man continued snoring undisturbed.

“Excuse me,” Trip said again, this time a bit louder, but the man still did not wake up.

“Excuse me,” Trip said, even louder than intended.

The man startled awake and looked extremely confused.

“What?
”, the man said.  “What is it?  Who’s there?  Where am I?”

The man looked around a moment, then seemed to calm down.

“I’m sorry,” Trip said sheepishly.  “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

The old man took some time to struggle out of the chair, but he managed.  He approached Trip and extended his hand.  Now that the man was awake, Trip noticed his warm smile, which just made him look even more like a friendly grandfather from the movies.  Trip shook his hand.

“I’m Harold,” the man said.  “I came by to read to your Pappy since he can’t be doing any reading for himself right now.  Guess I was doing more sleeping than reading, though.  And you must be Trip.”

Trip was surprised the man knew who he was.  Trip had never seen Harold before.

“Your Pappy told me all about you,” explained Harold.  “We were old friends from way before he was in this place.  He was bragging about his great-grandson from the day you were born.  I’m glad to finally get the chance to meet you.”

Trip wasn’t sure what to say.  He just stood there in awkward silence.  Harold studied Trip for a moment.

“You know,” said Harold in a warm, friendly voice.  “Your grandfather is a great man.  Really cares about people.”

Trip looked over at Pappy buried in the sheets.  He and Pappy spent a lot of time together, but it was hard to recall the times before Pappy was here.  Pappy moved in when Trip was eight, which was about five years ago.  All Trip could think about was the fun they had playing games and talking here at the retirement home.

“We were good friends,” said Harold.  “He used to love going to see all the old historic sites this town has to offer, and so did I.  That’s how we met.  After we ran into each other a few times at Fort Matanzas, we realized we had a lot in common.  It takes a real history buff to go to Fort Matanzas more than once or twice.  We must have visited it a hundred times.”

Trip was still looking at Pappy in the bed.  Something about what Harold said piqued Trip’s curiosity.  What was it?  He would think about it later.  Being here with Pappy was just too distracting.

After a full day spent with Mom, Trip retreated to his bedroom.  He spent some time thinking about what Harold said.  Pappy loved the old historic sites of St. Augustine.  Why did this get Trip’s attention? 

This happened from time to time.  Trip would hear someone say something and it would stick in his head.  Generally the things were of no interest to Trip, but they would keep popping into his thoughts until he sat still, focused, and really thought about why it was important.  Pappy met Harold at Fort Matanzas, and Pappy loved going to the historic sites.

Something finally clicked in Trip’s mind.  The title of the book Sarah found at the library had the word
historic
in the title.  In fact, the entire book was full of historic sites from all over the country. His mind raced.

Pappy liked historic sites, and the church where the second map piece was hidden was in a book of historic sites…  The Gonzalez-Alvarez House was a historic site as well…  The first and second map pieces were both found at historic sites…that was it!

Trip picked up the phone and called Josh.  He asked Josh to conference Sarah in.

“How did you set up this three way call, anyway?” asked Sarah.  “Technology and I are not friends.”

“Having Josh as a friend is like having your very own tech services department,” said Trip.

“Gee, thanks guys,” said Josh, genuinely happy for the compliment.  “It's really not that hard.  If you ever want to set it up yourself, all you have to do is...”

“We don’t have time for that,” interrupted Trip excitedly.  “I ran into one of Pappy’s old friends at the retirement home today, and he started talking about how much Pappy liked historic sites.  He also mentioned that they liked to go to Fort Matanzas together.”

“What was his name?” asked Josh.

“What?” asked Trip, confused.  “Whose name?”

“Your Pappy’s friend,” said Josh.  “What was his name?”

“Does it really matter?” said Trip.

“Well it just seems a bit rude,” said Josh, “to go on about this guy that told you all this stuff about your Pappy, and then not even mention his name.  I mean, he is a person, you know, not just some…”

“Harold,” blurted Trip.  “His name was Harold.  Can I go on now?”

“OK, OK,” said Josh.  “No need to get all huffy about it.  I just wanted to know the guy’s name, and now I do.  It’s Harold.  Continue.”

Trip could not remember where he was in the story.  Josh had really managed to confuse him with all the questions about Harold.  Luckily, Sarah picked up without missing a beat.

“Do you think all this stuff Harold told you has something to do with the clues?” asked Sarah.

“I think so,” said Trip.  “We found the first two pieces of the map at historic places, and now I find out Pappy loved historic places.  Can one of you guys look up Fort Matanzas on your computer?  My mom took mine away when she grounded me.”

“I'm way ahead of you,” said Josh.  “Says here that Fort Matanzas was built in 1742 to guard the Matanzas Inlet.  Apparently the inlet could be used as an undefended rear entrance to St. Augustine in an attack.”

“Undefended rear entrance,” mused Sarah.  “Read the clue again.”

Trip read the clue.  “
Look to the South and don't let them in the back door.  Fifteen nickels rest below the flag
.”

“That’s it!” blurted Josh.  “It's Fort Matanzas.  It guards the south mouth of the Matanzas River.  They call it
the back door
to the city.  Let’s go!  Let’s go to Fort Matanzas right now!”

“It’s ten o’clock at night, Josh,” Trip reminded him.  “But tomorrow is Sunday, and we are going to that fort.”

“But you’re grounded!” said Sarah.  “You can’t leave your house!”

“Whatever it takes, I’ll find a way,” said Trip with determination.

Later that night, Trip’s mom paid bills at the kitchen table.  The table was covered with paper.  She organized the bills into stacks of paid, not paid, and not able to pay.  She was on the phone with
The Good Old Times Retirement Home
.

“I know
it's past due,” said Mom.  “But you can't just throw him out, he just had a heart attack.”

Trip watched and eavesdropped from the shadows.  Mom paused as she listened to the person on the other end of the phone.

“One week!” she said.  “I am a single mother. How do you expect me to get that kind of money in one week?”

Another pause.  Trip was not sure, but he thought he heard Mom begin to softly cry.

“Look, the heart attack hit us hard, but we're going to figure this out and get you your money, but one week is just not reasonable.”

Trip was certain his mom was crying now.  He could hear it in her voice. 

“No, I cannot find another place for him by then.  You have to give me more time.”

Trip could not listen to any more of this.  He ran back up to his room, more determined than ever to find
Gasparilla’s treasure.

At breakfast Sunday morning, Trip told Mom he was not feeling well.  He asked if he could stay home from church and she agreed.  He told her he was going to lie around in bed and he would probably not feel like eating lunch. Trip knew Mom would leave him alone if she thought he was sick, so he closed the door to his room and turned on the stereo.

His room was positioned perfectly for sneaking out.  They had a two-story house, and his window opened onto a small section of the roof, right next to a sturdy piece of latticework. Because Mom did not have a green thumb, the lattice was bare, which made it easy to find footholds.

Trip had never snuck out before, but he occasionally climbed the latticework to access the roof when a ball, rocket, or any other stray toy managed to get stuck up there.  It was a piece of cake to sneak out the window and climb down.

When he reached the ground, he stopped for a moment.  He felt guilty for sneaking out behind his mom’s back.  Perhaps if he had another talk with Mom, she would see how important this was and allow him to continue his quest.  Then he remembered the sinking feeling in his stomach when he heard Mom crying last night.  If he did not find this treasure soon, Pappy was going to be kicked out of the retirement home, and there was no way for Mom to take care of him.  With that thought, he was on his way.